Ernest Henry announcement the stuff of ‘super giants’

Evolution Mining's latest drill results announcement from the Ernest Henry operation marks an epoch in the North-West Queensland industry. That comes from chair of Brisbane-based metallurgy and chemical engineering company Core Resources, Jon Loraine. Evolution has reported ‘exceptional’ new exploration results including the highest-grade gold intercept ever drilled at the site. It added to the contention that North-West Queensland was one of the most prospective places on the planet to discover future giant copper and gold ore bodies, Mr Loraine said. Expect more world-leading discoveries from the region that has delivered Mount Isa Mines, the Cannington operation and Century Mine, he said. Core Resources chair Jon Lorraine at Noosa Mining Investor Conference. “A lot of the historical discoveries were made where the rocks outcropped,” he said. “But 80 per cent of that district is under more than 20m of cover, which has always been a bit of a barrier to exploration. “And essentially, you've got these giant ore bodies that have been discovered by outcrop and 80 per cent of the land really hasn't been explored properly, "We are now developing technologies and abilities to explore undercover, and we're starting to see results from that.” The region was going through a renaissance of exploration which was being buoyed by resilient copper and gold prices, Mr Loraine said. “Well, I think copper and gold prices certainly help,” he said. “There's widespread recognition for the prospectivity of the region. “You are seeing major companies, the likes of Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore, of course, taking interest in the area for good geological reasons. It's probably one of the best places on the planet to discover future giant ore bodies. “So these things come together, but you'd have to say some of this exploration is expensive and that makes it challenging for smaller companies that are following in the trail.” The recent announcement by Evolution Mining to the ASX noted the highest grade gold intercept ever drilled on the operation north of Cloncurry of 51.7m at 4.12 grams/t and 1.65 per cent copper. It was very significant, said Mr Loraine who worked on the construction of Ernest Henry. “That was a remarkable discovery at the time because it was a discovery made under black soil plains with no outcrop whatsoever. It was some clever exploration work that found it,” he said. “At the time that we opened the mine, we thought it had a 12-year life and here we are 30 years later, it's probably still got a 40 or 50-year life ahead of it. "And the really interesting thing about it is that as they've got to depth (and) that ore body is, if anything, getting larger in footprint and the grades are holding up or possibly improving. So with increasing depth, there's no sign of it getting any smaller. "Probably the opposite. And it's fully open at depth, so it's got every potential to be another super giant ore body." Evolution reported the results from extensional drilling to the Bert and Ernie Junior ore bodies at the North-West Queensland copper-gold operation located north of Cloncurry. Mineralised intercepts include: 51.7m (43.0m estimated true width) grading 4.12g/t gold and 1.65 per cent copper from 93.5m 37.3m (26.0m etw) grading 1.03g/t gold and 1.59 per cent copper from 469.7m 72.1m (69.0m etw) grading 0.59g/t gold and 0.88 per cent copper from 134.0m

Ernest Henry announcement the stuff of ‘super giants’

Industry Queensland

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