Key Highlights

•  Further drilling at La Juliana returned thick zinc-rich intercepts with copper, lead, gold and silver, prompting plans for a second rig.

•  La Juliana lies about 700 metres south-east of the Castillejitos orebody, part of the Aguas Teñidas operation in the MATSA complex.

•  The second rig is expected in the second half of the 2027 financial year once Mining concessions are granted, so timing depends on regulatory approvals.

Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) plans to bring a second drill rig to La Juliana, a polymetallic massive sulphide prospect in Spain, after further drilling returned thick zinc-rich intercepts with copper, lead, gold and silver. The company believes La Juliana may form part of a larger mineralised system close to its existing operations.

Where La Juliana sits

La Juliana lies about 700 metres south-east of the Castillejitos orebody, which forms part of the Aguas Teñidas operation within Sandfire's MATSA mining complex in southern Spain. The mineralisation is described as polymetallic massive sulphide, containing copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver in varying proportions. Sandfire describes itself as a copper-focused miner with operations in Botswana as well as Spain, and development projects in Australia and the United States.

Discoveries close to existing mines can be valuable because they may eventually be able to use established processing plants and infrastructure, although that depends on grade, size, metallurgy and permitting.

The drilling results

The discovery hole, CCM-90, returned 14.4 metres at 0.40% copper, 14.5% zinc, 4.4% lead, 0.60 g/t gold and 158.1 g/t silver from 307 metres. Follow-up hole CCM-91 intersected 22.5 metres at 0.90% copper, 15.4% zinc, 3.8% lead, 0.70 g/t gold and 85.2 g/t silver from 310.5 metres.

Hole CCM-94 returned 30 metres at 0.40% copper, 10.1% zinc, 4.9% lead, 0.90 g/t gold and 114.4 g/t silver from 323 metres. Deeper down, CCM-92 intersected 22.2 metres at 1% copper, 12% zinc, 3.8% lead and 127.4 g/t silver from 415.8 metres, with gold assays still pending.

Not every hole drilled so far was successful. CCM-93 returned only weak mineralisation, while CCM-95 intersected trace sulphides. All intervals are downhole lengths, and true widths are not yet known.

How big could it be?

Drilling has so far confirmed about 160 metres of strike. Downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys suggest the sulphides may continue for at least 350 metres along strike, and the company has indicated that the broader prospective horizon could extend for up to two kilometres.

These are interpretations based on geophysics and limited drilling. There is no mineral resource at La Juliana, and the extent of continuous mineralisation will only become clear with further drilling.

Chief executive Brendan Harris said the results had "strengthened confidence" in the system and suggested La Juliana could be part of a larger mineralised system.

Why it matters

For Sandfire, the prospect offers a potential source of additional feed in a district where it already operates. The intercepts are dominated by zinc, with meaningful lead and silver credits and lower copper grades, so any future development case would depend on the polymetallic mix as well as on copper. The shallowest intercepts start about 300 metres below surface, which would likely point to underground mining if the zone were developed.

The results also highlight the exploration potential around existing mines in the region, where discoveries can be hidden at depth beneath known orebodies.

Limitations and next steps

The programme remains at an early stage, with only a handful of holes defining the zone and two holes returning weak or trace results. Gold assays for CCM-92 are outstanding, and true widths and geometry are not yet established.

The second rig is expected to arrive in the second half of the 2027 financial year, once mining concessions are granted, so the timing depends on regulatory approvals. In the meantime, Sandfire plans to run a DHEM survey on hole CCM-92 to guide step-out drilling.

Investors will be watching for the outstanding gold assays, the DHEM results and whether step-out holes can extend mineralisation towards the larger strike length suggested by geophysics. Any eventual resource estimate would require substantially more drilling.