New Discovery Of High Grade Breccia Mineralisation At Oracle
Eagle Mountain Mining Limited (ASX:EM2) has intersected a wide zone of strong copper mineralisation near and within the Leatherwood granite intrusive in its recently commenced drilling program at the company’s 80% owned Oracle Ridge Mine Project in Arizona, USA.
Managing Director, Charlie Bass, said the early indications from the latest Oracle Ridge campaign are very promising.
“Having worked at the Twin Buttes copper skarn/porphyry deposit south of Tucson and understanding the nature of these types of deposits, I am extremely encouraged by discovering these breccia zones,” Mr Bass said.
“In most deposits, they often carry the best copper grades, but not necessarily the greatest tonnes, and then are followed by the skarns which are fed by these breccias and other structures.
“The porphyry feeder system is of lower grade but much greater tonnage that adds the multi-decade life of these mines. The skarns are limited to the thicknesses of the host limestones, which could be substantial, but the breccias can run deep.
“There is obviously a lot more follow up drilling to chase these newly discovered zones, as well as expanding the mineralisation that lies near and within the Leatherwood granite intrusive.”
CEO, Tim Mason, said the company’s goal at Oracle Ridge is to become a low-cost producer of copper.
“To do this we are aiming to grow our mineral resources, both within the existing mine and in close proximity to feed a potential future processing plant,” Mr Mason said.
“To achieve this, we need to increase our base resource tonnage, but more importantly, build the higher-grade zones that will provide early pay back of capital and underpin the life of the operation.
“We are still at an early stage of understanding the structural mineralisation controls at Oracle Ridge. The discovery of the high-grade breccia zones is significant as they not only contain high-grade copper, but also have potential to support a broader mineralised system. This is discovery is a milestone for the Company as the next step to become a low-cost copper producer.”
