True North taps early signs of giant copper system in Qld

True North Copper has fired first shots in its assault on its Salebury iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) targets near the behemoth Ernest Henry IOCG mine in Northwest Queensland.

Three maiden reverse-circulation holes have been drilled for 963m into what the company says is the outer halo of an apparent IOCG system.

True North says that broad alteration, copper sulphide blebs and pathfinder geochemistry all point to a promising potentially IOCG prize sitting just 30km from the Ernest Henry mine.

Ernest Henry is just northeast of Cloncurry in Queensland and stands alone as one of Australia’s premier IOCG operations. The mine has been running for 27 years and has churned out more than 1.5 million tonnes of copper and 2 million ounces of gold to date.

True North says its greenfields program was deliberately modest, with just one hole each being plunged into its Gully, Raleigh’s and Salebury prospects.

Despite the modest program, the company says the message is loud and clear, the system is alive with zoning that indicates a possible big IOCG deposit lurking nearby.

More than a kilometre of strike now carries the IOCG fingerprinting, stitched together along the same north-northeast structural corridor that feeds Ernest Henry.

At Salebury, the company observed more than 145m of potassic-hematite alteration from 140m downhole, with whiffs of copper and arsenic – common in an IOCG system.

The Gully prospect delivered higher grades of copper, including up to 0.85 per cent copper with 0.21 grams per tonne (g/t) gold at 320m. Not necessarily economic but a good place to start the vectoring in process.

Raleigh also served up some higher-grade copper from a vertical hole that clipped a 2m vein from 98m, grading 0.89 per cent copper Cu and 0.22g/t gold.

Salebury is a great result for True North, confirming favourable structures and an extended IOCG system with strong potential. While still early, it’s encouraging to see Salebury emerging as a potentially large-scale system that complements the high-grade discoveries ongoing at our Mt Oxide and Cloncurry Copper Projects.

The early stage find slots neatly into the company’s three-stage playbook in the Mt Isa-Cloncurry region. The priority remains to restart its existing oxide processing plant in Cloncurry to get into quick cashflows from the oxide ore around it and then to potentially toll treat the sulphide ore that is already poking its head through at least one deposit around Cloncurry.

With that cashflow secured True North will then go after what looks to be the larger prize, its Mt Oxide project to the north that has already thrown up some exceptional numbers.

With the latest results, Salebury is now also vying for equal billing.

True North’s geophysical crews will now infill and extend its induced polarisation grid across Salebury and Raleigh’s, while magnetic and gravity coverage will be expanded at The Gully.

The next lot of drilling is earmarked to chase two threads. Metres will be dedicated to upgrading the old JORC 2004 envelope at Salebury Main, whilst vectoring into the dense bullseye core at The Gully.

The company says its broader Cloncurry hub its ticking along in the background too with the SX plant, crusher and heap-leach pads ready for restart.

A February 2024 restart study already pencilled $367 million in revenue and $111 million in free cash over 4.6 years, at copper prices that now look quaint as the red metal approaches all-time high prices.

True North suddenly has multiple distinct copper stories in the same postcode – shallow oxide cashflow at Cloncurry, sulphide toll-treatment options nearby and now a a genuine swing at the next big IOCG at Salebury. Keep your eyes trained to this one, IOCGs in Australia like Ernest Henry only come around once every couple of decades.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au