Xtract Resources (XTR ) said assay results received from its Phase 1 diamond drilling on the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project has confirmed ‘encouraging mineralisation’.
The phase one diamond drilling programme was conducted by Xtract at the Racecourse Mineral Resource within the Bushranger Project which is one of the largest undeveloped porphyry copper-gold deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, Australia.
The objective of the diamond drilling programme is to continue to extend the highest-grade copper-gold intersections to the northwest, beyond the limits of previous drilling as well as to investigate the copper-gold zonation within the Racecourse Mineral Resource.
The assay results confirm that the mineralisation at the site forms a very substantial copper-gold mineral system and there is significant potential to expand the Mineral Resource.
The current mineral resource at the racecourse is estimated as 71Mt @ 0.44% copper and 0.064g/t gold, at a 0.3% cut-off and classified as Inferred in accordance with JORC (2012).
The group said the higher-grade sections of mineralisation correspond well to those reported from drilling previously undertaken by Anglo American Exploration Australia Pty Ltd in 2014 and 2015 which suggests ‘good lateral continuity’ to the higher-grade zones.
In addition, the overall mineral intersection and higher-grade zones in drill hole BRDD-20-001 was found to compare ‘very favourably’ with intercepts previously reported by Alkane Resources Limited for their Boda copper-gold discovery located 170km from Bushranger.
Shares in Xtract Resources have seen an over four-fold increase in value since the beginning of the year. The stock was trading 4.89% higher this morning at 7.3p following the news.
Commenting on today’s encouraging assay results,Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of Xtract Resources stated that, "The assay results from the first hole at the Racecourse deposit are exciting in that they confirm mineralisation for almost a kilometre down-plunge.
The overall grade of 0.33% CuEq is very pleasing and I am particularly encouraged by the grade uniformity over the entire intercept. Results from the remaining holes will give us more information about the thickness and across-strike continuity of the mineralisation.”
He added, “The assay results from the initial hole compare very favourably with results reported from Alkane's Boda project and the bias towards copper at Racecourse is welcome, as it is a metal forecast to be in strong demand for years to come.
I am also encouraged by the spread of molybdenum values throughout the drill interval - while these might not represent a financial credit to the project, they are good evidence for extensive development of porphyry systems in the region.”
The company told investors that assay results are expected to be received for the second hole (BRDD-21-002) of the Racecourse Prospect Phase One drilling programme shortly.
Bird said drilling so far has indicated the potentially significant scale of the Racecourse deposit and that Xtract will shortly be entering a phase of 3-D modelling and will undertake further geophysical surveying to aid planning for the Phase Two drilling programme.
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