Buxton Resources has nailed a massive 405.38m intercept at 0.7 per copper equivalent from 608.38m during its maiden drill program testing porphyry mineralisation at its Copper Wolf project in Arizona.
The impressive intersection sits below a previous drillhole that returned 83.76m grading 0.9 per cent copper equivalent from 527.91m, which the company says results in an aggregate section of about 485.85m going 0.73 per cent.
Buxton’s joint venture (JV) partner, mining giant IGO, has requested that assay results from the top section of the latest hit, which are considered a repeat of the previous 83.76m intercept, be deferred so geometallurgical testwork can take place prior to the results of a geochemical assay. The 0.7 per cent copper equivalent result from the wider 405.38m section contains 0.35 per cent copper and 0.05 per cent molybdenum.
Geologists from both companies – in a group led by led by independent geologist Alan Wilson – recently completed a site visit to Copper Wolf, with key findings confirming a substantial hydrothermal copper-molybdenum porphyry system at the site’s Bobcat prospect. Step-out drilling of the area has subsequently been recommended based on the scale and intensity of alteration and mineralisation in the latest core results.
Buxton Resources chief executive officer Martin Moloney said: “These assay results and independent expert Alan Wilson’s review and recommendation for further drilling is a fantastic validation of the Copper Wolf Project’s prospectivity. Buxton's project generation work continues to add value for our shareholders and we're now focussing on the 100%-owned tenure surrounding the JV where mapping & sampling is underway."
The company entered into an earn-in and JV agreement with IGO for the Copper Wolf project back in August last year. Buxton was previously the outright owner.
According to the deal, IGO has an exclusive option to earn a 51 per cent interest in the tenements by incurring and sole-funding $350,000 of exploration expenditure in a 24-month period that started on October 4 last year.
Once the $350,000 earn-in expenditure is met, IGO may elect to strike the option and form a 51:49 unincorporated JV. During the earn-in period, Buxton will be the project manager, while IGO will be the initial manager of the JV if it is formed.
Within six months of the JV beginning, IGO has the exclusive right to elect to take its joint venture interest to 70 per cent by sole-funding exploration expenditure of $5 million in three years.
Management says Copper Wolf sits in one of the most prolifically-endowed copper belts in the world, but has not seen any drilling since the early 1990s. An airborne magnetic survey completed by Buxton last year was the first geophysical work undertaken at the site since the 1960s.
Arizona has consistently registered in the Fraser Institute’s top-10 mining jurisdictions in the past five years – lodging in seventh place in the latest survey. It rose as high as second in 2020 and was nominated as the fifth-best last year.
And there is a rich regional history to consider as a backdrop to its more modern mining and exploration activities.
Arizona initially attracted interest for its silver vein deposits, with mining kicking off in the late 1800s. But more recently, silver has been produced as a byproduct in copper mining, which has become one of the State’s major industries.
With a world-renowned miner in IGO funding its exploration within a top-tier jurisdiction in Arizona, Buxton will be buoyed by its early results from its maiden drill campaign at Copper Wolf. And it might soon be howling for all the right reasons.
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By Michael Philipps
