Craig Nolan

Tue, 28 May 2024 4:29PM

Alma Metals plans to soon begin a core-drilling program to both upgrade and expand its copper-molybdenum resource at its flagship Briggs project that sits about 60km from the deep-water port of Gladstone in Queensland.

In a vote of confidence for the project, newly-appointed contractor iDrilling has agreed to take $240,000 worth of its drilling fees in Alma shares priced at 1.2c – a 33 per cent premium to its existing price.

The company says drilling will start next month, with mobilisation of the equipment underway. An initial 2000m drill core program will test the intrusive contact on the south-west side of the Briggs Central resource where an intriguing geochemical anomaly has been identified.

Alma plans to infill the drill spacing to 80m for a significant portion of the Central resource, aiming to potentially revise it upwards into the indicated category. Any upgrade will feed into supporting the scoping study due later this year.

The company will also test for higher grades in the top 200m from surface, as was evidenced in recent drilling conducted on the north-east side of Briggs. Additional drilling will be completed at its Southern Porphyry target in a bid to boost the project’s total resource.

We’re really pleased to recommence drilling at the massive Briggs copper project in Queensland. With the recent rally in the copper price underpinned by strong fundamentals, there’s no better time to drill out such a large resource and kick-off a scoping study.

Alma Metals managing director Frazer Tabeart

Management believes there is significant scope to expand the resource at Briggs, which contains 415 million tonnes at 0.25 per cent copper and 31 parts per million molybdenum. The contained copper within the resource sits at more than 1 million tonnes – an impressive copper “booty” in today’s rising price environment.

The company has released an exploration target based on previous work at the project, consisting of between 440 million tonnes and 880 million tonnes at 0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent copper and 25ppm to 40ppm molybdenum.

Assay results from the program are expected in August, with material from drilling to be used in the next stage of metallurgical testwork. For the first time, the work will include an evaluation of molybdenum recovery levels for the upcoming scoping study.

Alma has a 30 per cent interest in the project after completing an earn-in joint-venture (JV) with Canterbury Resources. It can earn up to 70 per cent via a staged earn-in agreement on the operation it considers to be in a tier-one jurisdiction with exceptional surrounding infrastructure.

The Gladstone deep-water port, heavy-haulage railway, gas pipelines, high-voltage powerlines and the Dawson Highway are all in close proximity.

The company also has the prospective East Kimberley copper project in WA, sitting north-west of Wyndham. Management believe it offers an exciting opportunity, but it is still at an early stage.

The price of copper has been on a run lately, which may start to generate some real interest in Alma’s Queensland project.

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

The post Alma lines up ducks to kick off new Queensland copper quest appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

Two months ago Garimpeiro said he was taken by BHP’s assessment at the time that the supply deficit in copper previously expected to emerge in the final third of the 2020s could well come earlier.

What’s more, the supply deficit could be “pronounced’’ in the medium – term (five years).

Supply deficits force higher prices, and if they are pronounced, so too is the price response. As it is, we’re getting a taste of what that could mean for copper as the price of the red has taken off to $US4.59/lb on Tuesday morning.

BARRY FITZGERALD | Stockhead

Tue, 30 April 2024 11:29 AM

That is nearly 19 per cent higher than last (calendar) years’ average of $US3.86/lb.

Which is a meaningful increase, even for BHP with a (sustained) 10 per cent increase on its 2023 average price adding more than $US500 million to its earnings.

The beauty about copper’s recent take-off is that it is driven by the supply deficit thematic, not economic activity.

Add in the prospect of cohesive global economic growth emerging and the forecasts out there of $US5lb or $US6/lb copper on the horizon, if you don’t mind, and naturally enough there’s a buzz around the copper stocks.

That goes for the copper explorers as well.

Investor interest in what they are up to is moderate at best at $US3.50/lb copper.

At $US4/lb copper, it’s as if the lights have been turned on.

That is particularly so for the junior explorers in the hunt for the sort of large scale deposits that the big boys of the industry are also chasing – bulk tonnage porphyry/skarns.

