Emerging explorer Silver City Minerals might have another Copper Blow project on its hands after uncovering a 25km copper and cobalt belt within its Yalcowinna exploration licence near Broken Hill.
The stock (ASX:SCI) gained as much as 10 per cent on the news to hit an intraday high of 6.7c before closing at 6.1c — up 2 per cent.
The mineralised belt hosts six copper and cobalt prospects, plus two additional zones outside the belt.
Among rock chip samples collected, 58 were 2 per cent copper or more with a maximum of 37.7 per cent at the Fairy Hill prospect.
Meanwhile, 90 rock chip samples contained at least 200 parts per million cobalt with a maximum value of 0.23 per cent at the Parnalleroo prospect.
“This is similar to work carried out earlier this year which unearthed the old Copper Blow project south of Broken Hill and is a testament to the abundance of high quality data hidden away in old reports,” said Silver City managing director Chris Torrey.
“Any one of the prospects outlined here has potential to be another Copper Blow and possibly the first moderm copper or copper-cobalt mine at Broken Hill.”
Silver City will next month start follow-up sampling and geological evaluation over the eight prospects.
The explorer is now undertaking an 11-hole drilling program at its flagship Copper Blow project.
Results from the remaining eight holes are due this month.
Silver City, which listed in 2011 and takes its name from Broken Hill, was initially focused on finding the next big silver, lead and zinc ore body in the region.
But after compiling historic drill hole data for its Copper Blow project – and building a 3D geological model — it became apparent that several very high grade copper and gold intersections appeared in drill cores from exploration dating back to early 1980s.
Silver City has a market capitalisation of $12 million and cash of about $1.2 million following a recent capital raising to fund the current drill program and pursue follow-up programs.