Castillo Copper has outlined its plans for back-to-back drilling campaigns at the Arya prospect and Big One deposit at Mount Oxide in North West Queensland.

A 35-hole reverse circulation drilling program is planned to focus on a strike zone at Big One, drilling about 4385m, as well as incremental diamond drilling targeting two drill-holes showing substantial shallow mineralisation.

Previous drilling in the area has produced high-grade intercepts, up to 28.4 per cent copper.

The RC drilling campaign previously announced for the Arya prospect will comprise 3432m over 14 drill-holes, targeting near-surface and deeper geophysical anomalies.

“Behind the scenes our team is working at a frenetic pace to ensure all the logistics are in place, so that we can move ahead with the inaugural Mount Oxide pillar drilling campaign,” Castillo Copper managing directorSimon Paul said.

“For the Arya and Big One Deposit, our objective with the upcoming drilling campaign is to extend known mineralisation and determine potential scalability.

“As such, one of the key focuses is to test how far high-grade supergene ore extends from surface along the strike extent and if this transitions into underlying sulphides at depth.”

It comes as global supply chain concerns, particularly centred on issues in South America, have seen copper prices surge to a two-year high.

The Mount Oxide project is located 150km north of Mount Isa near the old Mount Oxide copper mine.

In an announcement today, Castillo said its current plan would see the drilling campaign commencing at the Arya prospect, once a drilling contractor had been selected and logistics were in place, as all regulatory approvals have been secured.

Phase II of the campaign would then move to the Big One deposit, though this was contingent on final specific approval ratifications from the regulator, which were expected shortly, the company said.