Hammer Metals Mt Frosty JV near Mt Isa continues to turn out impressive numbers after the ASX listed explorer picked it up for a song from the Chinese last year.
This week the company announced more serious looking copper and gold intercepts from a 1,559m, 14 hole, infill and extensional drill program at its Jubilee prospect within the project.
The new results come on the back of previous outstanding results from the maiden drilling program reported in January which included an impressive 5 metre intersection grading 7.34% copper and 3.75g/t gold,
The northernmost line of drilling in the latest set of numbers was particularly interesting and included an intersection of 4m @ 6.27% copper and 0.70g/t gold from 59m down-hole, within a wider envelope of 14m @ 2.0% Cu and 0.28g/t Au.
This result points to the potential to extend the existing copper-gold system further north, that is presently defined over 500m of strike in the JV ground.
A long section of the Jubilee deposit provided in the update to the ASX shows the shallow ore system is open to the north and when combined with coincident, highly anomalous copper soil assays, makes for a compelling case to continue drilling in this area.
The Mt Frosty JV is now looking like a steal for Hammer, as the potential for to define a high-grade copper-gold resource looks like it might become a reality, ably assisted by cobalt credits.
Hammer retains a 51% stake in the JV and manages all exploration with MIM/Glencore contributing for its 49% share.
Jubilee is within easy trucking distance of Glencore’s Mt Isa operation and would potentially benefit from the infrastructure provided by its JV partner who could possibly provide toll treating options for a low-cost, start-up satellite open pit mining operation.
The Company is also currently focussed on its Millennium copper-cobalt-gold deposit under a JV agreement with TSX listed Global Energy Metals Corporation, located 30km northeast of Jubilee.
Significant copper and cobalt intercepts returned in December led to the design of a diamond drilling program at Millennium, aimed at extending current inferred resources and providing drill core for preliminary metallurgical test work.
Hammer has one of the largest ground holders in the Mt Isa base metals district and with access to a 3200km2 tenement portfolio, is spoiled for choice in its exploration and development activities in the region.
The market will no doubt be keenly anticipating Hammer’s next round of drilling in the northern part of Mt Frosty to see if the latest results can be replicated.
By Matt Birney
