Metalicity pivots towards Pilbara in new copper play

ASX listed base metals developer Metalicity Limited has nailed two large copper exploration project positions in the sought after Paterson Province of the eastern Pilbara region in WA.

The company now has a foothold over nearly 2200 square kilometres in the mineralised corridor with its Desert Queen and Mandora Beach projects that are located about 160km apart and surrounded by a grab bag of copper-gold mines and occurrences.

Desert Queen to the south is only 60km northwest of the behemoth Telfer gold mine that has produced over 32 million ounces of gold and 1 million tonnes of copper to date.

The project is also 20km along strike from exploration conducted by Rio Tinto within the same strongly mineralised corridor and less than 40km northeast of the Nifty copper mine that has produced over 2 million tonnes of copper.

The Mandora Beach project, located in the northern section of the Paterson Province also enjoys a great address, adjoining large tenement holdings owned by FMG and Rio Tinto.

Metalicity conducted a comprehensive regional copper prospectivity study in the Pilbara region, ranking about 30 separate districts before embarking on its recent pegging program over ground it considers to have serious potential for the sought after red metal. 

According to the company, neither of the new project areas have been the subject of modern, systematic exploration techniques, rendering them ripe for the picking.

Metalicity has started a program of historical data compilation and project evaluation from available geological, geochemical and geophysical information to better define exploratory target positions for future work.

The company already holds tenements for nickel-copper exploration in the revered Fraser Range Belt near Albany in the Great Southern region of WA.

Metalicity Managing Director Matt Gauci said: “The Paterson ranks highly on our list of prospective geological terrains for the discovery of copper mineralisation in the Pilbara and we are encouraged by the activity of the major companies nearby which supports our prospectivity models.”

The company is in the process of selling off its zinc and lithium interests to start focussing more clearly on its cobalt, nickel and new copper assets.

Earlier this year, Metalicity divested its large Admiral Bay zinc project near Broome into a proposed new Canadian listing to be known as Kimberley Mining Limited. That vend should net the company about AUD$34m in cash and shares when the listing is finalised some time next year.

Additionally, the sale of the company’s 100%-owned lithium projects in the Pilbara and Greenbushes districts of WA is underway, with significant interest being received and a number of site visits already completed.

Metalicity management said it was expecting formal offers for the sale of its lithium projects later this quarter.

The company has now changed gears as its head down a different path in the base metals sector and it appears to have landed some pretty interesting exploration ground in a proven copper-gold district in the Pilbara.

A new chapter is now dawning for Metalicity.