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EMU NL (ASX: EMU) (“EMU” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide an exploration update on the Georgetown Project in Queensland where the Company has extended a geochemistry program to further investigate potential it has identified for a copper porphyry discovery.
Highlights
- High grade copper veins have developed adjacent to a copper porphyry system at Fiery Creek prospect, within the Georgetown Project in Queensland
- High-grade copper assays of up to 23.5% Cu
- Mineralogy review strongly supports the presence of a shallow, constrained significant copper mineralised porphyry system
- Geochemistry favourably compares to similar geologically aged projects including Mount Leyshon, Kidston, Red Dome and nearby Mt Turner
- Copper mineralised zone of the Fiery Creek porphyry system is interpreted to lie close to surface
- Outcropping vein areas indicative of pencil porphyry type systems as documented at North Parkes and Ridgeway, NSW
- Extended geochemistry sampling program underway at Fiery Creek with planned detailed geologic mapping activity
- Geophysics survey (pole dipole, IP, resistivity, MT) scheduled for August 2024
Emu Non-Executive Chairman Peter Thomas commented,
“Emu is increasingly confident the Fiery Creek prospect has the makings of a massive multi- million-tonne copper porphyry system. In addition to Mr Maund’s assessment, the results of our geochemistry work to date at Fiery Creek have confirmed the potential for a near-surface, high- grade deposit which warrants further investigation. Emu intends to strengthen its understanding of this discovery in 2024 by applying modern exploration techniques not previously used in the area. This includes the next key step for the Company which is to undertake a definitive geophysical survey of the Fiery Creek Prospect area in August this year.”
Emu has contracted Independent Consulting Economic Geologist and Fellow of the AusIMM and AIG, Mr Nigel Maund, to assess the Company’s Fiery Creek prospect, within the Georgeotwn Project.
The scope of Mr Maund’s assessment includes:
- a comprehensive mineralogical investigation of the Fiery Creek vein samples1,
- review of EMU exploration data, and
- an update to his interim report2.
In his interim report, Mr Maund suggested the Fiery Creek quartz, copper oxide, sulphide vein array system appears to be developed within the cupolas of two possible, closely spaced “pencil porphyry – type” mineralised systems.
Further research work undertaken by Mr Maund, relying on the updated EMU geologic exploration database, has strengthened his view and interpretation of the system. Indeed, evidence of feldspar porphyry intrusive bodies and phreatic breccias and advanced argillic alteration have been confirmed from Fiery Creek samples viewed under microscope.
Figure 1. Fiery Creek Copper/Yataga Granodiorite summarising rock (brown diamonds) and termite mound sample results (black crosses)
Fiery Creek Geochemistry Suggests Shallow Copper Mineralisation
Substantial high-grade copper assays of up to 23.5% Cu were recorded with anomalous associated elements: bismuth (up to 1.88%), silver (up to 480 g/t), arsenic (up to 1,650 ppm), antimony (up to 667 ppm), zinc (up to 1,470 ppm), barium (up to 1.25 %) and tellurium (up to 215 ppm). Mr Maund noted that the system is copper dominated with significant bismuth and silver. Referencing Dr Scott Halley’s3 work, Mr Maund noted the level of erosion within a porphyry copper system can be pinpointed by its geochemical footprint and its silicate and sulphide mineralogy. See Figures 2 and 3 below. These diagrams illustrate that the Fiery Creek system is likely to have been eroded to the upper potassic alteration shell of a porphyry copper system with high grade copper impregnated veining currently exposed to surface.
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This article includes content from EMU NL, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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EMU NL
Investor Insight
EMU NL is an Australia-focused base and precious metals exploration company offering a compelling opportunity in the highly lucrative copper space. A strategic focus on delineating a potential large-scale copper porphyry system at its Fiery Creek copper deposit in Northern Queensland, combined with a leadership team of significant global experience and expertise, and an upward trending copper market, all make EMU NL worthy of considerable consideration for any investors looking at the copper sector.
Overview
EMU NL (ASX:EMU) is an ASX-listed precious and base metals exploration company with three projects in Queensland, Australia: Georgetown, Badja and Sunfire. EMU’s primary focus is accelerating exploration at the highly promising Fiery Creek prospect, located within the Georgetown project in Northern Queensland.
Australia is one of the most attractive regions for mining, according to the Fraser Institute. It ranks Queensland as the 13th most attractive destination for mining investment.
In 2023, Queensland's mines yielded 12.6 tons of gold, positioning it as Australia's fourth most prolific state for this precious metal. The company's presence in relatively attractive mining jurisdictions positions it to capitalize on opportunities in Australia's resource sector and deliver sustainable returns to its shareholders. The recent fundraises of A$1.45 million have provided sufficient funding to advance its exploration projects.
