Shaw and Partners have rated copper explorer Coda as a buy after a step-out hole intersected an exciting 60m zone of chalcopyrite mineralisation at its Emmie Deeps IOCG prospect.
While assays are still pending for this hole, it has extended the strike length of known mineralisation by 60% to 550m.
And with drilling continuing on potential mineralised extensions to the southwest, it’s little wonder Shaw and Partners has maintained its 12 month price target of $2.50 for Coda Minerals (ASX:COD), well above its current price of 73.5c.
“This is based on the existing Elizabeth Creek Resource at 1.08Mt copper equivalent contained copper (net 810,000t copper equivalent assuming 75% interest) and the stock trading at $280/t over the next 12 months, which is the average of its peer group,” Shaw and Partners said in a recent research report.
Catalysts for growth
The investment firm highlighted Coda’s all-scrip takeover offer for Torrens Mining (ASX:TRN), which is its 30% joint venture partner at Elizabeth Creek in South Australia.
“We expect the deal to complete in April/May, once the 90% acceptance condition is satisfied,” it added.
Other catalysts include its expectation resources at Elizabeth Creek will grow substantially as drilling both increases the confidence in Inferred areas of the Emmie Bluff deposit and extends the resource beyond its current limits.
Shaw and Partners is particularly stoked by recent results, which it says are analogous to major producing IOCG mines in the region.
IOCG (iron oxide copper gold) discoveries — while often super deep — are typically big and lucrative.
Coda is also acquiring up to 80% ownership of the Cameron River copper-gold project near Mt Isa, Queensland, where over 600 rock chips have confirmed the tenor of the surface expression of the copper prospects and identified new areas of prospectivity.
The company is currently planning to drill about 50 holes this month to test the Copper Weed/Rebound trend, with the remainder testing other identified prospect areas.
In the heart of IOCG country
Coda’s Elizabeth Creek project is located right in the middle of the Olympic Copper Province, Australia’s most productive copper belt.
It is just 100km south from the giant Olympic Dam IOCG mine, 15km from the Oak Dam West project, and 50km west of the Carrapateena copper-gold project.
The June 2021 discovery of a major IOCG system at Emmie Bluff Deeps served to validate the company’s IOCG exploration model.
In the five months since then, the company has completed nine drill holes each averaging over a kilometre in depth, and continuing to expand the mineralised envelope.
Drilling is also beginning to reveal the presence of multiple stacked lodes and a high-grade, bornite-dominated core surrounded by classic IOCG copper sulphide zonation.
Despite this, exploration at Emmie Bluff Deeps remains at a relatively early stage with significant ongoing work.
This article was developed in collaboration with Coda Minerals, 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.