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Doug Bright
Bulls Nā€™ Bears Big Hits looks at notable drill intercepts reported to the ASX last week, led by Anax Metals Ltd, where infill drilling confirmed shallow high-grade mineralisation at its Mons Cupri deposit in WAā€™s Pilbara.
ANAX METALS (ASX: ANX)
Project: Whim Creek project, Pilbara region, Western Australia
Hit: 85.9m at 2.89 per cent copper equivalent from 34.6m
Anax Metals has punched out a broad near-surface polymetallic hit at its Mons Cupri deposit, reinforcing the development credentials of its Whim Creek project, 120 kilometres southwest of Port Hedland in Western Australiaā€™s Pilbara region.
The headline diamond hole returned 85.9 metres at 2.89 per cent copper equivalent from 34.6m, beginning immediately with 4.7m at 8.34 per cent copper equivalent, then another 17.5m at 8.37 per cent from 39.3m.
That interval carried 1.36 per cent copper, 2.18 per cent zinc, 0.79 per cent lead, 35.7 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 1.05g/t gold. Its richer internal zone was underpinned by 4.74 per cent copper and 4.75g/t gold, giving the result plenty of substance beyond the equivalent-grade headline.
A second hole gave up 62.54m at 2.95 per cent copper equivalent, including 5.04m at 5.46 per cent from 107.32m, and 18.98m at 6.01 per cent from 112.36m.
The company says the infill drilling confirms high-grade mineralisation close to surface as a defining feature of Mons Cupri and supports the companyā€™s recently updated resource model around the historic open pit to 6.32Mt at 1.38 per cent copper equivalent.
The latest holes were designed to improve confidence in the deposit rather than chase a remote conceptual target, giving the assays immediate relevance to mine planning, scheduling and financing work already under way across Whim Creek.
Whim Creek is being progressed as a restart proposition centred on the existing processing hub and the Mons Cupri and Whim Creek deposits. Anax has been progressing its front-end engineering and design, funding discussions and other work needed to move towards a final investment decision.
In that setting, thick zones carrying meaningful copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold grades can influence both the scale and quality of the potential plant feed.
The copper-equivalent calculation incorporates recoveries, payabilities and treatment charges for all five payable metals, while the underlying assays show copper and gold make a substantial contribution to the standout zones.
Anax has not yet determined the true widths of the intersections, meaning the downhole lengths remain the key geometric qualification. Even so, the combination of width, grade, shallow depth and proximity to a proposed development gives Mons Cupri this weekā€™s strongest all-round result.
With further technical and financing milestones ahead, the latest drilling provides Anax with a timely boost as it works to recast a historic Pilbara mining centre as a modern polymetallic operation.
MANY PEAKS MINERALS (ASX: MPK)
Project: FerkĆ© gold project, CĆ´te dā€™Ivoire
Hit: 116m at 2.78g/t gold from 524m, with an estimated 63.5m true width
Many Peaks Minerals has extended the scale of its FerkĆ© gold system in CĆ´te dā€™Ivoire with a deep intercept that combines exceptional width, strong grade and useful geometric support. The headline diamond hole cored out 116m at 2.78g/t gold from 524m downhole, including 13.8m at 3.44g/t from 542.2m and 42m at 5.01g/t from 598m.
The company estimates the headline interval represents 63.5m of true width and says the hole finished in mineralisation, leaving the system open at depth. The result is supported by another broad hit of 116.5m at 1.76g/t gold from 969.5m depth, for an estimated 110m true width, including 40.3m at 3.89g/t gold from 999.6m, which included a high-grade 7.25m slice assaying 20g/t gold.
Another hole returned 37.2m at 3.29g/t gold from 589.85m, including 9.35m at 10.9g/t gold.
Together, the holes extend known mineralisation from about 540m to beyond 900m vertical depth and strengthen the case for a sizeable down-plunge continuation beneath the existing resource area.
The company says that at this point, gold mineralisation remains unconstrained at depth, with additional strike extent to be drilled and gold mineralisation remaining open below the deepest hole that gave up the 40.3m at 3.89g/t gold.
The widths and higher-grade internal zones give Many Peaks a potential underground growth story, rather than a sequence of isolated narrow shoots. They also provide fresh structural information for targeting the next phase of drilling.
FerkƩ sits within the highly prospective West African Birimian gold belt, where Many Peaks has been using diamond drilling to test the continuity of a large intrusive-related system.
The latest intersections add weight to the view that the mineralised body persists well below the shallower drilling and retains broad internal zones at grades that could support selective higher-grade mining. They also give the company several avenues to pursue along strike and down-plunge as it refines the dimensions of the system.
Depth is the obvious trade-off. The headline interval starts more than half a kilometre downhole, so any future development case would need to accommodate underground access, capital intensity and the economics of mining at depth.
However, the estimated true widths reduce a major uncertainty that often accompanies spectacular downhole numbers, while the end-of-hole mineralisation suggests the system has not yet been closed off. For a project seeking to establish both scale and continuity, the FerkĆ© gold project has delivered one of the weekā€™s most consequential gold results and a strong platform for further resource growth.
MINREX RESOURCES (ASX: MRR)
Project: Barje gold-silver project, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hit: 36m at 5.85g/t gold equivalent from 47m
MinRex Resources has produced the weekā€™s strongest shallow precious-metals result at its Barje project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where drilling has challenged the depositā€™s historical interpretation.
The headline hole returned 36m at 5.85g/t gold equivalent from 47m, including 4.2m at 15.67g/t and 14m at 7.74g/t gold equivalent, collectively the widest and highest-grade intersection in the depositā€™s history. Crucially, that interval is not being carried by silver alone. It contains 5.3g/t gold and 40g/t silver, giving the equivalent grade a strong gold foundation.
Notably, the geometry is also favourable. MinRex estimates true widths at about 80 to 100 per cent of the reported downhole lengths, making the broad intercept particularly meaningful.
Nearby drilling supports the emerging picture. A second hole returned 18.3m at 4.87g/t gold equivalent, while another hole bored out 17.5m at 5.22g/t from just 14.4m depth, including 8.2m going 7.60g/t gold equivalent, representing good grade within metres of surface.
The combined results suggest a lower-grade gap previously modelled between two higher-grade zones may instead contain a continuous central body, potentially simplifying the geological model and improving the coherence of the mineralised envelope.
That interpretation matters because continuity can be as important as isolated grade when a company is trying to convert historical work into a modern resource framework.
Barje carries a foreign resource estimate of 670,000 ounces at 2.9 g/t gold equivalent and it is not yet compliant with Australiaā€™s JORC Code and should therefore be treated with the appropriate qualification.
MinRexā€™s current drilling is aimed at building the data density and confidence needed to underpin its own assessment.
The shallow depths of mineralisation in the recent results also distinguish Barje from the deeper contenders in this weekā€™s Big Hits field. While economic studies are still some time away, shallow mineralisation can offer more flexible options for follow-up drilling and eventual development assessment.
The project remains earlier-stage than some of the weekā€™s Australian development stories, and the present foreign-resource status is the principal caveat. Nevertheless, the combination of shallow depth, high grade, favourable estimated true widths and a material change to the deposit model earns Barje its place among the weekā€™s top three Big Hits contenders.
Further drilling will now show whether the central zone can be traced consistently enough to reshape the scale and development potential of the project.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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