Key Highlights

  • The potential new lens lies outside the currently classified Mons Cupri resource in the Pilbara.
  • The standout hole returned 16.52 metres grading 2.68 per cent zinc, 1.21 per cent lead and 32.9 g/t silver.
  • Anax holds an 80 per cent interest in Whim Creek, with Develop Global (ASX:DVP) as its partner.
  • The company has secured up to A$161,000 in Western Australian government exploration co-funding.

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) has reported what it describes as a potential new zinc-lead-silver lens at the Mons Cupri deposit, part of its Whim Creek copper-zinc project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mineralisation lies outside the currently classified resource, south-west of the Mons Cupri northwest pit, and was intersected during the company's continuing diamond drilling campaign.

The standout hole returned 16.52 metres grading 2.68% zinc, 1.21% lead and 32.9 g/t silver from 257.5 metres, which the company expressed as 1.06% copper equivalent (CuEq). Within that interval sits 10 metres at 3.62% zinc, 1.74% lead and 39.5 g/t silver.

Further intervals and shallower hits

A second zone further downhole in the same hole returned 10.29 metres at 1.77% zinc and 38.3 g/t silver. Roughly 100 metres to the south, a separate intersection of 9 metres at 2.31% zinc may mark the southern Margin of the new zone. Another hole cut stacked copper-zinc-silver mineralisation, including 7 metres at 1.32% CuEq, while assays for a deeper 113-metre interval in that hole remain outstanding.

Shallower drilling also produced results. These include 14.03 metres at 3.31% CuEq, within which zinc reached 6.66% and silver 110.1 g/t, as well as 12.2 metres at 2.95% CuEq and 5.05 metres at 3.84% CuEq.

Why it matters for Whim Creek

Anax holds an 80% interest in Whim Creek, with Develop Global (ASX:DVP) as its partner. The company has positioned the current drilling as groundwork for a potential restart of the project. Managing director Geoff Laing said "every step forward builds the case for the Whim Creek restart".

Mineralisation found outside an existing resource can be significant for a restart case because it may add material close to established pits and infrastructure. A lens carrying zinc, lead and silver alongside copper could also shape how ore might eventually be treated and which concentrates or products a future operation might target. It is, however, far too early to judge whether the new zone could be mined economically or how it might fit into any development plan. Any zinc and silver credits would also need to be weighed against the cost of recovering them, which only metallurgical testwork can clarify.

Limitations and uncertainties

The company acknowledged that the existing drilling is not sufficient to support a resource estimate for the new lens. The zone therefore forms no part of any JORC-classified resource or reserve, and its size, continuity and geometry are still to be tested. The reported intercepts are downhole lengths, so the true thickness of the mineralisation is not yet known. Outstanding assays from the deeper 113-metre interval could either support or temper the current interpretation of the new zone's extent.

Next steps

A four-hole follow-up programme aimed at the lens is under way. By early November, Anax had completed 16 diamond holes for about 4,760 metres across the wider campaign, which is scheduled to finish in early December at roughly 20 holes for 6,200 metres. Downhole geophysical (DHMMR) surveys have also begun and may help the company map conductive sulphide zones between and beyond the drill holes.

The company has also secured up to A$161,000 in Western Australian government exploration co-funding. Further assays from the follow-up holes, together with the geophysical data, will determine whether the lens can be defined well enough to be considered for inclusion in a future resource update for Mons Cupri.