What began in July as a greenfield discovery, just four kilometres northeast of the company’s existing Vero resource zone, has rapidly evolved into a large-scale, high-grade copper-cobalt-silver system that is drawing comparisons to some of the better sediment-hosted deposits in the Mount Isa Inlier.
Aquila was initially one of six priority undrilled prospects to be tested during True North’s reverse circulation (RC) exploration drilling campaign of up to 8000m, which was launched in mid-May 2025.
The journey of discovery began in July when the first of three holes put into Aquila delivered thick, near-surface hits, including a pretty emphatic 30m at 2.45% copper and 6.2g/t silver from 20m in an upper zone and a lower zone of 98m at 0.61% copper, 0.06% cobalt, and 2.0g/t silver from 57m.
Among two other hits of better than 1.43% copper in the lower zone, the best included sub-zone delivered 4m at 1.62% copper, 0.20% cobalt and 3.9g/t silver from 119m.
The second Aquila discovery hole intersected shallow, thick, high-grade copper zones to deliver an exceptional broad zone of 145m at 0.75% copper, 0.12% cobalt and 2.9g/t silver from 28m, containing multiple high-grade sub-zones, such as 53m going 1.18% copper, 0.13% cobalt and 3.6g/t silver from 86m.
That last interval also included multiple sub-zones of which the best ran 5m at 4.30% copper, 0.52% cobalt and 15.9g/t silver from 124m.
The third of the Aquila discovery holes confirmed the system at depth, intersecting 34m going 0.71% copper, 0.05% cobalt and 2.5g/t silver from 146m, including higher-grade zones of 16m assaying 1.25% copper, 0.01% cobalt and 1.9g/t silver from 163m that includes 1m going 4.68% copper, 0.01% cobalt and 6.2g/t silver from 164m.
In August, the company’s extended induced polarisation (IP) geophysics defined a 1.3-kilometre-long chargeability/conductivity trend and three new drill-ready parallel trends at Aquila, Apollo and Acanthis.
Interestingly, all three trends display comparable or stronger geophysical anomalism than that associated with the immediate Aquila discovery area, suggesting further extension potential.
The 26-hole Phase 2 program – focussed on testing shallow geophysical responses along the Aquila trend – is now completed for 7074m, and the laboratory has begun delivering some the best results to date, emphatically confirming the northern extension, with more results to come.
True North believes that multiple high-grade shoots occupy a broad envelope of copper-cobalt-silver mineralisation and that additional high-grade shoots remain to be discovered.
Importantly, Aquila appears to feature good grade, scale and continuity and the company sees that as being potentially repeated along the trend which already hosts its existing 15 million tonne Vero resource containing about 220,000 tonnes of copper, a mere 4km south along the primary fault corridor from Aquila.
With the Phase 2 program wrapped up and several batches of samples still in the laboratory, True North is already planning its next steps to keep the momentum rolling, with follow-up drilling slated for Aquila and extensional IP geophysics along the Aquila-Apollo-Acanthus parallel trends.
The design of drilling to probe the nearby Apollo and Acanthis trends will be informed by the pending results from drill sample that have already been submitted for analysis.
In a copper market that continues to strengthen, True North’s Mount Oxide project is delivering one discovery after another in one of Australia’s most strongly endowed copper provinces.
With 700m of strike and thick zones of better than 2% copper and the ore body still wide open in strike and depth, True North’s Aquila zone is rapidly shaping up as a potential company-maker.
With sample analyses from the final 12 holes for 3313m awaited and expected throughout the remainder of the year, the True North story looks like it has plenty of chapters left to write and there is little doubt that the drill rig will return once its new targets are finalised.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
