Pic: Schroptschop / E+ via Getty Images
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Special Report: Sultan has uncovered a large magnetic body beneath surface gold and copper anomalies at its aptly named ‘Big Hill’ porphyry target in NSW’s Lachlan Fold.
Sultan Resources (ASX:SLZ) is fast proving its Big Hill porphyry is more than just mineralisation at surface, with a second look at high quality data revealing a “prominent large-scale” magnetic body at depth.
The reprocessing and inversion of a heli-magnetic survey completed by a previous explorer has been interpreted as an underlying intrusive complex that could be the source for high-grade surface mineralisation at the Big Hill and Gowan Green targets.
Sultan is on the hunt for porphyry-style gold-copper and epithermal gold deposits in the Lachlan Fold, which captured headlines after Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) made its now famed Boda discovery and kicked off a land grab and exploration frenzy in the region.
When it comes to porphyry deposits, size counts.
These multigenerational monsters are responsible for ~60 per cent of the world’s copper, most of its molybdenum, and significant amounts of gold and silver.
Their easy-mining large volumes make up for the low grades, typically between 0.3 per cent to 1 per cent copper equivalent.
However, Sultan’s ground appears to also host high-grade mineralisation, with grades of up to 2.5 per cent copper at Big Hill and up to 24.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 26.1 per cent copper at Gowan Green.
The magnetic imaging also shows Big Hill could be comparable in size and possibly even bigger than Newcrest Mining’s (ASX:NCM) large Cadia deposit.
The image below shows the depth and width of Big Hill compared to Cadia:
Sultan says the reprocessing of the previous survey data has greatly enhanced the detail of the Big Hill magnetic complex and highlights internal magnetic lows and potential structural features.
Just check out the differences in the new 3D image (left) compared to the original (right):
“The results of the new magnetic interpretation at Big Hill are particularly encouraging and show a prominent magnetic feature that is spatially related to surface geochemical anomalism providing further support for an intrusive-related source for mineralisation at the prospect,” Sultan told investors.
Following the extremely promising results, Sultan has expanded its geological mapping, soil and rock chip sampling to cover the new targets defined to the east of Big Hill.
Sultan has also completed an induced polarisation (IP) survey over the high priority Ringaroo gold-copper target and the results are pending.
IP surveying will now be undertaken to test the surface anomalies at the Tucklan epithermal gold target.
The results of soil and rock sampling from both Big Hill and Ringaroo are expected within about four weeks.
This article was developed in collaboration with Sultan Resources, 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.
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