They account for most of the world’s copper production but come with a big upfront capex requirement and modest grades compared with the stuff the old-timers used to mine.

But these projects’ economies of scale can deliver large-scale and long-lived production at first quartile industry costs.

Garimpeiro went looking during the week for juniors in the copper porphyry space and got frothy when it came to a little thing he covered years ago – Canterbury Resources (ASX:CBY).

It was trading in the middle of last week at 2.8c a share for a market cap of $4.8 million.

Then suddenly other folks started thinking the same way as Garimpeiro and by Tuesday morning it was at 5c a share, with a market cap of nearly $8 million.

If it was scratching around the back blocks of Mt Isa for a small but high-grade copper discovery, Garimpeiro would suggest its modest market cap gave it lots of leverage to the upside for exploration success.

But it has bigger ambitions. Its focus is on its shares with the big end of town – the discovery of Tier 1 copper-gold porphyry deposits.

It has stuck to its task over the years and has some 1.8Mt of copper and 3.16M ounces of gold in resources spread across projects in Queensland and PNG, all of which are the subject of joint ventures with deep-pocket partners.

The strategy for the company has been to generate potential Tier 1 exploration opportunities and then form earn-in partnerships with others to mitigate the risk and cost of playing in the high risk-high reward deep end of the pool.

Canterbury has exposure to two upcoming drilling programs funded by others seeking to convert the early promise reflected in that copper and gold resource base mentioned above in to genuine Tier 1 development opportunities.

Should the Tier 1 potential pan out – and potential is all that it is at this stage – Canterbury would end up holding 20-30 per cent of the project, depending on which joint venture we’re talking about.

Nothing wrong with that given the value of Tier 1 discoveries are measured in multi billions of dollars.

The two drilling programs to watch out for are at Bismarck (copper-gold porphyry/skarn) project on Manus Island in PNG, and the Briggs (copper/molybdenum) project in Queensland.

Bismarck is a long standing joint venture with Rio Tinto, no less, under which Rio has earned a 60 per cent interest, potentially on its way to 80 per cent. Canterbury is the operator.

The joint venture tried to get a drilling program going back in 2018 but all sorts of non-geology issues frustrated the plans, so it was parked up.

But now the JV is back, with a minimum eight-hole program testing high-priority targets to start next month.

Next month also sees the start of a drilling program at the Briggs porphyry project, a joint venture with Alma Metals (ASX:ALM), under which Alma can earn up to a 70 per cent interest.

Briggs already has an (inferred) resource estimate of 415Mt at 0.25 per cent copper and 31ppm molybdenum. That in itself is interesting in a $4.59/lb copper market.

There is a much bigger compliant exploration target estimate on the project but the real interest in the drilling program will be if the partners can confirm higher-grade material in a zone straddling the intrusion and surrounding volcanic sediments.

Success doing that would raise the potential for a higher-grade starter pit to ease the pathway to production. To that end, data from the drilling program will be plugged in to a scoping study planned to start in the second half of the year.

This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au

The views, information, or opinions expressed in the interviews in this article are solely those of the interviewees and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.

The post Barry FitzGerald: This copper junior’s pooling the bulk tonnage that gets big end of town buying appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

Doug Bright | SPONSORED

Thu, 15 February 2024

Bulls N’ Bears

Alma extends higher-grade Queensland copper-moly zone

Alma Metals has extended the higher-grade copper-molybdenum mineralisation strike at the Central Zone within its Briggs project in Queensland to about 500m, with new drill hits including 161m at 0.29 per cent copper and 71 parts per million moly from 22m.

The company says the intercept gleaned from a four-diamond-drillhole campaign is part of a longer 242.4m zone beginning just 5.4m from surface and running 0.26 per cent copper and 60ppm moly.

The results frank Alma’s decision to test the south-eastern margin of its Central resource zone – a strategy aimed at proving that good copper grades could exist in the upper zone of the intrusive granodiorite, close to or straddling its contact with the enclosing volcanic sediments. Two holes were put into each of the two sections of the south-eastern margins of the Briggs Central zone.

