Copper promise shines in first Cockie Creek holes

Cockie Creek is exceeding Superior Resources' expectations as its maiden diamond drilling program at the Greenvale district copper-gold-molybdenum deposit continues apace. Visual observations of the first four resource definition holes generally confirmed a greater extent of copper mineralisation than reported in historical drill hole assays, the company reported today. This included a previously unknown zone of copper mineralisation containing high tenor bornite outside the site's historical mineral resource. Related: Superior gets the drills spinning at Greenvale “We have been very excited to view core from the first holes at Cockie Creek as we have only observed the mineralisation in surface outcrop. And we haven’t been disappointed, with indications so far exceeding our original expectations," Superior managing director Peter Hwang said. “It’s been very encouraging to see broader intersections of copper mineralisation than historically reported, extensive biotite alteration potentially representing intense potassic alteration and in particular, bornite mineralisation towards the bottom of CCDD001, well outside the known copper mineralisation envelope. "It’s one of the few times that we are more than happy to say that, on reflection, we may need to extend the hole further." Cockie Creek is one of several copper prospects within the company's Greenvale project, which also includes Bottletree and Wyandotte as well as the Steam Engine gold project. The program underway will include at least 4700m of diamond drilling. This is planned to include three deep diamond exploration holes targeting a large IP chargeability anomaly located immediately beneath the historical mineral resource at Cockie Creek as well as 11 resource definition and validation holes to establish an upgraded and expanded mineral resource estimate. The site's mineral resource estimate stands at 13Mt grading at 0.42 per cent copper (with a 0.25 per cent cut-off grade). Mr Hwang said that apart from the bornite, there were some significant mineralisation and alteration observations at Cockie Creek that differed to what had been seen at Bottletree. "Most of the Cockie Creek mineralisation is disseminated rather than vein-hosted and the apparent intensity and extent of potential potassic alteration exceeds what has been observed at Bottletree. However, we have only drilled the outer edge of the Bottletree system," he said. “This is our first opportunity to observe the Cockie Creek system in detail and we are still in the process of understanding the geology and mineralisation. "With the rig having just commenced the fifth hole and with each hole averaging about 270m depth, the program is progressing at a fast and efficient pace." He said the first batch of core had just reached Townsville for sample preparation and Superior expected first assays to be returned in about three to four weeks. "Consistent with our overall focus, our primary objective at Cockie is to discover a large, mineralised porphyry system directly beneath the copper-gold mineralisation that has been partially identified at surface," Mr Hwang said.

Copper promise shines in first Cockie Creek holes

Industry Queensland

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