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Resources Top 5: Explorers pinpoint porphyry payday, punters pile on
Mining
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- Sunstone hits 450m copper-gold intersection in Ecuador
- Golden Rim to kick off exploration at “compelling” porphyry copper target in Chile
- Hexagon (hydrogen), Qx (gold) and Perpetual (mineral sands) also up in early trade
Here are the biggest small cap resources movers in early trade, Thursday April 22.
Has Sunstone grabbed the tail of a substantial gold-copper porphyry system?
A drillhole at ‘Brama’, part of the Bramaderos project in Ecuador, has pulled up a +450 gold-copper intersection from surface.
Assays include a higher grade 84.3m of 0.80g/t gold, 0.11% copper, and 42ppm molybdenum, within 450m at 0.47g/t gold, 0.10% copper, and 27ppm molybdenum.
“These are strong assays which are comparable with other significant gold-copper porphyry deposits and support our view of the huge potential at Brama,” Sunstone managing director Malcolm Norris says.
“In addition to these very good results today, we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of ongoing drilling to test the deeper target.”
The deeper target — a magnetic anomaly about 850m downhole – was not really tested by this hole, which deviated from its projected path.
However, the drillhole (BMDD008) still hit a weakly mineralised zone from 850m to 1km depth “suggesting a marginal position to a potential porphyry centre”.
A ‘wedge hole’ has commenced from 347m downhole in BMDD008 and is expected to be in the target zone in mid-May.
GOLDEN RIM RESOURCES (ASX:GMR)
Another explorer hunting for a porphyry payday.
While Golden Rim remains focused on its gold projects in Africa, the strengthening copper price and bullish price forecasts of US$15,000/t has encouraged Golden Rim to evaluate a compelling and previously unexplored porphyry copper target at ‘Loreto’, part of the Paguanta project in Chile.
Paguanta is at the northern extension of the West Fissure in Chile – the world’s largest concentration of major porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits, the company says.
“Golden Rim believes that Loreto could well represent the last unexplored outcropping Eocene-Oligocene porphyry system in northern Chile and it has potential for the discovery of a Tier 1, world-class, Collahausi-type porphyry copper deposit,” Golden Rim managing director Craig Mackay says.
“Not surprisingly, Loreto is surrounded and over-pegged by BHP and Codelco, two of the largest copper companies in the world.
“Golden Rim’s initial exploration to generate drill targets at Loreto can be conducted at little cost. Should a copper porphyry deposit be discovered, we could quickly generate significant value for our shareholders.”
Exploration is expected to kick off in May.
HEXAGON ENERGY MATERIALS (ASX:HXG)
(Up on no news)
One of many small cap stocks to jump on the hydrogen bandwagon in 2021.
Hexagon will start a pre-feasibility study on the Pedirka Blue hydrogen project in the Northern Territory once the acquisition is finalised.
Blue hydrogen uses carbon capture and storage to eliminate carbon emissions from its production process.
Hexagon also has its non-core McIntosh project for graphite, nickel and platinum group elements in WA, its Alabama graphite project in the US, and Halls Creek gold and base metals project in WA.
High profile investor Tolga Kumova reckons silica sand – and Perpetual — is a sleeper.
Today the stock announced “game changing” metallurgical results from the testing of the white sand horizon at the flagship Beharra project in WA.
These tests showed the Beharra white sand horizon could be easily processed into an end product that contained 99.8% SiO2 with exceptionally low impurities.
“These results today suggest that Beharra has clear potential to be a genuine Tier 1 project,” Perpetual exec chairman Julian Babarczy says.
“We are now considering a development scenario that undertakes selective mining and processing of the white sand horizon, that has now been shown to achieve impurity levels that could underpin even higher revenue per ton figures than were contemplated in the recent PFS.”
This former battery play is now all-in on gold.
A maiden 1500m drill program has kicked off at the old ‘Lucky Break’ gold mine in Queensland, testing to see if mineralisation keeps going at depth.
“Limited exploration at depth, along strike and parallel to the actual mines has been conducted so we look forward to assessing the results,” non-exec director Roger Jackson says.
“The program is expected to take approximately ten days and it marks the first step in QX significantly ramping up exploration activities across our wider ~150sqkm project area that hosts multiple highly prospective mineralised targets with a range of commodities present.”