The north-easterly azimuth of the best hole explored the north-eastern margin of the contact zone and ended in better than 0.1 per cent copper mineralisation just 27m shy of Alma’s interpreted contact between the two rock types.

Its twin on the same section from pretty much the same collar location explored the opposite azimuth to the south-west towards the centre of the intrusive. It terminated at 257.5m in lower-grade copper after running through almost continuous mineralisation that included better intercepts of 10m going 0.37 per cent copper and 68ppm moly from 23m and 15.9m at 0.32 per cent copper and 27ppm moly from 239.1m.

The second section line was drilled in similar fashion, about 50m north-east of the first line, with one hole oriented to test the north-east contact zone and the other being a vertical hole put into granodiorite just 50m away from the interpreted contact zone.

The first hole was a massive success, with a 94.5m intercept from right on the inferred contact into the wall rock going 0.33 per cent copper and 48ppm moly. Additionally, almost the entire hole was mineralised and included a run of 187.2m going 0.24 per cent copper and 34ppm moly from just 2.8m.

An additional zone ran an impressive 12m going 0.5 per cent copper and 20ppm moly from 97m.

The second hole of the section ran its full vertical length from surface to 147.9m in mineralisation averaging 0.2 per cent copper and 28ppm moly, ending in granodiorite about 50m inside its inferred contact with the volcanic sediments.

Alma says its latest results, in concert with previously reported outcomes and resulting interpretations, confirm beyond any doubt that elevated copper grades exist in the mostly untested contact zone between the granodiorite intrusion and the surrounding volcanic sediments. It also notes that higher grades can persist to the maximum depths drilled, namely around the 250m mark.

Management says its surface geochemistry effectively screams out for work to explore the possibility of linking the Central and Southern zones, while the limited drilling on the south-west margins of the inferred resource also shows that the potential for a higher-grade halo has not been fully tested at either surface or at depth.

The mineralisation, which occurs as chalcopyrite and molybdenite grains in quartz veins and as fine disseminations within both heavily altered volcanic sediments and granodiorite, has now been proven on the south-east margin of the Briggs Central intrusion on three adjacent sections.

Further confirmation is evidenced by the broad, strong surface soil sampling geochemical halo that reads up to 1000ppm copper in the south-west part of the inferred resource.

The results show the southern area of Briggs Central to be a high-priority target for follow up testing on an open grid, with likely further infill drilling to be dictated by results.

Alma says it is planning additional drilling in the second quarter of this year, with a view to initial resource scoping studies as its results develop. Looking at the current data, it seems hard to imagine that the drilling will nix the target and it just remains to be seen how good the company’s next lot of grades can be.

The post Alma Extends Copper Moly Zone appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

Doug Bright | SPONSORED

Mon, 29th January 2024

Bulls N’ Bears

Alma Metals nails high-grade copper-moly in Queensland

Alma Metals has revealed a new 32.8m diamond drill hit of 0.78 per cent copper mineralisation across the contact between the granodiorite intrusion and enclosing volcanics at its Briggs project in Queensland.

The hole tested the south-eastern margin of the company’s Briggs Central resource zone and management says the results further validate its concept of elevated copper grades in the near-surface zone straddling the two rock types.

The project includes the currently-defined Briggs copper deposit that contains an inferred total mineral resource of 415 million tonnes at a grade of 0.25 per cent copper and 31 parts per million molybdenum, split between the main Briggs Central porphyry zone and a nearby smaller Northern porphyry zone.

The latest drillhole intersected a good thickness of high-grade copper-moly mineralisation from surface to a downhole depth of 136.3m, including 51m from surface going 0.59 per cent copper and 61ppm moly. The intercept was spiced up with a handy included zone of 32.8m running 0.78 per cent copper and 72ppm moly.

