GBM Resources says an exploration budget of $750,000 has been approved for its Cloncurry farm-in projects, with field work expected to commence in the next quarter.

The joint venture partners are targeting copper and gold in the region north of Glencore’s Ernest Henry Mine, including the Mount Margaret and Bungalien projects.

Nippon Mining of Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, currently holds a 53.9 per cent interest in the farm-in/joint venture.

GBM remains the manager of the joint venture and retains a free carried interest of 10 per cent through to completion of a bankable feasibility study.

“GBM is particularly pleased to continue its long and constructive relationship with JXNMM in exploring for copper and gold in the prospective Cloncurry region, part of Queensland’s North-West Mineral Province and home to a number of world-class copper and other base metal deposits,” GBM managing director and chief executive officer Peter Rohner said.

“The Cloncurry projects remain in line with GBM’s focus on gold and copper as the key commodities to drive the company’s growth into the future.”

Total project expenditure to date has been $16.9 million exploring for Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) and more recently Iron-Sulphide-Copper-Gold (ISCG) style deposits.

GBM completed a successful trial Moving Loop Electro-Magnetic survey (MLEM) program in 2019 at Mount Margaret.

The company said the MLEM survey planned for this year would follow up on that work and was planned to produce detailed ground EM data over selected target areas.

The $750,000 budget will also include an allowance for limited drill testing of priority targets generated by the EM.

GBM also holds the Brightlands Milo and Mayfield IOCG projects in the North West Mineral Province.

However its major focus is in Central Queensland’s Drummond Basin, where it is working to establish a plus 1-million-ounce resource base around the flagship Mount Coolon gold project and other assets including the Yandan gold project.