Aruma Resources (ASX: AAJ) has signed a deal with Canadian exploration company Metals Creek Resources to acquire 85% of the Tillex copper project and 100% of adjoining patent claims in the Timmins minerals district of Ontario.
Discovered by Westmin Resources in 1973, Tillex is a well-defined copper sulphide deposit that has returned large and shallow intersections of high-grade copper and silver from a total 10,283 metres of diamond drilling previous operators have conducted.
It sits on patented claims, providing Aruma full ownership of the land and underlying minerals rights without the need for landowner approvals ahead of on-ground exploration activities.
Aruma has planned a dual exploration and resource development strategy to expand Tillex’s mineralised footprint along strike and at depth and confirm a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE).
Broad Copper Mineralisation
Copper sulphide mineralisation at Tillex commences immediately beneath a shallow overburden of approximately 30m and extends to below 150m depth defined by drilling to date, extending along strike to the north, south, and west beyond the 450m strike length of the existing drill coverage.
Best historical intercepts at the project have been 110m at 1.69% copper and 7.05 grams per tonne silver from 34m including 28.72m at 2.35% copper and 9.52g/t silver from 55m and 29m at 2.64% copper and 12.31g/t silver from 100m, along with 92.05m at 2.12% copper and 12.18g/t silver from 36.95m including 27m at 2.74% copper and 7.45g/t silver from 56m and 29m at 3.26% copper and 20.92g/t silver from 98m.
Tillex is nearby to the city of Timmins and approximately 60 kilometres from Glencore’s Kidd Creek operation, which produces an annual average of 40,000t copper and 70,000t zinc.
The project is directly serviced by road, power, and water, with ready access to mining personnel and services.
Supply-Demand Metrics
Aruma managing director Grant Ferguson said the acquisition comes at a time of strong supply-demand metrics for copper, and would complement the company’s existing Australian copper assets.
“Copper is acknowledged as having a strong, robust long‑term supply-demand outlook amidst growing demand in areas like EVs, wind turbines, solar panels, data centres, and defence,” he said.
“We are excited by the scale, geometry and growth potential of Tillex and we believe there is significant potential for the discovery of additional strata-bound-hosted or volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation along strike and at depth beyond the project’s drill-defined area.”
Aruma plans to commence exploration immediately upon finalising the acquisition, with initial field work to focus on near-surface high-grade targets and moving towards confirmation of the maiden MRE.
Parallel exploration will also target extensions of the current high-grade mineralised footprint and look to define similar parallel structures within the wider project area with the aim of expanding the size and scope of the project.
