Golden Deeps flies on massive NSW copper-zinc sulphide hit

Golden Deeps’ share price has burst out of a slumber this morning, soaring more than 237 per cent after the company nailed an 80m intersection of semi-massive copper and zinc sulphides in the third diamond hole put into its Havilah project in the renowned Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.

After a quiet two months in terms of news flow – and a stagnating share price – the company has reclaimed the ASX market’s attention by confirming that core from the project, when tested with a portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyser, included significant high-grade mineralisation of up to 18.5 per cent copper and 34.8 per cent zinc. As a result, the stock jumped from a close yesterday of just 2.8c to hit an intraday trading high of 9.1c this morning, with the more than 105 million shares changing hands representing Golden Deeps’ biggest volumes ever – by some measure.

Diamond drilling at Golden Deeps’ Havilah project in New South Wales.

It meant some 85 per cent turnover of its entire share capital (121.27 million units) were traded in the first three hours of the session.

Early interpretation of the latest data has prompted management to speculate that it has hit upon a sizeable porphyry-sulphide system – possibly comparable to other major discoveries in the region, such as Newmont Corporation’s Cadia-Ridgeway mining operation.

The drilling program, which targeted the Hazelbrook prospect soil anomaly within Havilah, confirmed mineralisation across a thick 28m section.

‘The intersection of sulphide mineralisation in all three holes at Havilah ... indicates we’re on top of a large porphyry-sulphide system.’

Golden Deeps chief executive officer Jon Dugdale

Two additional drillholes were also plunged into the Hazelbrook North prospect, 500m further to the north. The first hit 40m of silicified breccia and disseminated sulphides, while the second intersected a 130m zone of altered volcanic rocks with scattered sulphide mineralisation, including chalcopyrite.

While the rig has now been mobilised to a fourth position 200m to the north-east of the third hole, between the Hazelbrook and Hazelbrook North prospects, the company says it is gaining in confidence that its initial data from all three holes is leading it to what could be a large-scale copper system.

Golden Deeps chief executive officer Jon Dugdale said: “The intersection of sulphide mineralisation in all three initial holes at Havilah, including thick zones of copper and zinc sulphide mineralisation in HVD003, indicates we’re on top of a large porphyry-sulphide system with similar characteristics to other major copper-gold discoveries in the Lachlan Fold Belt such as Cadia-Ridgeway and the recent Boda-Kaiser discovery.”

Dugdale says the company will now focus on completing the remainder of the diamond drilling program, with a keen eye to be cast on the resulting laboratory assays.

The IP anomalies at Havilah occur within a 2km-by-1km, north-to-south corridor and importantly occur as magnetic lows, which are normally associated with mineralised zones on the boundaries of intrusive structures.

Only 2km south-east of the Hazelbrook prospect, a third and bigger target area dubbed Milfor has been identified from previous soil sampling. Stretching across 1 square kilometre, the prospect is related to a prominent magnetic anomaly with chalcopyrite in mafic volcanics running up to 1.1 per cent copper that was thrown up by earlier rock-chip sampling.

Although it is still at an early stage of exploration at possibly the biggest target zone at the project, the company is planning more geophysics and geochemical soil sampling before it zeroes in on future drill targets.

On Monday, Golden Deeps celebrated 32 years as an ASX-listed explorer. The casual observer could read that one of two ways – either it has been incredibly unlucky not to have found a company-making discovery in that time, or hats must be doffed to the many management teams during those years for being able to keep pumping life and funds into the firm in repeated efforts to hit a big payday.

Regardless, Golden Deeps can now be viewed as a name synonymous with the renowned resilience and spirit of Western Australia’s miners.

Golden Deeps chief executive officer John Dugdale and Geos Mining principal consultant Murray Hutton looking across the Havilah project in NSW.

Wind forward to now and the company, recharged with $4 million in cash, is holding a geographically-varied portfolio of prospects as it sets about chasing multiple metal groups and spending money on drillholes.

Headed by Dugdale, a well-regarded rock-kicker, Golden Deeps has long set its sights on unearthing a big porphyry discovery in the vast Lachlan Fold Belt that stretches from southern Queensland through to Tasmania in the south.

The company’s four leases, which include Havilah, sit 30km south-west of the NSW town of Mudgee and 300km west of Newcastle and have a prominent position within the Rockley Gulong volcanic belt. It can earn an 80 per cent interest in the highly-prospective tenements by spending $300,000 on exploration in the next three years after purchasing the ground from two vendors in July for $180,000.

The Lachlan Fold Belt forms the eastern part of the Macquarie Arc and is renowned for holding world-class copper-gold deposits. In 2019, just 200km north-west in the Molong Belt, Alkane Resources also discovered the Boda-Kaiser copper-gold deposit that now boasts an inferred resource of 8.3 million ounces of gold and 1.5 million tonnes of copper.

Meanwhile, 200km south-west of Havilah, Newmont’s Cadia-Ridgeway mine holds a massive 20 million ounces of gold and 1.75 million tonnes of copper. The major deposits, found within Ordovician volcanic rocks, are linked to porphyry intrusives and are typical of the region’s rich mineralisation in belts parallel to the Rockley-Gulgong Belt.

If you want to hunt for elephants, you must first go to elephant country … and Dugdale and his team appear to have laboured hard to gain a foothold in possibly the most prospective area of Australia for big gold-copper-zinc intrusive discoveries. Although a single hole rarely makes a mine, the news of an 80m hit of ultra-high-grade disseminated copper and zinc sulphides today has clearly piqued the attention of investors.

With a gold price still near all-time highs, currently trading at AU$3680 an ounce, a copper price of more than US$9100 (AU$13,485) a tonne and zinc steadily rising towards US$3000 (AU$4444) a tonne, now is an especially good time to be exploring for the three metals. Should Golden Deeps confirm the presence of a sizeable discovery with its follow-up drilling, it could be a truly seminal moment for the shareholders who have held the company’s shares for more than three decades.

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