Red Metal expands Qld footprint in hunt for copper elephants

Red Metal has swooped on available ground near its Gulf and Three Ways projects in Queensland, lodging 17 additional tenement applications for land prospective for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits.

The company is motoring ahead with its “Big Copper” strategy as it looks to unlock giant IOCG discoveries analogous to the nearby mammoth Ernest Henry deposit and BHP’s Oak Dam deposit, which sits near its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia’s Gawler Craton.

Red Metal’s newly lodged applications extend the company’s ground across a 160km by 60km belt around its two projects. The company's new and existing applications now cover a vast 5800 square kilometres of prospective terrain.

In what appears to be a savvy move, the company says a high-resolution airborne gravity survey is now underway, piggybacking on concurrent regional airborne gravity surveys conducted by the Geological Survey of Queensland and Geoscience Australia.

Red Metal will use the surveys to unlock further prospective terrain to the east, while significantly cutting mobilisation costs by leveraging the two government-backed programs.

The company plans to hammer into two fully funded follow-up drillholes, at Gulf’s GT06 target and Three Ways Target 132, testing along trend from previously identified fertile IOCG breccias. Notably, the drilling will be partially funded by a $200,000 Queensland Government grant, testing a coincident gravity-magnetic anomaly on trend from a fertile hematite breccia intersected at its nearby GT07 prospect.

At the Three Ways project, the company says a large untested copper target remains open, with a 2025 drillhole missing the core of target 132’s magnetic model because it deviated off-trend to the north. The second hole will target the Mount Isa-style structural target.

Both government surveys highlighted the area containing Gulf's key targets of GT06, GT07 and T132.

Red Metal Limited managing director Rob Rutherford said: “Red Metal’s long established “Big Copper” strategy seeks large IOCG deposits like Ernest Henry and Oak Dam in the covered extensions to proven terrains. Previous drilling on our Gulf project has identified fertile hematite-style IOCG breccias within Queensland’s Cloncurry terrain – potentially a first for this province.”

Rutherford said the hematite-style breccias share many geological characteristics with those hosting the giant copper-gold deposits in South Australia’s Gawler Craton.

The company plans to evaluate the 17 new applications and prioritise targets for upcoming drilling campaigns.

Red Metal is also steaming ahead with plans to unveil its preliminary-feasibility-study (PFS) later this year, or early next year, on its massive Sybella rare earths project in Queensland.

The PFS will provide a first glimpse of the project's expected economics, before a more detailed definitive feasibility study (DFS) lands later next year.

Management describes its Sybella deposit as “geologically-unique” with granite-hosted soft ore that is abundant within its ground. It believes the nature of the ore provides the project with a compelling edge and offers simple crushing and processing options.

Sybella lies in a 12km-long by 3km-wide granite-pervasive corridor and holds an enormous mineral resource of 4.795 billion tonnes grading 302 parts per million (ppm) neodymium-praseodymium. These sit alongside the more valuable heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium at a combined 28ppm, with yttrium adding a further 136ppm.

Recent column leach tests delivered neodymium spectacular results with recoveries of up to 76 per cent and praseodymium up to 78 per cent from coarsely crushed ore using weak sulphuric acid at ambient temperature. The results support a potentially simple, low-cost heap-leach operation, with Sybella’s near-surface weathered material offering a zero strip ratio.

Heavy rare earths are worth their weight in gold as they are critical in producing high-temperature magnets used in wind turbines, medical imaging devices and electric vehicles.

As the global electrification push looks to increase electricity’s share of total energy use and copper’s major role as the primary conductor for renewable energy systems and electricity grids, the future for copper looks bright. With copper pricing at US$6.70 (A$9.60) per pound, Red Metal's efforts to unlock valuable sources of this much-needed raw material appear a valid endeavour.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au