Coda Minerals has the bit between its teeth at its Emmie Bluff copper project, having completed a 17-hole diamond drilling program across the South Australian target. The drill program completes a significant milestone in the company’s advance towards declaring a maiden JORC resource in the coming months. It is now logging and sampling almost 8,000 metres of drill core while awaiting the results from the assay labs.
The company has previously flagged what could potentially be a company making resource for the Emmie Bluff target, with drilling indicating that the copper-cobalt mineralisation extends along more than 3 kilometres of strike hosted by sediments of the Tapley Hill formation, more than 300m below surface.
Coda’s exploration target for Emmie Bluff stands at a massive 46.1 and 76.8 million tonnes grading at 0.3 to 1.6 per cent copper, 0.02 to 0.06 per cent cobalt and is capped off with 5 to 19 grams per tonne silver.
The company expects to receive assay results from recent drilling in April, with a maiden resource scheduled for release in August 2021, following anticipated infill drilling to allow the estimation of an inferred JORC resource.
Coda Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Chris Stevens said: “With a successful drill program at Emmie Bluff under our belts – and that prospect moving into an exciting new phase of resource definition – we’ve never been more enthusiastic about the opportunities for growth at Elizabeth Creek.”
“The next few months have the potential to be transformational for Coda, as we drill our high-priority IOCG and Zambian-style copper targets and advance Emmie Bluff rapidly towards a maiden JORC Mineral Resource. We are fully-funded for the planned programs with a healthy cash balance of over $10 million.”
“Coda is looking forward to delivering a consistent flow of news and results over the coming three to four months. Thanks to our supportive shareholder base, our recent IPO has put us in a strong position to undertake an ambitious, fully-funded exploration program of this scale.”
The Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt discovery forms part of Coda’s extensive Elizabeth Creek base metal project in South Australia. The project comprises two granted exploration licenses that cover approximately 740 square kilometres of the Olympic Dam copper province located on the eastern margin of SA’s lionized Gawler Craton.
The project lies around 450km north of Adelaide and is held under a joint venture, or “JV” with recent ASX listing, Torrens Mining. Coda serves as the manager of the JV and holds a 70 per cent interest in the project.
Certainly, it is early days for Coda in the Gawler Craton. However, it does appear to be off to a flying start in the famed terrane. Exploration has already identified a host of copper prospects including Zambian-style, sediment hosted copper targets at Emmie Bluff, Windabout and MG14. In addition, recent work has identified two deeper Olympic Dam-style Iron Oxide Copper Gold, or “IOCG” targets at Emmie Bluff Deeps and Elaine.
Intriguingly, Coda’s Elizabeth Creek project lies adjacent to some of the world’s best known IOCG deposits including Olympic Dam 100km to the north and the Carrapateena deposit 50km to the east. The recent discovery of BHP’s Oak Dam prospect, just 15km from the company’s tenure, shows that the SA-focused explorer is certainly hunting in the right terrane.
Coda is also preparing to test its own the Emmie Bluff Deeps and Elaine IOCG targets in the coming months once the appropriate native title, environmental and mines department clearances are received.
Exploration at the company’s Windabout and MG14 deposit have already defined a considerable endowment of copper mineralisation, with a resource at Emmie Bluff set to build on Coda’s growing inventory of copper. Notably, the Windabout resource weighs in at 17.67 million tonnes grading 0.77 per cent copper and 8 g/t silver, providing a solid foundation for the company’s ongoing exploration program.
With copper currently trading at around US$9,000 a tonne and Coda currently building a considerable stash of copper resources, it will be an interesting ride for investors and the company in the months ahead.
Coda is now preparing to table a maiden resource at Emmie Bluff and with the company looking to drill its first holes into its IOCG targets there is the tantalising prospect that Coda could be about to add its name to another major discovery in South Australia.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
