- 01BOA hits 32m at 1.91% copper at Limestone Bore.
- 02Drilling identifies two copper-bearing structural trends.
- 03Blind target 7km west expands Neds Creek’s exploration pipeline.
Boa Resources (ASX: BOA) believes maiden aircore drilling at the Limestone Bore target has strengthened the district-scale potential of its Neds Creek copper project in Western Australia.
The 18-hole campaign for a total of 1,355 metres confirmed two structural trends including substantial shallow high-grade copper mineralisation and deeper silver-bearing intersections associated with carbonaceous structures similar to that observed at the advanced Ricci Lee and Rooneys prospects.
Preliminary interpretations identified the first east-west striking, north-dipping structure associated with high-grade mineralisation, incorporating a new intersection of 32m at 1.91% copper from 27m including 18m at 3.03% alongside a historical intersection of 10m at 1.28% copper.
The second north-northwest striking structure was interpreted from high-grade intersections such as 29m at 1.73% copper from 3m including 9m at 4.77% with a second, deeper mineralised zone of 13m at 0.88% copper from 52m including 3m at 2.40%.
Shallow Prospect
Limestone Bore is located more than 7 kilometres west of other known mineralisation at Neds Creek, in an area largely covered by a veneer of transported palaeo-drainage and sheet wash sediments.
Unlike the outcropping mineralisation at Ricci Lee and Thaduna, the prospect was discovered through shallow geochemical drilling which is believed to highlight the potential for further “blind” discoveries.
Together with recent drilling success at Ricci Lee and Rooneys, the Limestone Bore results reinforce the potential for additional copper systems across the basin-scale project’s extensive 1,378-square-kilometre tenement package.
Further geological interpretation will focus on refining the structural model and determining the most effective orientation and spacing for follow-up drilling to test the continuity and extensions to mineralisation.
Multiple Copper Systems
Managing director Graeme Purcell said the maiden results added another priority target to the growing exploration pipeline at Neds Creek.
“We are now seeing encouraging high-grade copper intersections at a prospect more than 7km away from our recent success at Ricci Lee and Rooneys, and we believe this is an important development as we continue to test the potential for multiple copper systems across the project,” he said.
“Limestone Bore is particularly interesting because much of the area is concealed beneath shallow transported cover, [and] we now have a strong pipeline of exploration results and targets to evaluate with aircore assays still to come from the Blockley, Ward, and Mueller prospects.”
“Our focus is on building an understanding of the scale and continuity of mineralisation across Neds Creek and prioritising the most promising targets for follow-up drilling later this month.”
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