The first drill hole in a Zenith Minerals copper push at Develin Creek has intersected massive copper–zinc and iron sulphides over a 16.5m interval.

The diamond drill program is underway at the Sulphide City JORC Mineral Resource within Develin Creek, in Central Queensland.

“This initial drill program at the Develin Creek project kicks off an acceleration of the company’s copper exploration strategy,” Zenith executive chairman Peter Bird said.

“Our objective here is to build upon the current JORC compliant resource at Develin Creek during the rest of the 2021 year.”

He said Zenith had been active with geological mapping and drone magnetic surveying since Christmas to assist with ongoing drill targeting.

“VMS systems such as that at Develin Creek tend to occur in clusters and we are keen to build upon the current metal inventory we currently have,” Mr Bird said.

Related: Copper gleam in Zenith eyes as exploration accelerates

He described copper as the ultimate “green metal” and said it remained essential in the ongoing development of quality infrastructure and transport around the world.

“The copper market is estimated to be very supply constrained over the next few years,” Mr Bird said.

“We are very excited to be in this sector and hence Develin Creek remains a strong pillar of our base and precious metals portfolio.”

The diamond drill campaign at Develin Creek is assessing potential copper-zinc grade “under-call” associated with historic open-hole percussion drilling, which may lift the mineral resource grades.

The core drilling is part of a larger exploration initiative planned for the project including near-resource RC drilling to test geophysical, geological and geochemical
targets.

Zenith plans airborne aeromagnetic and ground IP geophysical surveys over the ground surrounding the new Snook copper-zinc target, prior to RC drill testing.

Diamond drilling at Develin Creek is anticipated to take a further three weeks, and Zenith then plans to relocate the diamond drill rig back to its Red Mountain gold project.

The company said follow-up drilling would continue at Develin Creek after receipt of the assay results.