New Frontier Minerals (LSE:NFM) on Wednesday said it has identified a new drill target southwest of its Big One copper deposit after structural mapping and rock chip sampling confirmed the mineralised fault extends beyond the historical pits.
The explorer is advancing the Big One Deposit in Queensland's Mt Isa Inlier, which holds a JORC (2012) inferred mineral resource of 2.1 million tonnes at 1.1% copper for 21,886 tonnes of contained copper.
A field programme conducted between 28 September and 1 October examined a historical costean roughly 400 metres southwest of Big One Pit 1, along strike of the trachyte dyke and fault that host the deposit's mineralisation.
In-situ rock chip samples from the costean returned up to 1.30% copper oxide, with costean rubble samples reaching 1.67% copper oxide and a selective stockpile sample returning as much as 7.76% copper oxide.
Structural measurements taken in the costean, oriented approximately 80 degrees towards 060 degrees, matched the mineralised fault structure already mapped through Big One Pits 1, 2 and 3.
Copper mineralisation at Big One has been traced along at least 600 metres of strike, of which historical open pits have exploited roughly 200 metres, with malachite staining marking the balance.
The company said the consistent structural orientation in the costean supports its interpretation that the copper-bearing fault continues southwest under cover, an area that has not been drill-tested.
"This part of the structure has never been drilled and sits within an area which has already received heritage clearance", said chairman Gerrard Hall, adding that the in-situ samples along the shear returned up to 1.30% copper oxide.
The costean sits within ground cleared by the Kalkadoon people in September 2020, which New Frontier said allows it to be included as a target in the next drill programme at Big One.
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The programme builds on the company's earlier surface sampling, which had defined a copper anomaly indicating mineralisation extends roughly 400 metres southwest of Pit 1 along strike.
New Frontier plans to integrate the new structural and assay data into its Big One geological model to test continuity between Pit 1 and the costean, alongside further geophysical work such as infill induced-polarisation lines or Mobile-MT surveys along the fault.
The costean area will be included as a target in the company's next drill programme at Big One, alongside resource infill targets aimed at upgrading the existing inferred resource.
Big One sits roughly 90 kilometres north of the Mt Kelly processing facility, within an exploration permit the company is developing under a memorandum of understanding with Austral Resources that contemplates toll treatment and profit-sharing, subject to definitive agreements.