At M2, located in the Black Mountain group of claims, a JORC-compliant independent report in 2018 established a copper resource, partly inferred/partly indicated, of 4.28 million tonnes at a grade of 0.45% Cu. This is a large resource at a significant grade but falls short of the tonnage required for commercial development.
Included in the 2018 JORC-compliant independent resource report were the following two statements:
(1) The deposit contains a central area, 300 meters in length, which has only been tested by two drillholes. This area is given a high probability of containing additional resources. At a finding rate of 3,505 tonnes per meter we assume a probably target of 1 to 3 million tonnes, grading 0.4 to 0.6 percent total copper.
(2) The area of M2 IP anomaly comprises 163 hectares. Deducting the drilled area, which comprises 33 hectares, the target area consists of 130 hectares. Assuming a 65% probability of success, this target would consist of 9 to 14 million tonnes grading 0.4 to 0.6 percent total copper.
As the areas referred to in (1) and (2) above have not yet been drilled, they are categorised as Exploration Targets in JORC terminology and cannot be categorised as Resources. The recent review of all available data, taking into account the independent report on M2, has re-emphasised the exciting potential for M2 which could far exceed the Resource already reported.
If these independently calculated Exploration Targets prove to be correct, the Resource and the Exploration Targets together at M2 could become 14.3 - 21.3 million tonnes at 0.4 - 0.6 % copper, being several times larger than the existing Resource. Such an increase would be transformative for Great Western, but in addition it should be noted that the 1.5 km strike-length copper Resource at M2 lies within a 6.5 km belt of along-strike potential which is all within the Company’s claims, open to the northeast and southwest as well as down-dip to the southeast. The strongest IP anomaly, as yet undrilled, is located to the southwest of the existing Resource under tertiary lavas. To the northeast, where tertiary lavas do not obscure the host sequences, surface showings of copper occur for a further 1.5 km on Great Western’s claims.
The M2 Copper Project lies within the Black Mountain Group and supports an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource, independently prepared in accordance with JORC guidelines. At a 0.2% cut-off grade, the current total resource is 4.3 million tonnes of 0.45% copper for 19 thousand tonnes of contained copper metal. The M2 project is open down dip towards the southeast, and also along strike both northeast and southwest.
M2 is a potential planar structure, extending 2,134 metres south southeast beneath the crest of Black Mountain to the vicinity of the historic Smith Copper Mine. The Company considers that the source of the M2 and Smith Mine copper mineralisation is an epithermal plume located beneath the “Sharktooth” peak of Black Mountain. Low grade, open-pittable copper-gold values at M2 are indicators of much higher grade and more consistent copper-gold oxide mineralisation at the intersection of the vertical northeasterly Sharktooth structure and the Diorite-Dunlap hanging wall caprock.
The M2 Sharktooth target is a deeply buried zone within the diorite, beneath the Sharktooth peak, down dip from the current M2 oxide Cu Resource. The target could potentially extend the current M2 Resource a further 500m along strike, and 500m down dip. Target thickness could range from 10m to 100m. The total target zone covers an area of approximately 2.5km2, which could host a deposit in the range of 15 million tonnes to 200 million tonnes.
Download The Report of Mineral Resources Modelling at M2 Project.