Gold and copper continue to demonstrate bullish trends. Various factors are driving the surge in copper prices, including demand patterns such as upgrades in utility grids, the increasing use of copper in electric vehicles, and housing construction. Additionally, the growing energy demand from data centres powering AI applications and servers contributes to the increased need for copper. Both gold and copper prices have hit their all-time high in 2024, which also enhance the prospects for junior miners to progress their projects and potentially secure financing easily.
Key Projects
Georgetown Project
The Georgetown project tenements span 850 sq. km. in North Queensland and comprises three exploration permits: Georgetown, Perpendicular Peak and the Fiery Creek copper prospect. Of these, Fiery Creek is the most promising and the current exploration interest for EMU.
The Georgetown project is located in a resource-rich yet under-explored region in Queensland’s far north, situated within the Georgetown mining district, with a significant history of mining activities and mineral discoveries.
EMU has identified the Fiery Creek copper prospect as a potentially massive-scale copper porphyry system within the 29 sq. km. Yataga Igneous complex. In the middle of 2023, EMU's reconnaissance efforts at Fiery Creek yielded numerous instances of heightened copper and polymetallic values. EMU conducted additional sampling to further assess the potential of the Fiery Creek prospect.
The work confirmed the significant, large-scale potential of the Fiery Creek copper prospect. It identified additional high-priority targets within the Yataga Granitoid complex, revealing polymetallic rock chip values reaching up to 0.27 parts per million (ppm) gold, 460 ppm silver, 1.9 percent bismuth, 23.5 percent copper, 43 ppm indium, 2.7 percent lead, and 341 ppm antimony. Similarly, values of 0.13 ppm gold, 44 ppm silver, 0.28 percent bismuth, 13.5 percent copper, 89 ppm indium, 1.62 percent lead, and 667 ppm antimony were recorded at Yataga South.
Initial fieldwork has provided strong indications of a potential large-scale copper porphyry system at Fiery Creek. EMU is planning further geological mapping, systematic geochemistry and a geophysics survey to delineate the indicated porphyry system.
Badja Project
The Badja project is located 32 kilometres southeast of the township of Yalgoo and covers an area of 870 hectares. The project's tenements include a centrally granted mining lease covering 7.3 hectares, an adjoining mining lease application covering 279.3 hectares, and a granted exploration license covering 590.3 hectares. EMU’s previous drilling work has identified areas that are prospective for high-grade gold, tungsten and lithium.
EMU is evaluating options to maximize the value of the project, either through sale or retention.
Sunfire Project
Sunfire is a nickel, copper and PGE exploration project in Western Australia. The project is currently awaiting permission from the Western Australian government to allow drilling activities in the area within the State forest. EMU has fulfilled all necessary environmental requirements for accessing these areas within the project and initiated onsite exploration activities. However, there has been no significant advancement to date, and government departments have not indicated the likelihood of granting drilling consent.
Management Team
Peter Thomas – Non-executive Chairman
Peter Thomas has over thirty years of experience running a legal practice specializing in giving advice to listed explorers and miners. He has served on the boards of various listed companies, including as the founding chairman of copper producer Sandfire Resources and mineral sands producer Image Resources. His current ASX-listed company board positions include non-executive director of Image Resources and non-executive chair of Middle Island Resources.
Terry Streeter – Non-executive Director
Terry Streeter brings over 30 years of experience in the exploration sector. He served as a director of West Australian nickel explorer and miner Jubilee Mines NL from 1993 to May 2004. In 1999, he became a founding shareholder of Western Areas NL (ASX:WSA), which later discovered and developed two high-grade nickel sulphide mines in the Forrestania region of Western Australia, producing 22,000 to 25,000 tons of nickel annually. He has served in leadership roles at Fox Resources, Midas Resources, Minera IRL and Alto Metals.
Gavin Rutherford – Non-executive Director
Gavin Rutherford has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the mining services, fabrication and contracting sectors. He served as managing director of a contracting and construction company in the water industry. His current endeavors involve project development in the renewable energy sector, business development in the Indigenous mining segment, and interests related to aviation.
Tim Staermose – Non-executive Director
Tim Staermose boasts 23 years of expertise in equity capital markets and equity research. His professional journey includes roles at international sell-side equity brokerage firms based in South Korea and Hong Kong, notably Banque Indosuez (now part of Credit Agricole) in the late 1990s and Lehman Brothers in the early 2000s. Transitioning from sell-side equity research, Staermose has since operated as an independent researcher and stock-picker for several private research firms, focusing on natural resources, gold and mining investments.
Unconformity Uranium Drill Targets Identified from 2024 Geophysical Data
Key Highlights
- Final data received and interpretation completed for the ground electromagnetic geophysical surveys from the winter 2024 program at the Marshall and North Millennium projects.
- Several conductive anomalies identified at Marshall, located above and below the unconformity, consistent with regional exploration model.
