Great Western launches government-backed drill run for copper in WA


Great Western Exploration (ASX:GTE) announced on Tuesday the company has officially kicked off a drill-run on the hunt for copper at Fairbairn.

In early May, the company’s share price jumped 11% when the WA government announced it would assist in funding the cost of exploration drilling for copper-gold targets.

On Tuesday, the company has officially started its search for the electrification metal, going after three electromagnetic targets underground at the Fairbairn copper project.

The EM data is backed up by surface mapping and geophys-informed models which represent, the exploration team hopes, “potential DeGrussa style copper-gold … deposits.” Drillholes will reach up to 350m in depth.

That DeGrussa project, helmed by Sandfire, is roughly 120km away.

As for the EM targets at Fairbairn, a fixed-loop and helicopter survey respectively points towards three isolated bedrock conductors “interpreted to be related to sulphide mineralisation.”

Described as shallow-lying, at between 80m – 190m depth, the targets also coincide with a contact point between shale and sandstone within the Yemla Formation in the Earaheedy Basin.

Phase I drills will target the centre and upper portions of the three targets of interest, for which a diamond rig will also be used. Follow-up drilling will be informed by the results of cores pulled from Phase I.

GTE last traded at 6cps.


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