Comet Resources confirms up to 4.6% copper and 4% zinc at Barraba Project

Comet Resources Limited (ASX:CRL) has enhanced the prospectivity of its Barraba Copper Project in northern New South Wales with results of up to 4.6% copper, 4.0% zinc and 0.7% cobalt. The company has received complete assay results from geochemical soil sampling and rock chip sampling at the historical high-grade Murchison Copper Mine site and the Gulf Creek North prospects. Best results came from mine dump samples at the Murchison Mine site and confirm that this is a high priority drill target within the broader Barraba project. Comet also assessed historical mine workings that were previously unknown to the company around the Gulf Creek North area and close to several chargeability anomalies identified by a prior induced polarisation (IP) survey. “Multiple exploration targets” Comet Resources managing director Matthew O’Kane said: “These assay results, with high copper, zinc and cobalt, have confirmed that the historic Murchison Copper Mine at the Barraba Copper Project is another area of high priority exploration interest to us. “In addition to the known historical high-grade mineralisation at the Gulf Creek Mine, these results now provide us with multiple exploration targets at the project. “We look forward to advancing physical exploration works on both prospects.” Historical copper mine The Murchison Copper Mine produced ore in the early 1900s with historical records indicating the presence of underground workings to a depth of 16 metres, as well as a number of shallow pits. Copper and zinc mineralisation were the primary commodities of interest with historical production records stating copper was produced at an average grade of 3%, with historical assays up to 5.1%. Historical data indicates that the mine is a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) style deposit, the same as that found at the Gulf Creek Copper Mine. These deposits often occur in clusters due to the nature of the hydrothermal processes that form them and this appears to be the case at Barraba with three historic VMS deposits identified within the project area. Location of soil and rock chip samples at the Murchison Mine. Gulf Creek North Prospect A reconnaissance program was also undertaken over ground to the north of the Gulf Creek Mine within freehold land where exploration access has been granted. The focus of the program was to determine whether historically identified IP anomalies, some of which coincided with an orange/red oxidised soil profile, represented a mineralising event. Overall, the soil and rock sampling results from the prospect area indicate the presence of some subdued copper and zinc mineralisation, (up to 0.08% copper, up to 0.04% zinc and two samples demonstrating up to 0.35% cobalt). Looking forward The company is confident that the recent results at the Murchison Mine strongly support further exploration, including geophysical surveys with planning for this work underway to outline drilling targets as soon as possible. In addition, further soil sampling is planned at Gulf Creek North to better define the relationship between the elevated soil values, the previously defined IP anomalies and the historical workings.