ASX listed junior explorer Hammer Metals is planning extensional drilling at its Jubilee copper-gold project in Queensland to follow up some very encouraging high-grade intercepts reported from RC drilling during the first quarter of 2018.
Previous drilling results at Jubilee include 5 metres grading 7.34% copper and 3.75g/t gold from just 35m down hole and 4m @ 6.27% copper and 0.7g/t gold from 59m.
Jubilee is the main project within the company’s Mt Frosty JV managed by Hammer, where it retains a 51% stake in partnership with MIM/Glencore who holds the remaining 49%.
The company is also planning 2 diamond drill holes for metallurgical test work at the project.
The planned drilling programs are scheduled to commence in May.
Additionally, Hammer has completed rock chip sampling at its 100%-owned Jubilee South prospect, 700m south of the main project area.
Exceptional assay results up to 12.4% copper and 0.74g/t gold were returned from the reconnaissance field work on the same geological unit hosting the Jubilee deposit.
Incredibly, the area has never been previously drilled.
At the Lake View prospect, 4.5km southeast of Jubilee, Hammer completed an historical data review and discovered elevated copper-gold results from rock chip samples and limited shallow drilling.
Lake View is on the same structural trend as Jubilee and is located on tenure 100%-owned by the company.
At the Millenium copper-cobalt-gold project JV with Global Energy Metals Corp, a 10-hole program has recommenced after being delayed by wet weather.
Hammer also manages this JV and a number of interesting looking results have been received from drilling already completed at that project.
These include 15 metres grading 0.09% cobalt, 0.33% copper and 0.14g/t gold from 60m down-hole depth and 8m @ 0.12% cobalt, 0.19% copper from 39m, including 3m @ 0.21% cobalt from the same depth.
A higher-grade copper intersection was reported in the same drill hole from 70m depth, returning 6m @ 0.11% cobalt, 0.65% copper and 0.17g/t gold.
The drilling program at Millenium is ongoing and further results will be reported, as they are received.
The current mineral resource at Millenium is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes grading 0.32% copper, 0.11g/t gold and 0.11% cobalt.
Millenium is located about 30km northeast of Jubilee.
At the Serendipity copper-gold play, 10km south along strike from the company’s flagship Kalman project, assay results were received from a 2-hole program completed late in 2017.
Best results include an 11m intersection going 0.85% copper and 0.12g/t gold from 132m down hole, including 3m @ 1.74% copper and 0.26g/t gold from 137m.
Drilling has extended the footprint for copper mineralisation at Serendipity and the zone remains open to the north and south.
To the east of Jubilee, assay results were received from 4 RC holes completed at Hammer’s 100%-owned Elaine-Dorothy project.
Drilling at Jubilee tested near-surface projections of deep high-grade gold and copper intersections, previously identified by Hammer.
Results returned included 5m @ 1.09% copper and 0.14g/t gold from 20m and a long 41m intersection going 0.45% copper and 0.06g/t gold from 14m.
Results will be incorporated into the dataset for Elaine-Dorothy and follow-up work will be outlined following a full data review.
The mineral resource for Elaine-Dorothy stands at 27.7 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper and 0.08g/t gold.
At the company’s important Kalman copper-molybdenum-rhenium-gold deposit, strengthening prices for both copper and molybdenum have the company sharpening its pencil on the economics of developing the project.
Molybdenum is considered an important battery metal and its price is up 62.5% in the first 4 months of 2018.
Globally Kalman is one of the highest-grade molybdenum deposits in the world.
The Kalman mineral resource stands at 20 million tonnes grading 0.61% copper, 0.34g/t gold, 0.14% moly and 3.7g/t rhenium.
Rhenium is used with platinum as a catalyst in the production of lead-free, high-octane fuels and combined with tungsten and molybdenum to make metal alloys used in jet engines.
Regionally, Hammer is on the hunt for more prospective base metal exploration tenements in the Mt Isa district.
The company is currently processing high resolution geophysical data over its Mount Philp iron oxide copper gold target area, 10km north-northwest of Kalman.
The company is using an Earth AI assessment of its exploration data to generate a new suite of copper-gold targets both inside and outside its present tenement package.
This work has already generated a new exploration license application that happened to coincide with a regional electromagnetic anomaly, identified from free Government survey data.
Interpretation of the geophysical data over the Mount Philp target will allow Hammer to prepare a regional soil sampling and reconnaissance mapping program for the area.
The field work is expected to commence shortly.
At Mount Philp, Hammer is targeting iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium of similar style to the Olympic Dam deposit in S.A.
Hammer holds a strategic tenement position covering approximately 3,200 square kilometres east of Mt Isa and is focussed on discovering large, company-making Ernest Henry-style, high-grade copper-gold deposits.
The company’s land holdings are within easy trucking distances of Glencore’s Mt Isa operations and would potentially benefit from the infrastructure provided by its Jubilee JV partner.
This may open up toll treating options for Hammer to investigate low-cost, start-up satellite open pit mining operations in the region.
By Matt Birney
