Data mining turns up uber-grade copper for Aruma in QLD

Aruma Resources has identified high-grade surface sample assays grading up to 36 per cent copper in data acquired from previous explorers in the company’s Fiery Creek copper project near Mt Isa in Queensland.

The results come from surface rock chip sampling programs carried out across multiple prospects by previous explorers at Fiery Creek which include Sumitomo, Anglo American and MIM (now Glencore).

Very high-grade results have been reported which include two surface rock-chip samples reported by Sumitomo assaying 36 per cent copper at the Fiery Creek prospect. Additionally, Anglo previously reported 25.4 per cent copper at the Twilight prospect and 15.2 per cent copper and 7.5 per cent copper, both from the Hellfire prospect about 1.7km north-west of Twilight.

The Fiery Creek prospect lies on the south-western margin of Aruma’s ground and is about 4.1km south-west of its Hellfire and Twilight prospects. The Mt. Piper Prospect is situated about 20km north/north-west of Fiery Creek.The project has been the subject of surprisingly little exploration, considering it sits in the northern part of the Mt. Isa region and its geology is viewed as analogous to the units in the western fold belt of the Mount Isa Inlier which hosts copper deposits.

Anglo still own most of the ground adjacent to Aruma’s Fiery Creek and the company’s ground has been previously held by MIM (now Glencore), BHP, RIO Tinto and Sumitomo. Despite the august gathering of major explorers and miners, only minimal exploration has been undertaken at the project to date, including extremely limited drilling by Sumitomo and MIM.

Aruma Resources managing director Glenn Grayson said: “The Project has been subject to limited previous exploration from majors such as Sumitomo and Anglo American, amongst others, which delivered encouraging results including very high-grade copper in surface rock chip samples. The underexplored nature of the Project area combined with the positive historic results and favourable geological setting in the prolific Mt Isa minerals district provide an exciting exploration opportunity for Aruma.”

Drilling at Fiery Creek by Sumitomo picked up highly anomalous copper, including 4m at 1.4 per recent copper from 65m and the company also reported 2m at 0.44 per cent copper from 73m in an RC/diamond hole pre-collar. The diamond core in the same hole yielded a further 2m at 0.32 per cent copper from 85m and 1m at 0.68 per cent copper from 109m. Another Sumitomo RC/diamond pre-collar picked up two anomalous copper shows in 2m intervals going 0.67 per cent and 0.61 per cent copper from 67 and 79m respectively, while a further 4m intercept yielded 4m running 0.51 per cent copper from 87m.

An additional diamond hole by Anglo at Fiery Creek cored 1m at 0.44 per cent copper from 117m.

At the Piper prospect, a single diamond core hole produced two 1m intercepts from 126m and 186m assaying 0.36 and 0.65 per cent copper, respectively. An MIM RC hole also jagged zones of supergene copper mineralisation at Piper, including 4m at 0.48 per cent copper from 44m, accompanied by broad zones of anomalous copper in fresh rock.

At Twilight, a deeper diamond hole intercepted 0.5m going 0.35 per cent copper from 255.5m.

The newly identified rock chip samples are notable in that they point to very high grade mineralisation at the project despite the lowish grade tenor of the historic drill holes. Aruma says the results point to a potentially significant copper system and that further exploration is required to define its likely scale and economic potential. The company is further encouraged by visible red-rock hematite alteration in the drilling which it says could be indications of fertility of the system for primary copper potential.

Aruma announced its Fiery Creek project acquisition as part of a larger grab bag of copper and uranium and potentially iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) projects across Queensland and South Australia. Earlier this month Aruma reported significant copper anomalism from its Bortala project about 120km south of its Fiery Creek project which is also in the Mt. Isa copper belt.

The company proposes an initial program of mapping and sampling at its Fiery Creek project and it will follow up previous Government-scale gravity and magnetic surveys. It plans a detailed gravity survey to build a picture of the underlying geology and structures within its ground.

The gravity work will precede follow-up target generation employing detailed magnetic and electromagnetic surveys, prior to a proposed maiden drilling program at Fiery Creek.  

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