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Highlights
- Golden Cross Resources updated the Mineral Resource Estimate of its Copper Hill Project
- Ausmon Resources recently commenced Phase 3 field-based exploration at Brungle Creek EL8954 and McAlpine EL9252
- Encounter Resources recently completed an airborne magnetic-radiometric survey at the Aileron Cu-REE Project
Copper is found as a primary mineral in basaltic lavas, and occurs in a combined form in minerals like chalcocite, bornite, cuprite, etc. Australia has produced around 4% of the total copper production so far this year.
Copper prices began retreating from mid-November after attaining a five-month high. Rising COVID-19 cases in China have fueled demand concerns as the country is the largest copper consumer in the world. China also applied a strict zero-COVID policy to curb the rising cases leading to a reduction in industrial activities. This has slowed down the country’s economic growth.
Metal producers have also decided to retain COVID-19 restrictions to minimise the infections, but this has impacted the production. The concerns of sharp recession have offset the copper supply. The copper production in Chile fell down by 6.7% in first three quarters of 2022. Mine protests in Peru continued resulting in further fall in the production of copper. Glencore, a mining giant, has predicted the copper supply to fall short in 2023 by 50 million tonnes.
ASX Copper Stocks’ Performance
Data: ASX as on 03 January 2023
Golden Cross Resources Ltd. (ASX:GCR)
Australia-based Golden Cross Resources is a mineral exploration and development company. The company has diversified its portfolio, including gold, copper, silver, coal, etc. GCR has several high-quality projects across Australia along with prospective joint ventures funded by GCR’s partners.
The Copper Hill Project is the company’s flagship copper-gold project containing 310,000 tonnes of copper and 890,000 ounces of gold. It is also GCR’s most advanced project at the Pre-Feasibility stage.
GCR reported an increase in the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of the Copper Hill project. The new estimate for copper is 470,000 tonnes, and for gold is 1,340,000 ounces, contained in 148 million tonnes grading 0.32% copper and 0.28 g/tonne gold. Silver was also estimated for the first time at 7.9 million ounces. The MRE of 2022 is 45% higher than that of 2015.
Ausmon Resources Ltd. (ASX:AOA)
Ausmon Resources is an Australian exploration company focusing on gold, copper, zinc, silver, cobalt, and other base metals. The company operates its 100%-owned exploration licences in New South Wales, Australia. Ausmon is also looking for new projects worldwide to spur growth.
Ausmon Resources recently announced the commencement of Phase 3 field-based exploration at Brungle Creek EL8954 and McAlpine EL9252. It will test five targets that were identified from a previous study. Geological mapping and rock sampling will also be done at McAlpine, Campbell, and Robin historical copper and chromium workings.
The company has identified seven targets from the Satellite Alteration Study for soil and rock sampling. The target commodity of Target 1 is gold, while for Targets 2,3,4,5,6 and 7, commodities are: copper, cobalt, gold, and chromite.
Superior Resources Ltd. (ASX:SPQ)
Brisbane-based Superior Resources focuses on large, Tier 1 zinc-lead-silver-copper, copper-gold, gold and magmatic sulphide nickel-copper-PGE deposits in Australia. Superior Resources has three projects: Greenvale, Nicholson, and Victor. The Greenvale project has at least three copper-gold porphyry and magmatic sulphide nickel-copper-PGE prospects. The Nicholson project hosts zinc-lead-silver-copper prospects. The Victor project has surface indications of zinc and lead.
Superior has planned to commence drilling second advanced copper-gold porphyry soon, while the drilling of the third copper-gold porphyry prospect will be done in 2023. The company discovered copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry buried at the Greenvale project.
Image: © Gwhitton | Megapixl.com
Encounter Resources Ltd. (ASX:ENR)
One of Australia’s leading mineral exploration companies, Encounter Resources, is focused on discovering copper-dominant deposits in Australia. The assets of the company include: the Lamil Project and the Yeneena Project in the Paterson Province, Western Australia; the Elliott copper, Jessica, and Carrara projects in Norther Territory; the Rare Earth Element (REE) project in the West Arunta region.
Encounter Resources recently completed an 8,000 km line airborne magnetic-radiometric survey at the Aileron Cu-REE project, the West Arunta Region. The company identified new targets- the Hurley and Macklin prospects- in the region and upgraded its existing targets: Caird, Crean, Shackelton, and Worsley.
The first drill program of 2023 will include the Worsley, Crean, and Caird targets. Assay results of the only diamond hole drilled for targeting magnetic anomaly at the Worsley project show zones of copper, gold, molybdenum, niobium, and REE anomalies.
