True North Copper has kicked off drilling at Great Australia Mine (GAM) as part of a 15,000m program planned across its Cloncurry and Mount Oxide projects.

Bullion Drilling Co was selected to carry out the initial 11,000m of drilling at GAM, Cloncurry, and Mount Oxide, 140km north of Mount Isa.

Meanwhile True North has an electromagnetic geophysics program underway at its Wallace North copper-gold resource.

This aims to identify targets along strike from the resource there and confirm and extend anomalies in historic geophysics to define new targets for drill testing.

It comes after the company clawed back from administration last year with a revised business plan.

This saw it pause the mining and processing activities underway at its Cloncurry operations and turn its focus to exploration and evaluation activities.

“The commencement of our drilling program is a pivotal milestone in True North’s strategic growth and consolidation plans,” managing director Bevan Jones said.

Related: True North shores up funding for fresh start

“This drilling at GAM marks a significant next step in our extensive exploration program across our Cloncurry and Mount Oxide projects, where we believe substantial resource expansion potential exists.

“Our targets are highly prospective and underexplored, with compelling geophysical attributes indicating the potential for large-scale company transformative discoveries.

“The results from this drilling program will be key to unlocking True North’s potential and strengthening its position as a leading player in this historic copper region.

“Our team has worked hard over the past months finalising site preparations and clearances in readiness for drilling to commence. Despite challenging weather conditions in the north-west region, we have remained ready and on schedule.”

The planned 15-hole RC drill program at GAM mining leases will test targets that TNC identified in its Induced Polarisation (IP) programs from 2023 and 2025.

These targets include:

• Orphan Shear deposit – down plunge extensions of the Orphan Shear deposit.
• Taipan North – potentially significant extensions of the Taipan ore body to the north.
• Copperhead – coincident geophysics with surface mineralisation to the north of the previously planned GAM cutback.
• Paddock Lode South – strong geophysical anomaly potential represents a new mineralised zone at south of the Paddock Lode pit.
• Whip, Coppermine Creek, Red Belly and Python – a series of large-scale geophysical targets with chargeability signatures that are highly analogous to known mineralisation.