The hit came from the first of three diamond holes of a drill program designed to tighten up the higher-grade zones in the central part of Copper Canyon and probe an underlying gold-only zone picked up in desktop studies of historical work.
The big hole cut through green garnet skarn filled with copper and iron sulphide minerals, forming thick, flat layers of mineralisation shaped by natural faults and folds. Beneath the copper-gold zone, a flat gold-only zone remains open along strike, pointing to even greater potential.
This style of mineralisation matches the broader Rogozna system, known for large, skarn-hosted gold and copper deposits.
The company currently has a fleet of seven diamond rigs spinning across Rogozna, with three rigs entirely dedicated to Gradina, as it pushes hard for a maiden mineral resource estimate there later this year. Another rig is on Shanac and the remaining three are focused on discovery drilling across the broader project.
Further assay results from Copper Canyon and other parts of the current 50,000m drilling campaign are expected in the coming weeks.
Strickland has plenty in the kitty, with $52.4 million sitting in cash and liquid assets as at the end of June. This includes 300m shares in Gateway Mining worth $22.5 million, which the company picked up after selling its West Australian Yandal gold project to Gateway at the back end of June.
This war chest has given the company plenty of firepower to drive its aggressive drilling and resource growth strategy without any immediate funding pressure.
With a shallow, thick and high-grade copper-gold intercept now on the books, Copper Canyon may soon shake off its “side project” status and become a key growth pillar in Strickland’s Serbian adventure.
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