Adelaide based Minotaur Exploration is expanding its footprint in the north west.
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In an announcement this week, the company said it was now drilling for copper and other base metals in two highly endowed geological provinces, around Cloncurry and around the Olympic Dam domain (South Australia).
The company said both programs involved OZ Minerals but under differing arrangements.
Drilling is testing geophysical targets Iris North, Iris South and Royal in the northwest and Bellatrix, Orion, and Jupiter in South Australia.
The north-west drilling is taking place 55km south of Cloncurry at the Eloise Joint Venture.
OZ Minerals is farming into Minotaur’s tenements through an initial $1.5 million spend through 2016.
Ultimately, OZ Minerals say they could earn 70% interest by investing $10 million in the ground.
Here, the partners are targeting Cannington-style silver-lead-zinc and Eloise-style copper-gold mineralisation.
With the benefit of OZ Minerals’ funding Minotaur recently completed extensive ground gravity and electromagnetic (EM) surveys, along the Levuka Shear Zone north of the existing Eloise copper mine, locating three strong EM conductors about 5km from the mine.
The Iris and Royal anomalies lie just 135m below surface and represent high conductance indicators to the presence of sulphide mineralisation; potentially containing base metals.
In geological terms these prospects sit within, or next to, interpreted Mt Norna Quartzite, a regionally significant rock unit that hosts the Eloise and Osborne copper-gold mines and the world-class Cannington silver-lead-zinc mine.
Around its Prominent Hill copper mine in South Australia OZ Minerals took the highly unusual step of opening its exploration tenements to junior explorer Minotaur.
Following several months of database research and modelling Minotaur recommended four geophysical targets for joint follow-up work.
Recent months have seen detailed on-ground geophysics, IP and EM, refining those targets to drill readiness status.
Diamond drilling has commenced, testing three prospective electrical-geophysical responses: Bellatrix, Orion and Jupiter.
This work is proceeding under an Alliance agreement whereby OZ Minerals and Minotaur each contribute up to $1.5 million to proof test agreed targets.
Minotaur will get 20% beneficial interest in any designated target and can earn another 10% if they sole fund a further $2 million of exploration expenditure.