Peel’s copper hits add more fuel to resource upgrade at Mallee Bull

Peel’s expectations for a resource upgrade at its Mallee Bull deposit have been bolstered by further high-grade copper intercepts in recent infill drillholes.

Assays also returned very high-grade zinc-lead-silver intercepts, reinforcing the company’s observation of significant zones of strong mineralisation in recent drilling.

Notable assays from the latest results are:

21m grading 2.03% copper, 38 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 1.25g/t gold from 319m including 14m at 2.76% copper, 46g/t silver and 1.26g/t gold from 326m at MBDD034; and
Multiple intercepts of 7.85m at 17.72% zinc, 18.13% lead, 127g/t silver, 0.34% copper and 0.58g/t gold from 371.2m, 6m at 3.87% copper and 82g/t silver from 459m, and 20m at 1.26% copper and 6g/t silver from 541m in MBDD046.

Peel Mining (ASX:PEX) adds that copper resource drilling at Mallee Bull is continuing with two diamond rigs operating and about 11,000m of the planned 20,000m drill program completed.

This is aimed primarily at converting existing inferred resources to the higher confidence indicated resource category.

“The latest assays from resource upgrade drilling at Mallee Bull, as evidenced by drillhole MBDD034, have returned further significant copper mineralisation at relatively modest depths, further bolstering our resource upgrade expectations,” managing director Rob Tyson said.

“Another exciting development is the very high-grade zinc-lead-silver intercept in drillhole MBDD046. This mineralisation is in the hanging wall, similar to that seen in the near-surface very high-grade Silver Ray zinc-lead-silver lens, and likely represents a down plunge repetition.

“Importantly, several other drillholes nearby have returned similar mineralisation providing continuity between intercepts.”

A Mallee Bull resource upgrade is expected in the December 2021 quarter.

Peel Mining — Drilling at the Mallee Bull deposit. Pic: Supplied

Mallee Bull deposit

Mallee Bull, located about 100km south of Cobar in New South Wales, is among Australia’s highest grade undeveloped copper deposits with a current resource of 6.76 million tonnes grading 1.8% copper, 31g/t silver, 0.4g/t gold, 0.6% lead and 0.6% zinc (2.6% copper equivalent).

While mineralisation at the deposit begins about 60m below surface and has been defined to a depth of at least 800m, the bulk of the copper resource is located from about 350m below surface.

Peel also has two rigs drilling at the nearby Wirlong high-grade copper deposit to define a maiden resource.

These drill programs are aimed at defining mineable resources to support its hub and spoke project that will see mineral resources from Mallee Bull, Wirlong, the May Day gold project, and the Wagga Tank and Southern Nights lead-zinc-gold-silver-copper projects processed at a central hub.

However, all plans have to begin somewhere and the company’s focus on Mallee Bull and Wirlong reflects its copper-first strategy, which is grounded in the strong rally in copper prices thanks to the mass adoption of lithium batteries in the electric vehicle sector.

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.