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Mining
The signs are looking good for an upcoming upgrade of Peel Mining’s copper-rich Mallee Bull resource in New South Wales, with new drill results highlighting the deposit’s stunning high grade core.
Latest assays from resource drilling at Mallee Bull included some ripper hits including 58m at 4.96% copper, 59g/t silver and 0.2g/t gold from 585m.
That contained an even higher grade section of 31m at 7.62% copper, 78g/t silver and 024g/t gold from 589m.
That was just one hole (MBDD064) of the extensive program to upgrade Peel Mining’s (ASX:PEX) Mallee Bull’s inferred ounces to indicated this quarter to back upcoming economic studies on its development.
MBDD058 contained 48m at 3.61% Cu, 36g/t Ag and 0.22g/t Au from 484m including similarly high grade intervals of 15.93m at 6.25% Cu, 57g/t Ag and 0.25g/t Au from 504.7m and 7.28m at 4.48% Cu, 52g/t Ag and 0.28g/t gold from 524m.
Meanwhile MBDD056 struck 31m at 3.21% Cu with a 5m interval at 10.60%, while the highest grade hits to date to Mallee Bull’s underexplored north of 14.3m at 2.14% Cu, 21g/t Ag and 0.21g/t Au from 484m and 9.5m at 2.3% Cu, 18g/t Ag and 0.14g/t Au from 517m were found in MBDD073.
Peel managing direction Rob Tyson said the results highlighted the high grade core of the Mallee Bull system ahead of the key resource upgrade.
“Resource drilling at Mallee Bull has delivered a number of exceptional copper-rich intervals, highlighting the incredible tenor of chalcopyrite present in the heart of the mineral system,” he said.
“These results provide strong encouragement that the upcoming resource upgrade will demonstrate the high-grade nature of Mallee Bull and its economic importance as the Company progresses our copper-first strategy.”
The key deposit at Peel’s Cobar hub, around 100km south of the NSW copper mining town, Mallee Bull already contains a resource dating back to 2017 of 6.76Mt at 1.8% copper, 31g/t silver, 0.4g/t gold, 0.6% lead and 0.6% zinc (2.6%CuEq).
That includes a raw copper content of 119,000t and copper equivalent metal of 175,000t.
Given the high grade results in the current drilling program, and with 19 assays still pending at the labs, it does not take a major leap of faith to say that will be growing.
The resource upgrade drilling program, comprising 27,000m to date, is ongoing with two multi-purpose drill rigs back on site after a Christmas break.
Two holes are completed with two more to come.
Mineralisation at Mallee Bull starts at 60m below surface but there is plenty of potential, having been defined to as deep as 800m below.
The high tenor copper mineralisation largely starts from 350m, with deeper drilling focusing on firming up the “copper-first strategy” Peel has adopted.
It makes perfect sense, given the outlook and recent history of the red metal, expected to receive a boom in green demand in the years to come as the world electrifies anything and everything.
With prices currently in the high $9000s/t, close to historic highs, Goldman Sachs currently predict it will hit a new high of US$12,000/t within the next 12 months.
While high-grade results from the heart of the Mallee Bull resource will lift confidence in the company’s strategy to transition inferred to indicated resources, the blue sky to the north of Mallee Bull is also significant.
MBDD073 is situated to the northern extent of the current resource model, but visible mineralisation in adjacent down-dip holes show it remains open at depth and to the north.
An updated mineral resource is also due by mid-2022 at the Wirlong deposit where a maiden estimate last year delivered 2.45Mt at 2.4% Cu and 8.7g/t Ag containing 57,900t copper and 686,000oz of silver.
The latest assays from WLDD047 have delivered high-grade hits of 4m at 2.04% Cu and 3g/t Ag from 526m and 5m at 6.75% Cu and 11g/t Ag from 544m.
It continues Peel’s rich vein of form at Wirlong, where previous results have including strikes of up to 8% copper at good widths.
There will be more where that came from, literally, with assays from three drillholes pending, four drillholes being processed and another 12 waiting for processing.
A review completed by Peel in December identified the opportunity to grow and infill the deposit through targeted drilling.
This article was developed in collaboration with Peel Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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