DGO Gold hits ‘Zambian-style’ copper, fulfills first stage of earn-in with Investigator Resources

Copper, cobalt and silver has been intersected at the Pernatty project in South Australia where explorer DGO Gold (ASX: DGO) is earning an 80% stake from silver play Investigator Resources (ASX:IVR).

The scale of the project has been evinced by the drilling program which targeted three areas 30km to 40km apart — and each of the three targets has returned copper, cobalt and silver intercepts.

This maiden drilling program of 44 holes was aimed at finding Zambian Copper Belt (ZCB) style mineralisation, with ZCB specialist Dr Stuart Bull being the company’s consultant on the project.

Initial results came back with one intersection of 4m returning 0.8% copper equivalent (0.41% copper, 0.04% cobalt, and 10.6 grams per tonnes silver) including a 1m interval at 2% copper equivalent.

Another hole assayed 6m at 0.5% copper equivalent, with a 1m interval at 1% copper equivalent.

Now in ‘strong position’ for copper find

Pernatty is located 100km northwest of Port Augusta and 55km from the Carrapateena copper-gold mine operated by OZ Minerals (ASX: OZL).

DGO chairman Eduard Eshuys said the drilling has confirmed the potential for a Zambian-style model of mineralisation in this part of the Stuart Shelf.

“DGO’s strategic landholding of greater than 100km of strike of the target zone puts us in a strong position to identify significant copper mineralisation in the follow-up drilling,” he added.

The best intersections were at the Moseley prospect where three holes over 1.5km all returned 1m assays greater than 0.5% copper equivalent.

Last September, DGO signed a farm-in deal with Investigator Resources that specified an exploration spend of $6.35 million over five years to earn an 80% interest.

Stage 1 specified DGO spending $350,000 within 12 months, that condition now having been met.

The agreement with Investigator increased DGO’s landholding on the Stuart Shelf to 4,353sq km.

Sixteen exploration licences cover the area, with five of them forming part of the farm-in with Investigator.

Stuart Shelf hosts several major deposits

Deposits on the Stuart Shelf, in the Eastern Gawler Craton, include the stratiform copper-cobalt deposits at Myall Creek, Mt Gunson and Emmie Bluff, BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Olympic Dam copper-gold- uranium mine, and a number of other copper-gold deposits including Oz Minerals’ Prominent Hill and Carrapateena deposits.

Pernatty is just another project in Australia that was drilled and abandoned, only to get a second life in recent years.

The former British-owned minerals house Selection Trust intersected 1.9m at 1.7% copper from 185m down hole when exploring for sedimentary copper immediately east of Pernatty in 1976.

This result was not adequately followed up before the tenement was relinquished in 1978.