- Stacked anomalies concurrently with multigenerational geophysical data provides a base to assess the exploration targets and refine drillhole targets.
- The projects are located 15 kilometres from the majority Cameco owned Millennium deposit, and just 40km from the world class McArthur River mine.
- Basin remains funded for the next round of field exploration.
The ground electromagnetic successfully identified 3 main targets which confirms the geological and exploration model. Of note is Target 1 (Figure 1), where modelled EM plates below the unconformity align with a sandstone ZTEM anomaly, which is interpreted to be alteration within sandstone. The identification of these targets is encouraging and consistent with regional trends in the southeastern Athabasca and provides increased confidence in drill hole targeting. Basin is currently reviewing options and priorities of how to progress exploration of these confirmed targets.
Basin’s Managing Director, Pete Moorhouse, commented:
“Conducting ground geophysical surveys on Marshall and North Millennium was a milestone in advancing these underexplored projects in Basin’s uranium portfolio. The form of these anomalies is highly encouraging given the proximity to some of the world’s largest uranium deposits.”
Key results
Following the encouraging conductive anomalism highlighted by the 2023 3D inversion of two historic airborne Electromagnetics (Z‐Tipper Axis) (“ZTEM”) datasets partially covering the current North Millennium and Marshall projects3,4, Basin contracted Discovery International Geophysics5 to carry out ground Stepwise Moving Loop Transient Electromagnetic (‘Ground EM’) surveys on areas of immediate interest within the Projects.
Figure 1 Three main anomalies shown from 2024 ground EM, in plan view (top diagrams) and cross- section looking northeast (bottom diagram). The ground EM anomalies are displayed with the modelled plates against the historical ZTEM data.
The 2024 Ground EM survey data returned six conductive anomaly picks producing three main target areas (Figure 1). The anomalies correlate strongly with the southern edge of the circular ZTEM conductive anomaly at Marshall and the interpreted northern edge of the circular anomaly identified in the historic data. A weaker EM pick was also interpreted centred between the two prominent ZTEM conductivity anomalies.
Three-dimensional modelling using Maxwell produced six electromagnetic conductive plates within the basement stratigraphy, all below the unconformity (Figure 1). The two southeastern plates are clearly aligning with a conductive sandstone ZTEM anomaly identified from the historic data, which is above the interpreted unconformity. This is interpreted as potential basal sandstone alteration proximal to the EM anomalies and constitutes a high-priority drill target area, refer figure 2.
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This article includes content from Basin Energy, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Airborne EM over Multiple Targets on Ti-Tree Project
- Augustus Minerals has contracted UTS Geophysics to conduct a VTEM Max survey over several Copper, Cu-Ni-PGE, Zn-Pb-Ag and Uranium targets along the money Intrusion and within proximity of the prospective 85k long Ti-Tree Shear.
- The surveys will cover:
- The Money Intrusion, prospective for Cu-Ni-PGE mineralisation.
- Copper Ridge and Nics Bore over anomalous Copper Drilling results
- The Coo Creek prospect where drilling by Augustus in 2023 identified strongly anomalous Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation.
- The Munaballya Well North area which shows potential for economic Uranium mineralisation.
- The surveys will help to advance the untapped potential of the Ti-Tree project to host economic mineralisation of multiple commodities.
Andrew Ford, GM Exploration
“The VTEM survey will provide key targeting data over three highly prospective and different prospects with potential for multiple commodities. Whilst the high prospectivity for copper mineralisation has been well documented, the addition of uranium and Broken Hill base metal style mineralisation highlights the quality of the underexplored Ti-Tree project”.
VTEM
UTS Geophysics has been engaged to conduct a helicopter borne VTEM Max survey comprising 646-line km over three separate survey areas. The system is excellent for locating discrete conductive anomalies as well as mapping lateral and vertical variations in resistivity which helps map structure, alteration and rock type. The system also collects magnetic data through a caesium magnetometer. The transmitter/receiver loop is suspended on a cable approximately 40m below the helicopter (Figure 1).
Figure 1 VTEM Max helicopter deployed electromagnetic survey arrangement.
Figure 2 Prospects and VTEM Survey areas.
Money Intrusion
The Money Intrusion, which has proven potential to host Ni-Cu-Co-PGE (platinum group elements), is part of the regional Mundine Well Dolerite Suite, a regionally extensive dolerite (strike length >80km). This extensive mafic intrusion, which is comprised of a variety of lithologies, including gabbro in the core, olivine dolerite on the chilled lower contact or keel and fine-grained dolerite on the outer edges. Mapping, aeromagnetics and multi-spectral imagery show that the Money Intrusion within the Ti-Tree Project covers a strike length greater than 16km, reaching widths >600m in the north of E09/23241.
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This article includes content from Augustus Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
EMU NL Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects