The Horry Copper Project is located approximately 90km to the south-west of Halls Creek where little meaningful exploration has occurred despite it being located on the southern end of the stratigraphy that hosts the Mt Angelo (Cazaly Resources Limited) and Koongie Park (Anglo Australian Resources NL) copper deposits to the north. The Horry Copper Project boasts high grade Cu-Au-Ag gossanous mineralisation up to 60m long and 2.4m wide with broader mineralization existing over 7.4m width and 900m along shear zone with rock chip results of up to 60% Cu. Multiple historical high-grade copper and gold workings occur across the project area.
The rock chip samples collected returned excellent results for both copper with supporting gold, and gold from the respective prospect areas. The Horry Horse prospect is a structurally controlled mineralised zone on the tenement’s southeastern corner, which returned copper and gold results over 400m strike length that was sampled, remaining open to the northeast and southwest. Further sampling is required to delineate the overall size potential of the mineralised footprint, which will be tested during the follow up field program.
High-grade copper has been identified at the Horry Horse prospect area including results such as 3.67% Cu, 3.13% Cu and 1.12% Cu. These results demonstrate the fertility of the geological environment and highlight the significant exploration upside that exists at the project. Askari’s Horry tenement (E80/5313) also hosts several historic gold workings. The mapping program collected rock chip samples from in situ outcrops of quartz veins and structures located a considerable distance from the existing known workings, which will be a focus of future exploration programs.
A location diagram of the Horry project is illustrated below.
Figure 1: Location map of the Horry Copper-Gold Project, Western Australia
During the Quarter ended 31 March 2022, the Company received the assay results from its Phase II field exploration campaign that was completed at the Company’s 100% owned Horry Copper-Gold Project located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Company completed mapping over the tenement, during which several rock chip samples were collected to understand controls on the mineralisation.
In addition to high-grade copper, the mapping and sampling campaign also identified a several areas of high-grade gold including 13g/t gold from an outcropping vein-set approximately 300m north of the historic “Martins Find South” prospect, as well as results of 5.6g/t and 1.1g/t gold from the Mt Dockrell tailings area which is approximately 450m along strike to the southeast of the historic “Western Lead” workings.
These results demonstrate the potential continuity of the mineralisation across the project area. The Company is encouraged by these results as they highlight that the depositional environment hosting the Horry project is mineralised and the Company is exploring in the right locations. These results will be analysed and further compiled together with other historic data with additional fieldwork and geophysical surveys currently being planned for the Horry copper-gold project.
Phase II Exploration Campaign
During the Quarter ended 31 March 2022, the Company completed a Phase II exploration campaign at the Horry Copper Project after the encouraging results from the first phase of exploration. The Company returned to the Horry project for a second phase of follow up sampling and geological reconnaissance.
Horry Horse
The first phase of exploration conducted by the Company (Phase I) included results of 3.67% Cu, 3.13% Cu and 1.12% Cu from the Horry Horse prospect demonstrating the fertility of the geological environment and highlighting significant exploration upside that exists at the project. The follow-up (Phase II) program was designed to enhance the Company’s understanding of the geological setting and mineralisation system, which will help better define the required exploration activities.
Several rock chip samples were collected from in situ outcrops of quartz veins within the mineralised structure as well as adjacent to it, refer to Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Map depicting the sample locations of the second phase of work on the Horry Horse prospect
The second sampling campaign included results of 8.49% Cu with 0.71 g/t Au and 42 g/t Ag as well as 3.66 % Cu with 0.63 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag and also 0.94 % Cu with 0.03 g/t Au and 5 g/t Ag from the Horry Horse prospect.
Three additional samples returned greater than 0.5% Cu, while three more samples returned results above ~0.2% Cu. Refer to Table 1 below.
The copper mineralisation at the Horry Horse prospect is structurally controlled within siliciclastic sediments (sandstone and siltstone) and is associated with a shear zone trending NE-SW. Within the shear, the mineralisation is associated with quartz boudins. The structure outcrops in several locations in the field and copper mineralisation is evident through malachite and occasional azurite.
The strain on the structure was partitioned into the siltstone layers while quartz veins formed in the more brittle sandstones. In the central portion of the prospect and in both strike directions, the mineralised structure is covered by young colluvial sediments and scree, highlighting the open-ended nature of the mineralisation and thereby the positive exploration upside.
The north-easternmost samples of the 426m long mineralisation trend do not line up naturally with the primary trend but still represents anomalous copper values that indicate the continuity of the mineralisation, either by way of folding or more likely a secondary mineralised structure, parallel to the main trend. A further 150m north-east along strike, the Company sampled a site in a creek bed with similar structural characteristics.
This sample returned copper values of 206ppm Cu, which is anomalous and constitutes justification for continuing the search for mineralisation much further north-east along strike than the outcropping copper mineralisation. The Company is very encouraged by this additional exploration upside.
Table 1: Summary table of the Horry Horse assay results
Northern Gold
The Company identified several very encouraging gold assay results from the northern area around the Western Lead and Mt Dockrell areas during the first phase of work. Some of these results include 13g/t gold from an outcropping vein and 5.6g/t and 1.1g/t gold from the Mt Dockrell tailings area.
During the second phase of work, the Company collected a sample from a creek bed on the contact of dolerite and adjacent sediments that returned 5.20 g/t Au.
Outcropping malachite (copper) mineralisation in a shear, hosting quartz boudins, was also discovered in the north of the tenement. The samples collected from this location returned results of 2.85% Cu with 0.37 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag and 1.67% Cu with 0.18 g/t Au and 6 g/t Ag.
The area represents a similar style of mineralisation as interpreted for the Horry Horse area. Additional follow-up work to determine strike extent and other geological and mineralising features is planned for the cooler months.
Table 2: Table summarising the results of the northern area
These results demonstrate the potential continuity of the mineralisation across the project area and encourage the Company by highlighting that the depositional environment hosting the Horry project is mineralised and confirming that the Company is exploring in the right locations.
Figure 3: Geological map of the Horry tenement indicating the encouraging gold results of the northern area