Artemis drills into high-grade cobalt, copper and zinc at Whundo

Pilbara explorer Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) has drilled into high-grade cobalt, copper and zinc at its Whundo project near Karratha in Western Australia.

Drilling was undertaken to verify historical results at the Whundo pit and surrounding project area.

Of the 36 holes drilled, initial assays returned up to 1.75% cobalt, 6.55% zinc and 3.18% copper, with depths ranging from 18m to 97m.

Notable drill intersection were 10m grading 0.39% cobalt with the 1m high-grade 1.75% interval, 6m grading 6.55% zinc, and 13m grading 3.18% copper.

“We have now confirmed the presence of significant widths of high-grade copper, cobalt and zinc zones at our Whundo copper mine, which is located only 15km from the Radio Hill plant,” Artemis executive chairman David Lenigas said.

“These holes will be incorporated into a new JORC compliant resource estimate prior to the Radio Hill plant being recommissioned,” Mr Lenigas added.

Once Artemis has received all the assays, the data will be incorporated into an updated resource estimate for the project.

The company anticipates a resource update will be published before Radio Hill is recommissioned in June.

Radio Hill plant

Artemis secured a A$6 million loan late last year to refurbish and upgrade its Radio Hill processing plant.

As part of the upgrade a 500,000 tonne per annum gold gravity circuit will be integrated into the plant in readiness for processing gold from its Pilbara projects.

The gravity circuit is in addition to existing 500,000tpa capacity for treating its other nearby minerals.

Once the refurbishment has been completed, Radio Hill will have 1mtpa capacity and Artemis is aiming to have the plant fully recommissioned by the end of June.

Artemis’ Pilbara tenements

Artemis has numerous tenements prospective for various commodities within a 50km radius of Radio Hill.

The projects are prospective for gold, palladium, platinum, copper, zinc, nickel and cobalt.

Mr Lenigas said several program of works applications were with the Western Australian government to carry out exploration activities across its portfolio.

He said Artemis hoped to be exploring in the next month including its first “meaningful” gold bulk sampling program at its 47 Patch.

Today’s update follows Artemis’ announcement yesterday it had identified nickel targets across 3.5km of strike at its Zac project.

A Gap Geophysics SAM survey was carried out over the region and identified the new nickel targets for follow up exploration.

Artemis’ executive director and head of exploration Ed Mead called the discovery a “potential game changer” for the company and the region.

The company’s share price had lifted 1.21% by mid-day to A$0.167.