Explorers are piggybacking off the buzz around BHP’s globally significant copper discovery in South Australia by fast tracking exploration programs and pegging new ground in the region.

Mining giant BHP announced a spectacular new iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) discovery, 65km southeast of its mammoth Olympic Dam operations in South Australia earlier this week.

Drilling results at the Oak Dam prospect included 180m grading 6 per cent copper, inside a larger 425.7m section grading over 3 per cent copper.

Explorer Riversgold (ASX:RGL) was up about 7.6 per cent to 8.5c in morning trade after telling investors it was “refining targets” at its IOCG prospect for an early 2019 drilling program.

Its Churchill Dam prospect is about 65km southwest of BHP’s Oak Dam discovery.

A map of Auroch's Torrens East project in relation to the Torrens JV, BHP, and Oz Minerals.
A map of Auroch’s Torrens East project in relation to the Torrens JV, BHP, and Oz Minerals.

And yesterday, Auroch Minerals (ASX:AOU) got a significant share price boost when it applied for a large 1,622 square kilometre exploration tenement package in the region, about 50km from Oak Dam.

The Auroch tenements are also adjacent to the Torrens JV between Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS) and Argonaut Resources (ASX:ARE) where drilling is due to start before Christmas.

Auroch says it is reviewing all historical geophysical and geological data with an exploration program planned for early 2019.

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