Metal Bank has submitted an application for an additional mining lease at the Millennium cobalt-copper-gold project in North-West Queensland.

This 159ha area includes the ‘Gap Zone’, a previously inaccessible 200m x 200m area not included in the project’s current mineral resource estimate.

Metal Bank believes granting of the Gap Zone will positively impact the project economics and
the prospect of moving Millennium to production.

It comes as it begins diamond drilling at Millennium as part of its $250,000 Queensland Government-funded Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) program targeting graphite.

The project stands amid a raft of graphite sites, including the Corella, Burke and Mount Dromedary deposits.

Related: Millennium core review comes up trumps for graphite

“MBK has commenced the next phase of project development for Millennium aimed at further defining the graphite mineralisation which sits on top of and adjacent to the copper-cobalt-gold resource,” company chair Ines Scotland said.

“This graphite potential, along with the mine pit extension into the Gap Zone will significantly increase the project’s economics.

“Millennium is an important critical minerals project in a readily accessible mining area near Cloncurry, Queensland, located due south of Harmony’s recently approved $2.6 billion Eva copper-gold development project and proximal to Austral’s Rocklands copper project, which is currently planned for restarting operations in mid 2027.

Related: Harmony presses ‘go’ on Eva copper mine

“With the recent shareholder approval and our anticipated acquisition of the Hastings Technology Metals (HAS) gold assets, MBK is well-positioned to execute its strategy to push toward near-term production from its Western Australian and Queensland resource portfolio.”

Metal Bank holds a 51 per cent interest and the right to earn up to 80 per cent of the Millennium project, which holds a 2012 JORC inferred resource across five granted mining leases.

The project’s cobalt-copper-gold mineral resource stands at 8.4Mt at 1.23 per cent CuEq.

Mteal Bank said RC drilling of the Gap Zone in 2013 and 2014 demonstrated strong mineralisation continuity on the Millennium trend, including downhole results of 23m at 0.48 per cent coper, 0.16 per cent cobalt and 0.16g/t gold from 16m; and 13m at 0.53 per cent copper, 0.30 per cent cobalt and 0.24g/t gold from 40m.

The additional lease Millennium is seeking also encompasses further area to the west to cover potential extensions of graphite mineralisation, and to the east for operational infrastructure.

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