New World Resources to re-start drilling at Antler copper deposit

New World Resources (ASX: NWC) has confirmed it will resume drilling at the high-grade Antler copper project in the US next month.

Drilling to date at the Arizona located project has been limited to just 600 metres of strike at the deposit.

Shallower targets which are yet to be tested include the north-eastern and south-western extensions of a 1500 metre-long copper-in-soil anomaly and a series of very strong coincident copper-in-soil IP (induced polarisation) chargeability anomalies extending over more than 3000m of strike.

These include the Rattlesnake Ridge, Copper Knob, Insulator and West World prospects.

Despite the presence of historical workings at surface, there are no records of any previous drill tests in the area.

New World has appointed a drilling services contractor to test all shallow and high-priority targets including an IP anomaly at the nearby Javelin volcanogenic massive sulphide project which will be explored for the first time and is expected to become a potential source of satellite ore to Antler.

Development pathway

During the past eight months, New World has evaluated the optimal development pathway for Antler, where the mineral resource estimate currently sits at 11.4 million tonnes grading 2.1% copper, 5.0% zinc, 0.9% lead, 32.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.36g/t gold (11.4Mt at 4.1% copper equivalent).

The deposit remains open at depth, with some of the better assays to date being returned from some of the deepest holes.

Best intersections have been 10.8m at 2.0% copper, 6.7% zinc, 0.7% lead, 22.6g/t silver and 0.2g/t gold from 934m; and 15.9m at 4.8% copper, 10.9% zinc, 0.8% lead, 42.6g/t silver and 0.52g/t gold from 948.8m.

Despite an opportunity to grow the resource at depth, New World deferred the drilling of down-dip extensions at Antler’s Main and South shoots to focus on delineating high-quality satellite targets which might house additional shallow resources.

With success at some or all of these targets, the company could potentially grow the project’s existing mineral resource and consider a staged expansion of the Antler processing facility to extend the life of the mining operation.

Drilling re-start

Managing director Mike Haynes said the company was pleased to be planning a drilling re-start.

“Having focused on mine development and permitting work over the past few months, we are excited to be planning holes again in advance of resuming exploration drilling in the very near term,” he said.

“Over the past 12 months, we have delineated some very high-quality, completely-untested targets which could further enhance the robust economics of developing the Antler deposit… we are excited to be on the cusp of drill-testing these targets for the first time.”