Copper 360’s share price had its day in the sun this week, shooting through the roof, up nearly 18% after it announced that drilling results confirmed high-grade copper intersections at Rietberg Copper mine in the Northern Cape and initial sampling leads.
COPPER 360’s share price had its day in the sun this week, shooting through the roof, up nearly 18% after it announced that drilling results confirmed high-grade copper intersections at Rietberg Copper mine in the Northern Cape and initial sampling leads.
This newcomer on the JSE only listed on the bourse in April and is now sitting with a market cap of R2.21 billion.
Jan Nelson, the CEO of Copper 360, said: “The drilling results at the Rietberg Mine have confirmed the historical drillhole database and have validated our modelling of the mineralised copper zones at the mine. The size of the copper mineralization is unlike anything else in the world with copper mineralisation of over 150m (metres) wide by 200m in length with a down-dip strike of over 400m and open to depth at in situ grades of between 2.5% and 3.5%.
“This represents significant blocks of copper mineralisation that we are planning to mine with pre-developed infrastructure in place. In addition, we have now identified and delineated several targets of copper mineralisation confirmed by sampling on surface not previously known.”
Nelson said this changed the landscape completely as the possibility now existed to develop potentially several surface open pit deposits.
“We have mobilised a geological team and drilling is planned within the coming months to test these targets to depth and prepare for open pit mine design,” Nelson said.
Highlights of the drilling results included
– Borehole RB360-3 intersects 22,27m at 2.97% copper in situ (drill width) at Rietberg Copper Mine.
– Borehole RB360-4 intersects 6,66m at 3,57% copper in situ (drill width) at Rietberg Copper Mine.
– Surface channel sampling at Wheal Julia led to the discovery of copper oxide capping on surface 150m wide by 100m long and open to depth.
– Average value of samples at Wheal Julia yielded in situ average copper grade of 5% copper with individual values as high as 8% to 10% copper in situ.
Copper 360 said these results would enable the company to upgrade the inferred resource of this mineralised body at the Rietberg Mine to the indicated and measured resource category. The company would advise the market of this upgrade within the coming months.
Copper 360 operations are based in the Northern Cape and its mining rights cover 19 000 hectares to the north of the town of Springbok and hold 12 copper mines, some with developed infrastructure, and 60 copper prospects with advanced geological datasets.
Copper 360 is producing 1 200 tons of copper cathode a year, and aims to increase copper production to 7 700 tonnes per year.
The mining company was formed in November 2022, after a reverse take-over of copper producer Big Tree Copper, and copper mining company SHiP Copper. The company has a focus on producing premium copper that will yield a high cash margin.
The firm listed on the bourse at a time copper prices have risen roughly 7% since the start of this year with the metal seen as a green metal and part of the green energy transition.
– BUSINESS REPORT
