Larvotto surveys define new Mt Isa copper-gold targets

Larvotto Resources has identified multiple new copper-gold-cobalt drill targets following a recent induced-polarisation (IP) geophysical survey at its Mt Isa project, adjacent to the historic town of the same name in north-west Queensland.

The company is now planning reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond drilling at three main targets across its project area. It says the IP survey was conducted in December last year, with the three targets selected from across the tenement area that features tough and hilly terrain. A single IP line was completed across each target, with the orientation of the line matched to the interpreted geology.

The Portal Creek, Ballara Saddle and Bass prospects were chosen and all provided encouraging anomalism across the project.

Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “This IP survey was undertaken to test a number of the exciting geochemical targets within our expansive Mt Isa Project. The survey tested the validity and usability of this type of geophysical survey, commonly used for Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) systems, and we are delighted with the outcomes achieved with promising targets identified.”

A previous versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey was completed at the project in 2020 and highlighted the 3km-long Yamamilla copper-soil anomaly, just north of the company’s Portal Creek prospect.

Larvotto says three strong IP sources were identified at Portal Creek, with several strong responses coincident with conductors from the previous VTEM survey. It says the Ballara Saddle prospect is defined by a more than 800m-long copper soil anomaly and the IP survey produced three discrete anomalies, with several soil samples in the south-east corner of the survey area producing a copper anomaly believed worthy of further investigation.

The Bass prospect is defined by a 700m-long copper-soil anomaly that follows the strike of a subtle magnetic trend. The IP line was centred as best as possible on the copper anomaly and magnetic trend, with peak copper values coincident towards the magnetic trend’s edge.

Larvotto says it may represent a major structure or alteration zone.

The IP survey also highlighted the presence of several shallow, compelling anomalies that are slightly offset to the west of the copper-soil anomaly and the magnetic trend.

The company says it now plans to conduct follow-up work on the prospects to better define the presence of copper mineralisation. It plans a closely-spaced soil sampling program at Portal Creek’s eastern anomaly, followed by drilling to test the IOCG potential at the project.

The Ballara Saddle target follow-up work will include mapping and the use of available datasets to design a drill program. Drilling will also be planned at the Bass prospect.

Larvotto has other prospective projects on its hands, recently revealing channel sampling at its Hillgrove gold-antimony project in New South Wales delivered glowing assay results going as high as 63 grams per tonne gold, 13.82g/t silver and more than 30 per cent antimony.

Management says the impressive results highlight the high-grade nature of the Hillgrove operation, while samples from the 1.5-million-tonne historical tailings facility recorded gold grades exceeding the average of many operating open pit mines. The Hillgrove project lies 23km east of Armidale in NSW and comprises four exploration leases and 48 granted mining leases across its 254 square kilometres of tenure.

The acquisition of the project included an operational processing plant that was put on care and maintenance in 2021. It features a 250,000 tonnes per annum capacity and came with associated infrastructure. It is a serious financial bonus for the company as it would be looking at a cost likely to be more than $200 million to build the plant from scratch.

With its kit-bag full of geophysical targets in a known mining precinct and a gold project oozing high-grade samples, things could get interesting quickly for Larvotto.

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