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Craig Nolan
Copper-gold focused explorer True North Copper is looking to up the exploration ante in the Cloncurry district of northwest Queensland by bolstering the company’s gold inventory from a suite of promising regional targets.
As part of the company’s Discover Regional Targets portfolio, management says it plans to home in on the significant prospectivity of its Wynberg project, which it believes offers the potential for district-scale high-grade gold and copper mineralisation.
Recent geological interpretation, along with prospectivity analysis and interpretation of fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) surveys, has identified multiple gold and copper targets within and beyond the existing resource footprint.
The Wynberg project is part of the company’s wider Cloncurry project and sits near the township of Cloncurry.
Cloncurry is 120km from the renowned mining town of Mount Isa and is accessed by the fully sealed double-lane Barkly Highway.
True North’s Wynberg already hosts a mineral resource of 640,000 tonnes at 2.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for a solid starting base of 56,100 ounces. Notably, the project sits on a granted mining lease and is within easy trucking distance of nearby gold processing infrastructure.
‘Hstoric drilling has already intersected copper-gold mineralisation outside the existing resource model…’
True North Copper managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Mooney
Historic drilling results hint at a serious upside beyond the existing resource, with mineralised hits outside the current model returning 10 metres grading 6.7g/t gold and 0.36 per cent copper from just 29m. Another intercept delivered 12m at 2.4g/t gold and 0.75 per cent copper from 39m.
True North’s Wynberg project includes the Wynberg deposit and the Burnt Ute, Birdvale and Black Siltstone prospects. Historical exploration focused on shallow gold mineralisation, with the bulk of previous drilling to a depth of about 55m.
The company says limited testing at depth leaves significant scope to chase extensions to the mineralised system, both down-plunge and along strike. It also opens the door for the drill bit to uncover additional discoveries across the broader project area.
In particular, management believes there is considerable potential for additional gold beneath the current resource and is excited by large-scale anomalism identified at its Burnt Ute prospect.
An east-west copper-gold geochemical trend stretching for 1.7km has been defined at Burnt Ute, where recent Fixed Loop Electromagnetic (FLEM) surveys have kicked up multiple strong conductive responses in depths greater than 600m.
True North Copper managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Mooney said: “Our latest technical work is showing that the mineralised system extends beyond the current resource footprint. Historic drilling has already intersected copper-gold mineralisation outside the existing resource model, while recent geophysical surveys at Burnt Ute have identified several compelling conductors coincident with strong surface copper-gold geochemistry.”
Mooney added the Wynberg project is an example of how the company can unlock value from its gold assets while maintaining focus on growing its copper resources.
True North is still laser-focused on beefing up its copper stash across multiple deposits at its Cloncurry and Mt Oxide projects.
At Cloncurry, the company’s copper inventory hosted by its Great Australia, Taipan and Wallace North deposits totals a shade under 109,000 tonnes of contained copper metal. A pre-feasibility study is now underway to fast-track development of those resources into a market currently paying top prices for copper and gold.
The Mt Oxide project’s Vero deposit hosts an impressive 220,000 tonnes of copper metal, in addition to more than five million ounces of silver.
Management has developed a three-stage growth strategy for the company. Whilst Cloncurry has been earmarked to deliver near-term cash flow, Mt Oxide will do the heavy lifting on the copper growth front, with its impressive pipeline of regional targets.
True North knows its strength lies in significant, expanding copper resources. However, if it can also inject more gold resources into its total mineral pie, it could rapidly flip the company from junior explorer into a growing developer.
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