Exploration

A key component of our organic growth strategy

29Metals holds a portfolio of exploration interests, including regional tenements surrounding Capricorn Copper and Golden Grove, and a strategic tenement package and exploration project in Redhill located in Chile, the world’s largest copper-producing country.

We adopt a systematic and disciplined approach to exploration, seeking to identify, prioritise, test and prove economic mineralisation with the objectives of:
  • Increasing Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves inventory through drilling activities within our existing operations;
  • Identifying extensions to, or repeats of, known mineralised structures; and
  • Discovering new deposits with the potential to be new ore sources for our existing producing mines (to extend mine life, provide additional operating flexibility and/or increase production) or potential new mines.
Exploration opportunities exist in the prospective tenement packages around existing mining operations at Capricorn Copper and Golden Grove, as well as the regional tenement package at Redhill in Chile.

Golden Grove

Mining Leases

129 km²

Status

Production

Mining Rate

1.44 Mtpa

Prospective for
As at 31 Dec 2022
The Golden Grove mine has a history of discovery with mining leases covering approximately 129km².
These mining leases cover all known occurrences of the Golden Grove formation and are also considered prospective for gold within the overlying formations.
Despite the maturity of Golden Grove as a mineral province, the Golden Grove tenements remain relatively under explored, with limited exploration drilling undertaken outside the areas of known mineralisation at Scuddles, Gossan Hill and Gossan Valley and immediate surrounds.
In particular, historic exploration has focused on identifying sulphide mineralisation within 400 metres of the surface (other than at Scuddles, Gossan Hill, Gossan Valley and surrounding areas where drilling associated with known mineralisation has extended to depths up to 1.8 kilometres).
Learn more about Golden Grove
Regional Characteristics
Known Deposit types
VHMS – examples include:
  • Gossan Hill, Scuddles and Gossan Valley (Golden Grove).
Shear/vein hosted and disseminated gold – examples include:
  • Golden Dragon district (adjacent to Golden Grove) (third party property)
Favourable host rocks
  • Golden Grove formation (base metals)
  • Scuddles formation (base metals)
  • Mougooderra formation (gold)
Regional north-northwest trending shear zones:
  • Chulaar shear
  • Mougooderra shear

Capricorn Copper

Mining Leases

~1,900 km²

Status

Production

Mining Rate

1.8 Mtpa

Prospective for
As at 31 Dec 2022
29Metals holds exploration interests covering approximately 1,858 km² within the highly prospective Western Fold Belt of the Mount Isa Inlier.
This region is host to the world class Mount Isa mine (Pb, Zn, Ag and Cu), as well as the Lady Annie, Mt Oxide, Lady Loretta and Century mines, among others.
Learn more about Capricorn Copper
Regional Characteristics
Known Deposit types
Structurally controlled copper – examples include:
  • Mammoth, Esperanza South, Esperanza, Greenstone (Capricorn Copper)
  • Mt Oxide, Mt Kelly, Lady Annie
    (third-party properties)
Sediment-hosted lead, zinc, silver – examples include:
  • Mount Isa mines, George Fisher – Hilton, Lady Loretta (third-party properties)
Favourable host rocks
  • Whitworth quartzite
  • Surprise creek formation
  • McNamara group siltstones
  • Mt Isa group siltstones
Significant regional structures
Regional north-east trending faults:
  • Esperanza fault
  • Mt Gordon fault
Regional east-west trending faults:
  • Mammoth fault
  • Mammoth Extended fault
  • Investigator fault
  • Crocodile fault
  • Mt Jeanette fault
  • Mt Robert fault

Redhill

Exploration and Exploitation Leases

227 km²

Ownership

100%

Location

Chile, South America

Prospective for
As at 31 Dec 2022
Redhill comprises the Cutters Cove project, located around the high grade historical Cutters Cove copper mine and surrounding prospects.
It also includes a prospective regional tenement package covering over 500 kilometre strike in Chile, the world’s largest copper-producing country.
Learn more about Redhill
Snapshot of Redhill
Status
Regional exploration conceptual mine study (Cutters Project)
  • Mammoth, Esperanza South, Esperanza, Greenstone (Capricorn Copper)
  • Mt Oxide, Mt Kelly, Lady Annie (third-party properties)
Mineralisation type
Mesothermal polymetallic quartz-sulphide veins (“Cutters style”); VHMS; orogenic and epithermal gold deposits
Mineral Resource
4.3Mt at 1.7%, 0.3g/t Au and 33g/t Ag (Cutters Project) (inferred category)
Golden Grove
Redhill
Capricorn Copper