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Highlights
- Pivotal Metals expands Horden Lake resource significantly.
- Strong open-pit development potential with robust copper profile.
- Focus on broader exploration and future economic studies.
Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT) has taken a significant step forward at its Horden Lake Project in Québec, Canada, unveiling a major increase to its resource estimate. The project now hosts 37 million tonnes at 1.1% copper equivalent, translating to 407,000 tonnes of contained copper-equivalent metal. This development solidifies the company's ambition of establishing a long-life, open-pit asset with a strong copper production profile.
The substantial resource upgrade has been driven by a combination of infill and step-out drilling, alongside improved geological modelling. A notable outcome of this updated estimate is the substantial growth in pit-constrained resources, which strengthens the project's prospects for a large-scale open-pit mining operation.
The latest results position Horden Lake among the leading shallow and high-grade copper projects on the ASX. The deposit now surpasses the key scale threshold of 300,000 tonnes of copper equivalent within a pit shell, maintaining an average grade above 1% copper equivalent — a critical marker for advancing development opportunities.
Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT) emphasized that recent metallurgical testwork has validated the quality of byproduct contributions, enhancing the project's overall production potential. Beyond copper, Horden Lake is prospective for nickel, gold, platinum group metals, and cobalt, further diversifying its future production profile.
Exploration efforts are far from complete. The company is currently awaiting assay results from drilling around newly identified electromagnetic targets beyond the existing resource envelope. Attention is also shifting toward expanding exploration along the 3,200-metre contact zone, investigating the western parallel trend and the southern claim block to unlock further opportunities.
To prepare for future development phases, engineering studies are set to begin, aiming to define optimal development scenarios and guide exploration strategies. These studies will play a critical role in shaping the path toward economic assessments and potential project financing.
Additionally, ongoing metallurgical optimisation work is expected to further enhance project economics, with early testwork already indicating promising improvements.
Located 131 kilometres north-northwest of Matagami in Québec, Horden Lake stands as an advanced-stage project at a time when copper supply pipelines are tightening globally. The project’s growing scale and strategic progress position it as a standout development opportunity in North America's critical minerals landscape.
