QMines has kicked off its maiden drilling program at the Develin Creek copper project, planning about 60 reverse circulation holes.

The company acquired an interest in the project, about 90km west of its flagship Mount Chalmers copper site, in a $4.5 million deal with Zenith Minerals last year.

Its initial drilling program will focus on infill and step-out drilling at the Sulphide City, Scorpion and Window deposits, aiming to improve confidence in these resources and convert inferred material to the indicated JORC category.

“Now that the Mount Chalmers pre-feasibility study has been delivered, the company will focus on upgrading additional resources at the Develin Creek project whilst concurrently investigating additional satellite targets identified via the electromagnetic survey conducted last year around Mount Chalmers,” QMines executive chairman Andrew Sparke said.

“These targets remain a high priority and the Company expects to expand the drilling operations at the Artillery Road prospect in Q3-2024.”

QMines announced last August that it had signed a term sheet to acquire an initial interest of 51 per cent of the Develin Creek project from Zenith and retains the right to acquire the remaining 49 per cent interest within 12 months.

In September, the company completed a new mineral resource estimate for the site, standing at 3.2Mt at 1.05 per cent copper, 1.22 per cent zinc, 0.17g/t gold and 5.9g/t silver.