DiscovEx, Carnaby light up new Qld copper targets

DiscovEx Resources’ JV partner, Carnaby Resources has added to its exploration target list in Queensland, with recent geophysical work across its Greater Duchess copper-gold project near Mt Isa lighting up two deposit-scale anomalies. The induced polarised, or “IP” hits are inside a 3km corridor between its Nil Desperandum and Lady Fanny discoveries.

Carnaby says both new targets exhibit a similar geophysical strength and scale and with the early signs pointing to a significant patch of sulphide mineralisation the company is now moving at speed towards a first-pass drill-testing campaign.

According to management, one of the targets coined the “Fanny South prospect” picks up ground beneath a blanket of shallow cover south of the previous drilling.

The anomaly was detected after the company completed five geophysical lines south of the Lady Fanny prospect. The company says a number of strong IP responses were recorded along strike of the Lady Fanny discovery.

The core of the newly discovered IP target is understood to be a patch of chalcopyrite-copper sulphide mineralisation, potentially adding to the collection of semi-precious hits already defined at Lady Fanny.

Carnaby recently unveiled a remarkable 13m intercept going 4.4 per cent copper from 122m with a richer, 3m section at 17.1 per cent copper at the discovery. Another notable result from previous drilling at Lady Fanny was a 6m strike grading 3.8 per cent copper and 1.4 g/t gold from 88m.

Another IP anomaly unveiled in the company’s latest flurry of geophysical exploration work has been termed the “Shamrock Prospect”. The target is positioned about 1.5km north-east of the previously defined Nil Desperandum discovery and is parallel to a suite of untested historical workings prospective for copper-gold.

Recent extensional drilling at Nil Desperandum intersected a suite of strong copper and gold mineralisation that boosted the overall size of the discovery and with new targets to chase, the mineralisation could grow further.

Some of the better results from recent work at Nil Desperandum include a 19m section going 2.3 per cent copper from 216m with a higher-grade, 5m interval grading a hefty 7 per cent copper from 230m.

The use of IP surveys across the Greater Duchess project has proved invaluable time and time again after being the method used for unearthing the original high-grade discovery hole at Nil Desperandum. The technique picks up the electrical chargeability of subsurface ore such as copper.

DiscovEx sold off a little more than 82 per cent of its interest in its Southern Hub exploration tenements that hosts the recently defined Fanny South and Shamrock prospects to Carnaby about two years ago in exchange for free carried interest.

The decision allows it to focus on the company’s three large-scale gold deposits across WA whilst potentially still pocketing a significant chunk of change from Carnaby’s ongoing work.

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