Management believes the high-grade, near-surface results that occur just above the base of oxidation most likely reflect a modest “bonanza zone” style of supergene enrichment. However, the hole is beyond being just a one-trick pony, as the core also revealed a 120m-long zone of strong copper-moly mineralisation continuing to the bottom.

The deeper zone is being tentatively interpreted as reflecting hole continuity into the north-western margins of a mineralised halo around the Southern porphyry target zone, with the implication that the Southern and Central resource zone halos could possibly connect at depth.

The style of mineralisation encountered in the deeper zone evokes further interest, as it comprises multiple thick zones of coherent copper mineralisation and molybdenum grades that are significantly higher than those identified in the Central zone inferred resource.

Additionally, the mineralisation occurs as chalcopyrite and molybdenite grains in quartz veins within both heavily-altered volcanic sediments and as fine disseminations throughout the rock mass, suggesting a possible saturation of much of the rock in the near contact zone by mineralising fluids.

A possible further implication is that the south-west zone of the Briggs Central resource could be extended by additional testing of the “halo” area around the Southern porphyry. It may also turn up additional near-surface supergene mineralisation enhancement, which could improve the economics of any open pit pre-strip or near-surface mining.

Currently, the north-western margins of any possible “mineralised halo” around the Southern porphyry are only hinted at by two drillholes on the same section as the latest hole. One contains 22m grading 0.23 per cent copper and 20ppm moly in the volcanic sediments, while the second hole on the contact between the felsic intrusives and the volcanic sediments shows 20m going 0.33 per cent copper and 17ppm moly.

Alma points out that surface geochemistry effectively screams out to define the potential for linking the Central and Southern zones, while the limited drilling on the south-west margins of the inferred resource also shows the potential for a higher-grade halo has not been fully tested at either surface or at depth.

The company says results from a further four diamond core holes into the Briggs Central porphyry resource zone are expected within a month. It will be interesting to see if it further validates Alma’s project modelling.

The project includes the currently-defined Briggs copper deposit that contains an inferred total mineral resource of 415 million tonnes at a grade of 0.25 per cent copper and 31 parts per million molybdenum, split between the main Briggs Central porphyry zone and a nearby smaller Northern porphyry zone.

The latest drillhole intersected a good thickness of high-grade copper-moly mineralisation from surface to a downhole depth of 136.3m, including 51m from surface going 0.59 per cent copper and 61ppm moly. The intercept was spiced up with a handy included zone of 32.8m running 0.78 per cent copper and 72ppm moly.

Management believes the high-grade, near-surface results that occur just above the base of oxidation most likely reflect a modest “bonanza zone” style of supergene enrichment. However, the hole is beyond being just a one-trick pony, as the core also revealed a 120m-long zone of strong copper-moly mineralisation continuing to the bottom.

The deeper zone is being tentatively interpreted as reflecting hole continuity into the north-western margins of a mineralised halo around the Southern porphyry target zone, with the implication that the Southern and Central resource zone halos could possibly connect at depth.

The style of mineralisation encountered in the deeper zone evokes further interest, as it comprises multiple thick zones of coherent copper mineralisation and molybdenum grades that are significantly higher than those identified in the Central zone inferred resource.

Additionally, the mineralisation occurs as chalcopyrite and molybdenite grains in quartz veins within both heavily-altered volcanic sediments and as fine disseminations throughout the rock mass, suggesting a possible saturation of much of the rock in the near contact zone by mineralising fluids.

A possible further implication is that the south-west zone of the Briggs Central resource could be extended by additional testing of the “halo” area around the Southern porphyry. It may also turn up additional near-surface supergene mineralisation enhancement, which could improve the economics of any open pit pre-strip or near-surface mining.

Currently, the north-western margins of any possible “mineralised halo” around the Southern porphyry are only hinted at by two drillholes on the same section as the latest hole. One contains 22m grading 0.23 per cent copper and 20ppm moly in the volcanic sediments, while the second hole on the contact between the felsic intrusives and the volcanic sediments shows 20m going 0.33 per cent copper and 17ppm moly.

