ASX-listed Coda Minerals continues to ring the till with a bevy of high-grade copper and gold intercepts at its Emmie Bluff Deeps deposit, located 100km south of Olympic Dam in South Australia. Latest numbers include 24 metres at 2.2 per cent copper, 0.3 g/t gold and 8.9 g/t silver. The company says peak grades of 15.3 per cent copper and 4.49 g/t gold confirm the deposit’s potential to host a large-scale, vertical mineralised structure of substantial thickness.
Other standout intercepts within the chalcopyrite-bornite-rich sulphide zones include 17.1 metres at 1.2 per cent copper, 0.3 g/t gold and 1.3 g/t silver and 12.9m averaging 3.5 per cent copper, 0.6 g/t gold and 25.4 g/t silver which contained a high-grade 3.2 metre section going 4.9 per cent copper, 1.3 g/t gold and 41.8 g/t silver.
Coda said the intercepts were intersected in two wedge holes, drilled from positions at approximately 500 metres depth down the parent hole. Mineralised intersections in the wedge holes are located 36 to 82 metres away from the parent hole. Assay results from the parent hole were released late last month and included a generous 28.1 metres at 1.21 per cent copper, 0.37 g/t gold and 2.3 g/t silver.
The company has identified two distinct zones of mineralisation from its drilling to date. According to Coda, the upper mineralised zone is dominated by bornite and covellite and the lower mineralised zone is dominated by bornite, with the highest-grade assays reported in the lower zone.
High-grade and low-grade zonation of copper and gold is a key signature of iron-oxide copper-gold, or “IOCG” deposits.
Coda Minerals Chief Executive Officer Chris Stevens said:“These exceptional results further refine and de-risk our exploration program. Building on the previously released assays from our first diamond hole, they give us further encouragement that we are closing in on a large-scale IOCG deposit at Emmie Bluff Deeps. Wedge 2, in particular, is significantly more intensely mineralised than the parent hole, validating our exploration model. These are also the best-ever assays received from the Emmie Bluff IOCG prospect over many years of drilling by previous explorers.”
“Our geological hypothesis is that these wedge holes have intersected more of the ‘apron’ of relatively flat-lying mineralisation that we believe surrounds a sub-vertical mineralising structure located close to DD21EB0018. These new assays demonstrate directionality through increasing copper grade and together with recent drilling data, assist in vectoring us toward a main mineralising structure.”
Diamond core drilling continues to reveal the secrets of the nature of the copper-gold mineralisation at Emmie Bluff. Coupled with ongoing geophysical work, the company said drilling will continue to vector towards what it believes to be a large, brecciated structure hosting high grade copper-gold mineralisation.
Coda has more than enough change rattling around in its tin too, with a cool $21 million raised from an oversubscribed capital injection on the back of the company’s discovery at Emmie Bluff earlier this year. The funds are being used to ramp up exploration with multiple diamond drill rigs continuing to punch holes into the deposit.
According to management, further drilling is designed to test the hypothesis of a large, vertical mineralised structure. The next surface holes are reportedly expected to step the known mineralisation out about 250 metres east and 150 metres south from the upper, bornite-rich mineralised zone .
Results are expected to flow in steadily over the next few weeks and pundits will no doubt be watching closely as the deep-seated mysteries of Emmie Deeps are uncovered.
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