NQ copper-molybdenum project takes explorer’s eye

First Au is eyeing a copper-molybdenum opportunity in North Queensland, entering an agreement which could see it lay claim on the Mount Turner project. The company has entered a binding terms sheet with British Columbian explorer Essex Minerals for the option to earn an initial 51 per cent interest through $2.5 million expenditure. It would then have the option to acquire the remaining 49 per cent for full ownership of the Mount Turner tenements, near Georgetown. The company views the Mount Turner project as the chance for a strategic acquisition complementing its existing copper prospects of Dogwood, Victoria and Mabel Creek, South Australia. "Copper is expected to play a critical role in the electrification of the global economy and the transition to green energy," First Au said in a statement on the deal. "Independent reports indicate the worldwide demand for copper for transitioning to green energy alone will increase from under 1Mt in 2020 to be approximately 5.4Mt by 2030 (16 per cent of total global copper demand) "The Mount Turner project presents FAU the opportunity to explore for a world-class porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit with significant scale (>6km diameter) that has the potential to deliver value for the company." Related: Georgetown lithium assets on the market The project covers about 100sq km in an area about 10km west of Georgetown and 380km south-west of Cairns, accessed via the Gulf Development Road. It features a large copper-molybdenum porphyry system at Mount Turner and epithermal gold-silver mineralisation along the Drummer Fault System, with a strike length of 14km. The First Au geological team will now examine the Mount Turner project in more detail, as part of the due diligence period prior to entering into the option agreement. Essex reported late last year that assay results from 5,517 soil samples had identified a coherent copper in soil anomaly (>100ppm) flanking a molybdenum in soil anomaly (>10ppm) over a 4km x 4km area. Discrete gold-silver and lead-zinc anomalies lay peripheral to the main copper-molybdenum anomalism, the company said. Re-logging of drill core from a 1977 Geological Survey of Queensland reconnaissance drilling program (image below) had shown that the only drill hole near to the porphyry target ended at 290m downhole depth in near ore-grade copper and molybdenum (0.187 per cent copper, 0.075 per cent molybdenum). It contained alteration and multi-phase mineralisation indicating that the drill hole was terminated well above the main target zone, Essex said.

NQ copper-molybdenum project takes explorer’s eye

Industry Queensland

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