Sparking success: True North’s Queensland copper comeback

• True North Copper went into voluntary administration last year, spurring a change in focus across its Queensland copper interests
• The company decided to extensively explore its Mt Oxide and Cloncurry copper projects, with two campaigns hitting significant copper-cobalt-gold and copper-cobalt-silver mineralisation
• The copper player is backed by Glencore, which currently holds a ~10% stake

True North Copper (ASX:TNC) has transformed from small-scale producer into one of Queensland’s most promising explorers. The company now targets growth across all its assets amid fervent copper demand.

The company’s change in direction began when it restructured during voluntary administration last year and shifted focus from small-scale production at the Cloncurry copper project, to include large-scale exploration across its extensive lease packages within the historical Cloncurry district as well as its greenfields Mt Oxide project north of Mt Isa.

Within a few months, two separate drilling campaigns struck copper-cobalt-gold and copper-cobalt-silver mineralisation, marking a dramatic turnaround and swiftly validating the company’s strategic pivot.

Century-old Great Australia mine still delivering

The first discovery was made at the Great Australia Mine (GAM), part of the wider Cloncurry landholding, when a 17-hole 3450m reverse circulation drilling program uncovered new zones of copper-gold-cobalt mineralisation outside of existing resources.

A 14m intersection was made at the Copperhead discovery, grading 0.81% copper, 0.12g/t gold and 749ppm cobalt from 68m, while another standout 12m intersection was returned at Coppermine Creek, hitting 0.65% copper, 0.16g/t gold and 137ppm cobalt from 142m.

At Paddock Lode South, drilling confirmed extensions about 100m from the pit with shallow intercepts returning up to 6m at 0.63% copper and 0.15g/t gold.

Interestingly, although GAM has a well-explored, 100-year plus history, the latest findings still caught the company by surprise – potentially resulting in an increase to mine life, delivering more copper and opening the door to a more efficient mine plan.

Aquila – a game-changer for Mt Oxide

The excitement didn’t end there, though.

Over at the Mt Oxide asset, TNC unearthed a new, large-scale copper-cobalt-silver system at the Aquila prospect – one of six, previously undrilled prospects currently being tested.

An 8000m RC campaign kicked off in mid-May with the first three holes of five uncovering significant mineralisation and confirming the substantial copper-cobalt-silver potential.

TNC managing director Bevan Jones noted at the time the company was seeing a 150m-wide, continuous mineral system with high-grade cores and strong geochemical signatures starting from shallow depths.

“What makes this even more exciting is that Aquila sits over 4km northeast of our existing Vero resource with a big fairway in between,” he said.

“This strongly suggests we’ve found a much larger, previously undiscovered deposit within the broader Mt Oxide system.

“We firmly believe Aquila has the genuine potential to evolve into a major new resource, completely transforming the Mt Oxide project.”

Copper exploration push paying dividends

Speaking with Stockhead, Jones said the change in strategy and focus on the exploration front has been very successful.

“It’s proving that if you put some effort into the exploration side of things, it pays off when you’re exploring the right area and using the right techniques,” he said.

Although the projects have their unique characteristics and differ in nature and strategic direction, True North is determined to push ahead on both paths at the same time.

Mt Oxide is a highly prospective, greenfields site with a medium to long-term production horizon, featuring a 15.03Mt resource at the Vero deposit, grading 1.46% copper, 10.59g/t silver and 9.15Mt at 0.23% cobalt.

The project hasn’t been systematically explored for the past 20 years despite its location in the Mt Isa Inlier, just 20km to the south of 29Metals’ (ASX:29M) processing facility at Capricorn Copper.

By contrast, the Cloncurry copper asset is based on a hub and spoke model with multiple operations within 30km of the company’s crushing, leaching and processing facilities, right next to the historical mining town of Cloncurry.

It’s a ready-to-go mining solution when the time comes so that True North can, without a lot of lead time, start operations again.

Jones explained that the original plan was to mine the three main pits and nearby satellite pits within the Cloncurry asset at an annual rate of 1Mt to produce about 6000t of copper per year for a 4.6-year period.

But since recapitalisation, True North’s thinking has changed, aiming for a larger operation, a longer mine life and higher processing volumes.

“One of the main things that we’re going to be looking into until the end of this year is a mining research study, to see what needs to be done to increase the scale of the operation ensuring its success,” he said.

Glencore backs True North Copper

In the background, Queensland’s resources scene is also evolving, with Glencore preparing to mothball its Mount Isa copper operations, pulling a big chunk of copper from the market and leaving its smelter short.

The multinational has been divesting its copper projects in North West Queensland for years, with the most recent sale being that of Ernest Henry to Evolution in 2022.

“They are basically saying the future for them isn’t necessarily as a copper miner in the region, they are focused more on metal trading – that is their primary function,” Jones said.

“What they are doing now is putting their hand on the metal in other ways.

“They have been actively involved in investing in smaller players around the region, using external organisations to supply the concentrate,” he said.

“That way they can continue to operate the smelter, which is what they believe is their core business.”

True North Copper is one of a few companies in a tolling and offtake agreement with the ~$34bn commodity trading and mining company.

When TNC underwent its recapitalisation process in late 2024, Glencore took about a 10% stake in the company and signed an offtake agreement to buy 100% of copper from True North’s Cloncurry mine.

“All copper concentrate that we make from our Cloncurry operations is under contract to sell to Glencore,” Jones said.

“And they have done that with several other copper producers as well – Carnaby Resources have a very similar offtake agreement and most recently they have entered into agreements with Austral Resources to secure offtake.”

The deal is a major vote of confidence in True North Copper and its projects, making it a notably more attractive opportunity in the resurgent junior copper space.