Alma points out that surface geochemistry effectively screams out to define the potential for linking the Central and Southern zones, while the limited drilling on the south-west margins of the inferred resource also shows the potential for a higher-grade halo has not been fully tested at either surface or at depth.

The company says results from a further four diamond core holes into the Briggs Central porphyry resource zone are expected within a month. It will be interesting to see if it further validates Alma’s project modelling.

The post High Grade Copper Moly appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

Doug Bright | SPONSORED

Fri, 12 January 2024 12:44PM

Bulls N’ Bears

Alma adds new ground to major Queensland copper project

Alma Metals has expanded the Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill joint venture (JV) it shares with Canterbury Resources in central Queensland after grabbing two new exploration permits adjacent to the project.

The JV ground includes the Briggs porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit that contains an inferred mineral resource of 415 million tonnes at 0.25 per cent copper and 31 parts per million molybdenum – implying an in situ copper content exceeding one million tonnes. The partners have now extended the site through the purchase of permits from Tropex Metals.

The project is about 60km west of the deepwater port of Gladstone and is supported by good access and proximity to infrastructure. Alma is funding exploration at Briggs under its staged earn-in JV agreement with Canterbury, in which it currently holds a 30 per cent interest and can earn up to 70 per cent.

The acquisition cost for the now-former Tropex ground will be included in Alma’s earn-in expenditure. On cementing the deal, Alma will hand Tropex 50,000 ordinary shares, while the latter also becomes entitled to a one per cent net smelter royalty on mineral production from the two permits, capped at a maximum of $7.5 million.

Canterbury has said its sampling led it to believe that copper mineralisation at Briggs is related to three early Triassic porphyritic granodiorite intrusions that have formed stockworks of millimetre-to-centimetre-scale, porphyry-style quartz-chalcopyrite-pyrite-molybdenite veins. The company says the veins occur not only in the intrusions but also extend laterally more than 150m into the surrounding volcanic sediments.

Most of Canterbury’s sampling was undertaken more than a year ago, although it and Alma have both undertaken additional infill sampling along several incomplete lines. Soil sampling shows that copper anomalism above 500ppm at Briggs covers an area measuring at least 2300m long and up to 1000m wide.

More interestingly, several clusters of more than 1000ppm copper and up to a maximum of 4710ppm, coincide with the known copper-mineralised centres referred to as Briggs central, the northern porphyry and the southern porphyry target areas.

Sampling has also highlighted anomalous molybdenum up to 84ppm that is associated with the porphyry system. But it appears that while it is not perfectly co-incident with copper anomalism, it indicates a polyphase/zoned intrusive system at Briggs, which it has confirmed in logged diamond drill core.

Alma says it has outlined a revised exploration target of between 480 million to 880 million tonnes at grades between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent copper and between 25ppm and 40ppm molybdenum, which excludes the 415-million-tonne inferred mineral resource. The potential tonnage and grade ranges of the exploration target are conceptual in nature and insufficient exploration has yet been undertaken to estimate a mineral resource.

In November last year, management said it had completed a diamond drilling program in a zone of potentially elevated copper grades around the margin of the central porphyry to test for mineralisation that could be accessed in a higher-grade starter pit.

It said the program confirmed a higher-grade zone of copper-molybdenum mineralisation straddling the contact between the granodiorite intrusion and enclosing volcanic sediments, with two drill holes intersecting thick zones of copper-molybdenum mineralisation along their entire length. Both holes were terminated in mineralisation at their planned 200m downhole depths.

Additional drilling also confirmed continuity of mineralisation between the inferred resources for the northern porphyry and Briggs central zones.

Alma’s drilling ran until mid-December last year to test for additional zones of higher-grade mineralisation around the Briggs central porphyry and management says it plans to roll out further drilling in this year’s second quarter to evaluate the intrusive contact zone and upgrade resource confidence in advance of a scoping study. Preliminary metallurgical test work has found that high copper recoveries can be achieved through conventional crushing, grinding and flotation.

