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Venturex strikes copper at Sulphur Springs, starts Pilbara gold search

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By Lorna Nicholas - 
Venturex copper Sulphur Springs Pilbara gold VXR
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Venturex Resources (ASX: VXR) announced this morning it had intercepted thick copper grading 5.98% at its 100%-owned Sulphur Springs project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

As well as the 14m wide copper interval, drilling at the project also returned narrower copper intercepts grading between 3.49% and 9.31%.

Gold mineralisation was also identified grading 1.9 grams per tonne (g/t) and 186g/t silver.

About 144km south east of Port Headland the Sulphur Springs deposit has been identified as prospective for zinc and copper.

The drill program at Sulphur Springs is testing if the mineralisation is amenable to open pit mining.

Venturex executive director Anthony Reilly said the assay results were “spectacular” and validated the project’s economic potential previously outlined in the Value Engineering Study which was published in February this year.

The study revealed a potential 12-year $601 million pre-tax operation that could produce annually 32,000 tonnes of zinc and 12,000 tonnes of copper.

With zinc at highest price in 10 years and currently experiencing a supply deficit, the project’s economics could be even better than initially thought.

This brings another dimension to the region which is currently experiencing a modern gold rush after several companies, including De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG), Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) and Novo Resources (TSX: NVO) reported recent discoveries of gold conglomerates similar to the South African Witwatersrand gold deposit, which is believed to host the world’s largest known gold reserves.

Venturex also owns the Whim Creek project in the Pilbara which was mined for copper oxide between 2005 and 2010. However, due its proximity to the recent gold finds, Mr Reilly said the company had kick-started initial exploration for conglomerate gold.

“With the ongoing base metal drilling program and an ongoing review of the gold potential at Whim Creek, investors can look forward to strong news-flow from the company,” Mr Reilly added.