Rock Chip Assays Of 16.05% Cu Drive Austral’s 2023 Drill Targets

Copper producer Austral Resources Australia Ltd (ASX:AR1) (“Austral” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its planned development and exploration program for the remainder of calendar 2022 (CY22) and the 1st half of calendar 2023 (H1CY23).

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Key highlights:

• Drilling of prioritised phase 1 Anthill 2.0 copper oxide exploration targets within the existing ML are currently in progress.
  
• Drilling of phase 1 McLeod Hill and Lady Annie copper oxide exploration targets scheduled to be completed in 2022, both targets on existing ML’s.
• Copper Oxide Targets in 2023 include the Drifter trend where recent surface rock chip samples assayed at 16.05% Cu, highly prospective known targets adjacent to the Anthill open pit mine and targets within the Glencore JV.
• Copper Sulphide targets in 2023 include Lady Colleen where Austral continues to define a high- grade zone, Enterprise where Austral reported a Maiden Mineral Resource, Flying Horse, Lady Annie, Investigator and Neptune.
• Flying Horse and Lady Annie have existing Mineral Resource estimates. In 2023 Austral will explore for additional high-grade oxide and sulphide copper mineralisation, including lower-tonnage higher-grade zones within the sulphide mineralisation.
• Austral continues leveraging off the material existing legacy datasets to accelerate the exploration to discovery pipeline.
• $10m budgeted for exploration over 2023 and JV discussion continue with multiple parties.

Austral’s Exploration Strategy Progressed

As previously reported, Austral has committed to an annual exploration and development budget of $10M1.

Austral’s current total JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 60Mt @ 0.7%Cu, hosts 420,000t of contained copper2. Within this headline number, mineralisation by type is approximately 50% sulphide, 25% transitional and 25% oxide. Austral is constantly reviewing this resource inventory, with the dual aims of expanding and commercialising it.

The Company’s key exploration activities continue to be:

• Extend mine life beyond the current four years at Anthill by discovering additional copper oxide ore;
  
  • The focus in 2022 and 2023 are targets on existing mining leases and/or within 50km of the Mt Kelly SX-EW plant
• Increase the current JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimate of 420kt of contained copper
• Monetise Austral’s current JORC compliant sulphide Mineral Resources of 210kt of contained
• copper
• Explore for primary copper and base metal sulphide mineralisation within the Company’s vast 2,100km2 of exploration tenure.

CY22 copper oxide exploration has systematically progressed

Lady Annie has an existing JORC Compliant resource of 12.2Mt @ 0.76% Cu at a 0.3% Cu cut-off2. Phase 1 exploration drilling is targeting geophysical targets (Figure 1). Exploration program details:

• Lady Treska - geophysical VTEM anomaly occurs with a coincidental gravity anomaly offset 100m to the west. This feature is comparable with the adjacent Lady Annie VTEM anomaly
  
• Big Nose - the largest geophysical gravity anomaly on ML displays a coincidental spatial distribution of high amplitude gravity with anomalous Cu in soils >500ppm
• Planned drilling in 2022 of prioritised 13 holes for 1,450m. All CHC & CCA in place. Access and drill pads are being developed.

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