Gold and copper explorer Torrens Mining Limited (ASX: TRN) has made a stellar run on the ASX this morning after its joint venture partner Coda Minerals (ASX: COD) revealed highly encouraging preliminary results from the first deep diamond hole designed to test the Emmie Bluff Deeps IOCG target at the Elizabeth Creek Copper Project in South Australia.
The drillhole encountered a 200m sequence of intense haematisation and alteration, including a 50m sequence of zoned copper sulphide mineralisation, consisting of chalcocite, chalcopyrite and bornite zones.
Torrens’ Managing Director Steve Shedden said:
“This is a tremendous early find at Elizabeth Creek and we’re excited by what further drilling in this major campaign will turn up,”
“Elizabeth Creek lies on highly prospective ground, being in the same region BHP’s Oak Dam West discovery and Oz Minerals’ Carrapateena Project. We knew this region had more secrets to uncover when we acquired the licences to Elizabeth Creek in 2015, and it is incredibly exciting to start seeing the true value of this project come to light.”
Torrens shares were up 86 per cent to 28c per share at the time of writing.
Torrens acquired the licences in 2015, viewing it as a project capable of yielding a large increase in enterprise value by bringing established sediment-hosted copper-cobalt mineral resources and other potential deposits to production.
Elizabeth Creek was also attractive because it is located within Australia’s most productive copper province, with potential for the discovery of both new sedimentary-hosted copper-cobalt deposits and Olympic Dam-style IOCG deposits.
In March 2017 Coda began farming into the project under a farm-in and joint venture agreement. Today, the project is 70 per cent owned by Coda, which expended $8.62 million to earn its interest, with Torrens now retaining a 30 per cent stake.