Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) has revealed plans to kick-off drilling at Benmara next month, with the program to focus on recently identified copper targets at the project, which is nearby to the company’s flagship Wollogorang project in the Northern Territory.
A recent versatile time-domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey at Benmara has firmed up 4km of strike that could potentially host copper mineralisation.
“The Benmara project, nearby to our Wollogorang copper project, is prospective for sedimentary hosted stratiform copper and other battery metals,” Resolution managing director Duncan Chessell explained.
“The VTEM geophysics survey identified a large-scale conductive zone of 4km in length and at a shallow depth which is our priority drill target,” he added.
These targets will be followed up with a 2,500m reverse circulation drilling program that is scheduled to begin in October and take two weeks to complete.
It is expected assays from the program will be released four weeks later.
In good company
The company noted the target at Benmara was in the same geological setting as Aeon Metals’ (ASX: AML) Walford Creek deposit in the region which has a resource of 40.9 million tonnes at 2.03% copper equivalent and includes 50,300t of contained cobalt.
Mr Chessell said the Benmara drill targets were on the Fish River Fault which is where Walford Creek was formed and is within the same host rocks of the same age.
Additionally there are other majors operating in the same region as Benmara including Teck Resources (NYSE: TECK), BHP Group (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), Redbank Copper (ASX: RCP), and South 32 (ASX: S32)
Benmara copper project
Late last year, Resolution executed an agreement to acquire Benmara from Strategic Energy Resources (ASX: SER).
The upcoming drilling program will assist Resolution in evaluating the asset and underpin its final decision to purchase it outright.
Previous exploration at Benmara has focused on uranium and diamonds with no evaluation for base metals or gold.
The project covers 663 square kilometres and is along strike of Walford Creek as well as Laramide Resources’ (ASX: LAM) Westmoreland uranium deposit.
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