Maiden drill hole confirms sulphides at QMines’ new copper target at Artillery Road

QMines (ASX: QML) reports that an intersection in the maiden program at Artillery Road has intersected semi-massive sulphides which the company says confirms the potential for a large discovery.

This first of 30 planned drill holes intersected 20m of strong pyrite-pyrrhotite skarn with visible chalcopyrite at 115m down hole.

Samples from this visible sulphide mineralisation, which was identified by an electromagnetic (EM) survey, have been sent off to a laboratory for analysis.

Artillery Road is a recently identified copper target at QMines’ Mt Chalmers copper-gold project in Queensland.

‘Magnificent start’ to drill campaign

“Wow,” said Managing Director Andrew Sparke. “What an excellent start to the regional drilling program.”

These results confirm that a new discovery has now been made at the Mt Chalmers project, he added.

“The questions now are: how big could it get and how many more of these are there.”

Last month QMines announced it had identified three large anomalous copper gossans near its Mt Chalmers flagship project, 17km northeast of Rockhampton.

The large gossan outcrop extends over 700m, with an adjacent zinc soil anomaly.

The landowner concerned has agreed to allow access with compensation terms settled.

Skarn deposits important mineral source

QMines says that geological mapping, logging, EM and high-resolution magnetics all support this new style of mineralisation.

“Globally, skarn deposits are an important source of copper, gold, lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, molybdenum and rare earths,” said QMines.

Australian examples include the historic Red Dome mine in Queensland, Newcrest Mining’s (ASX: NCM) Big Cadia, the historical Browns Creek mine in NSW, and King Island tungsten mine now being re-opened by Group 6 Metals (ASX: G6M).

34 anomalies to be tested

In all, there are 34 individual anomalies identified across the gossans at Artillery Road, which were identified by the EM survey.

The gossanous outcrops, comprising iron oxides with visible copper mineralisation, measure more than 700m in strike and are up to 20m wide at surface.

A further broad anomaly, measuring 400m by 250m, has returned readings of up to 100 parts per million zinc.