Mining

Anax Metals identifies new large-scale prospects at historic Whim Creek copper-zinc project

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By Imelda Cotton - 
Anax Metals ASX ANX Whim Creek base metal targets

Anax Metals managing director Geoff Laing describes the new targets “very encouraging” with near mine potential.

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Resource definition work by Anax Metals (ASX: ANX) at the Whim Creek copper-zinc project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has prioritised two large-scale, base metal prospects for further exploration.

Known as Manhattan and Federal City, the prospects are located within a 1 kilometre radius of the old Whim Creek open pit and were defined from historical soil geochemistry, geological mapping and geophysical surveys.

Both have been subject to limited previous drilling.

The prospects were verified through a project-wide 3D structural model, which also pointed to the potential for further discoveries in the area.

Anax said the recently-compiled Whim Creek resource measuring 2.4 million tonnes at 0.95% copper, and 165,000 tonnes at 3% zinc highlighted the targets’ near-mine potential.

The company said it would advance Manhattan and Federal City “as a matter of priority”, in conjunction with a planned update to the project’s scoping study announced in August.

Growing the resource

Managing director Geoff Laing said the new prospects demonstrate potential to grow the defined base metal resources at Whim Creek.

“While updates to the scoping study are ongoing, we will work in parallel to test the potential of these near-mine targets with the aim of extending the project’s resource base to feed directly into any development scenario,” he said.

“We will also continue to work on gold, platinum and nickel-cobalt targets to evaluate Whim Creek’s exploration potential to the fullest extent.”

Ore horizon lithologies

The Manhattan prospect is located along strike of the Whim Creek open pit, where geological mapping in the 1970s identified “ore horizon” lithologies similar to that mapped within the Whim Creek deposit.

The lithologies coincide with highly anomalous base metal soil geochemistry in historical soil sampling, which included copper-in-soil values of up to 120 parts per million from a background of 30ppm; zinc-in-soil values of up to 225ppm from a background of 40ppm; and lead-in-soil values of up to at 440ppm from a background of 20ppm.

Systematic, grid-based bedrock sampling was also reported, with peak historic results of 640ppm copper, 1,350ppm lead and 3,400ppm zinc.

Various geophysical structures have also been historically reported, including a well-defined EM37 TEM (time-domain electro-magnetic) conductor and numerous IP (induced polarisation) chargeability anomalies, which remain untested.

Highly anomalous values

At Federal City, two separate historical soil geochemical surveys confirmed highly anomalous copper-lead-zinc-silver values over an area measuring 1,000m in diameter, but have not been adequately followed up.

IP surveys from 1989 generated numerous chargeability anomalies associated with the soil geochemistry and the project’s prospector shafts and pits which have shown abundant malachite (copper-carbonate) staining.

Anax said broad-spaced historical rotary airblast drilling at Federal City did not penetrate recent sediments due to waterlogging, so the prospect retains “considerable potential”.

Next steps

Gridded exploration soil sampling using the CSIRO’s UltraFine+ technology has been completed at Manhattan and Federal City to verify historical anomalies, for which results are still pending.

Anax said it would conduct verification rock chip sampling and subsequent drilling as warranted, following further geological interpretation.

Exploration will progress in parallel with a number of key feasibility workstreams including ongoing metallurgical testwork and geotechnical studies.

The Whim Creek project is 80% owned by Anax with the remaining 20% owned by Venturex Resources (ASX: VXR).