The company has exercised its right to enter stage two of its earn-in agreement and can reach a 51 per cent JV interest through further exploration and evaluation funding of $3 million by the end of June 2026.

Alma says its combined works, in concert with the revised resource updates, have given it a high degree of confidence that Briggs is a significant copper deposit, with more than one million tonnes of contained copper metal and a potential molybdenum resource.

The post Alma Metals Expands appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

FEATURE

Thursday 21 September 2023

By Andrew Duffy

Alma locks in 30% of big Qld copper play and shoots for 51%

Alma Metals has achieved the stage one earn-in requirements to reach an initial 30 per cent interest in Canterbury Resources Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill joint venture copper project in Queensland. Alma has placed an exploration target of between 480m and 880m tonnes on Briggs alone, grading between .20 and .30 per cent copper and between 25 and 40ppm moly – and that’s in addition to the existing resource.

Core from Alma Metals’ Briggs copper deposit.

Alma Metals has achieved the stage one earn-in requirements to reach an initial 30 per cent interest in Canterbury Resources’ Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill joint venture copper project in Queensland. Alma has placed an exploration target of between 480m and 880m tonnes on Briggs alone, grading between .20 and .30 per cent copper with between 25 and 40ppm moly – and that’s in addition to the existing 415m tonne resource grading .25 per cent copper and 31ppm moly.

Alma has now committed to stage two of the earn-in agreement, whereby it can reach a 51 per cent joint venture interest by sole-funding a further $3 million of assessment activity by 30 June 2026.

The Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill Porphyry copper project comprises three exploration permits and one application for an exploration permit covering a total area of approximately 245 square kilometres.

The $3 million cash is already being spent with the rods now turning in the stage two drilling campaign at Briggs.  The program will focus on assessing the high-grade zones within the existing inferred mineral resource envelope.

Alma says observations from Briggs’ drill core suggest multiple intrusive phases and mineralising events have taken place and will require further drilling to better define the phases and determine where higher grades and additional resource volumes may be located.

In an effort to locate the additional resources the company says the drilling will also target potential extensions of the Briggs deposit to validate the broader exploration target.

Significantly for Alma, the mineralisation at Briggs remains open in all directions with plenty of potential upside for the already seriously large resource.

The project is conveniently located about 60km west of the deep-water port of Gladstone and less than 15km to the north of a regionally significant road, rail and power corridor providing excellent infrastructure and pathway to export.

Alma has been progressing with metallurgical test-work which has shown high copper recoveries between 92 and 95 per cent recovery are possible through standard crushing, grinding and flotation to produce viable concentrate grades. Porphyry copper deposits like the Briggs, Mannersley and Fig Tree Hill joint venture are generally known for containing hundreds of millions of tonnes of ore, but at low grades.

Despite this, the deposits constitute important sources of copper because they can be worked on a large scale at relatively low cost, especially when they are near a port like Gladstone.

The International Copper Association suggests that global copper supply is expected to jump 26 per cent to 38.5 million tonnes annually by 2035. But even then, it will still likely fall 1.7 per cent short of demand, despite increased recycling.

Molybdenum is also a solid second tier addition to the company’s tool kit.  The silver-grey metal is used in steel alloys to increase strength, resistance to corrosion and heat. It is also  a critical component in aircrafts, electrical contacts, industrial motors and even light bulb filaments.

Mordor intelligence says molybdenum is estimated to see a compound annual growth rate (CARG) of over 4 per cent to 2028 thanks in part to increasing steel production in the Asia-Pacific region and the massive Chinese car manufacturing market.

The post Alma Locks in 30% appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.

FEATURE

Thursday 13 July 2023

Bulls N’ Bears with Matt Birney

A new entry into the top 10 copper resource club

Listen to ASX-listed Alma Metals Managing Director Frazer Tabeart talk to Matt Birney on the Bulls N’ Bears Report about Alma’s massive upgrade to its copper resource that kicked the door in at the top 10 club.

The post Top 10 Copper Club appeared first on Alma Metals Limited.