Inca Minerals has reported bonanza copper, lead, zinc and silver grades from sampling at its MaCauley Creek project, 150km north-west of Townsville, as well as anomalous levels of lithium, tungsten and tin.

Outstanding assay results of up to 49 per cent copper, 2,430g/t silver, 43.3 per cent lead and 1.33 per cent zinc were returned after field exploration conducted in November-December 2022, the company said.

They also included up to 345ppm lithium, over 500ppm tin and up to 125ppm tungsten.

These metals are hosted within the same geological units, the Running River Metamorphics and Ewan Formation which host the Mount Moss iron ore, base metals and silver mine just 1km to the north.

Of the 70 samples collected and assayed, more than 35 per cent contained ore-grade copper, silver, lead, and zinc.

Inca Chairman, Adam Taylor said identifying ore-grade base metals and silver in several locations as well as finding the ‘new economy’ metals in anomalous concentrations opened up a new and exciting opportunity within the MaCauley Creek Project area.

“We are looking forward to progressing follow-up exploration programs to build on these significant results.”

The work has been focused on the north-eastern and central parts of the MaCauley Creek project area in outcropping rocks far from historic mine workings.

Inca said more than 75 per cent of the MaCauley Creek tenements had neither been field-checked nor sampled, leaving to door wide open for further discoveries.