West Cobar Metals has wasted little time getting the drill rigs turning at its Bulla Park Project, with early assays validating its conviction in the copper model for the New South Wales exploration play.

West Cobar (ASX:WC1) has sunk four diamond holes already since listing in a $5.5 million IPO at the start of October.

As expected, drilling has struck stratabound zones of disseminated copper mineralisation as previously interpreted, with assays from the first hole already returning evidence of copper mineralisation.

That is a hint of the giant sort of copper deposits West Cobar is hunting.

While copper mineralisation in the Cobar region typically comes in the form of higher grade but smaller pipelight sulphides, stratabound deposits are generally lower grade but much larger in size. Examples include Rio Tinto’s new Winu deposit, or Mount Isa in Queensland.

The best intersection from BPD01 included a hit of 17m at 0.13% copper and 7g/t silver.

Meanwhile holes BPD02-04, which West Cobar is yet to receive assays for, all contain zones of sporadic disseminated copper mineralisation with core currently being logged and processed for assaying.

The early success at Bulla Park in the rich Cobar basin, based on the drilling of around 1448m of diamond holes, is just the start. A fifth hole at Bulla Park is in progress and two more are planned at the Mountain prospect, around 7.5km northwest of current drilling.

“We have rapidly instigated the diamond drill program at the Bulla Park prospect, with the first four holes intersecting the mineralised zone close to the positions expected,” West Cobar CEO David Pascoe said.

“While we are in the very early stages of testing a large system, the results from the one hole assayed to date have provided encouraging validation of our modelling.

“As planned, the drill rig will next move to the Mountain prospect, and then Mount Jack, as we look to continue to unlock the potential of this underexplored region.”

Looking to build on historical drilling

While the old timers were unable to find anything of the scale of other mines in the Cobar region, there are plenty of indications there could be something big lurking beneath the surface.

West Cobar’s first hole was punched around 400m southwest of historical hole 19CA002, which returned an interval of 135m grading 0.24% copper, including 33m at 0.45%.

The mineralised zone of the Winduck Formation was intersected in West Cobar’s BPD01 with visible copper mineralisation from 289.0m to 305.0m corresponding to the position of the upper copper horizon projected from previous drilling.

It also contains a 58.2m zone of intense siderite-barite veining and brecciation starting from a hole depth of 168.0m, which according to the company confirms the existence of a large alteration system.

Assays include the aforementioned copper and silver hit from 289m downhole and a strike of 6m of 0.56% Pb and 25g/t Ag from 305m.

More assays, drilling to come

The three other diamond holes tested the lateral extent of the mineralised horizon along strike, both to the northwest and southeast, with all intersecting zones of sporadic disseminated copper mineralisation.

Samples are being prepared for assaying, which will help direct future drilling programs.

The current hole, BPD005, will test the downdip extent of lead-silver mineralisation intersected by previous RAB drilling at shallow depths.

Initial reconnaissance exploration work by West Cobar provides support for the drill testing of West Cobar’s next target, the Mountain prospect, where two diamond holes are planned to test highly anomalous copper-zinc geochemistry of up to 0.35% copper and 0.28% zinc in drill chips from a water bore.

The last prospect West Cobar plans to drill in the current program is Mount Jack, around 120km northwest of Bulla Park, testing an aeromagnetic “bullseye” target where modelling indicates a typical Cobar-style copper-gold target.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with West Cobar, 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.