Orbit kicks off partner-funded NSW copper-gold drilling

Orbit Resources has fired up the drill rig for a second stage of partner-funded diamond campaign at its Goodrich Porphyry prospect, 70 kilometres south-west of Orange, within the highly prospective Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.

The four-hole, 1000-metre program follows July’s stage-one discovery of the aptly named “Pencil Porphyry” – a narrow, vertically extensive mineralised structure – which delivered a solid hit of 136.55m grading 0.32 per cent copper, 0.16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 43g/t molybdenum from 81.45m. That intercept also contained a richer 3.55-metre core running at an impressive 2.8 per cent copper.

Geologically, the company’s initial discovery was a textbook hit, intersecting a chalcopyrite-bearing monzonite porphyry. The intrusion also exhibited mineralised “unidirectional solidification textures”, key pathfinders for large ore systems, suggesting the ground may hold further treasures lurking below.

The new drilling will test the lateral and down-dip extent of the interpreted porphyry system and investigate its continuity with historical copper-gold intercepts associated with the project’s nearby Goodrich open pit.

‘Stage two drilling is now underway and is designed to test how far the existing porphyry extends.’

Orbit Resources managing director Jeneta Owens

Orbit’s joint venture partner, Canadian-listed Great Plains Metals Corp, is fully funding the program and is now providing an additional $1 million of work, including a minimum of 500m of drilling under the joint venture agreement as it works towards earning a 70 per cent stake. The deal will leave Orbit holding a 30 per cent interest, giving it cost-effective exposure to further exploration success without having to foot the bill during the earn-in period.

Orbit Resources managing director Jeneta Owens said: “Stage-one drilling at Goodrich returned a broad interval of copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation from relatively shallow depth. Stage-two drilling is now underway and is designed to test how far the existing porphyry extends, and whether it connects with the shallower historical copper-gold intercepts around the Goodrich open pit.”

While the JV drilling at Goodrich provides a free kick at goal, Orbit’s main game remains its flagship Lewis Ponds gold-silver-zinc project, also in the Lachlan Fold Belt. The project already hosts a hefty mineral resource of 17.52 million tonnes (Mt) containing 1.7 million ounces of gold equivalent.

A scoping study on Lewis Ponds outlined a robust base-case pre-tax net present value (NPV) of $481 million, using gold at US$3700 (A$5410) an ounce and silver at US$55 (A$80) an ounce. However, an upside case based on February spot prices of US$5055 (A$7390) gold and US$82 (A$120) silver sent the potential economics into the stratosphere, delivering a pre-tax NPV of a whopping $1.088 billion and a 40 per cent internal rate of return.

Adding to the project’s credentials, recent drilling at its Spicer’s Lode appears to have opened up some serious exploration upside after the final hole of a recent four-hole resource development campaign intersected a thick 28.1-metre zone of visual sulphide mineralisation, including sections with up to 34 per cent semi-massive sulphides. While visual estimates are no substitute for assays, the core showed a polymetallic sulphide assemblage of pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. Assays from the lab are pending.

The company has also defined a new discovery at Cousin Jack, roughly 350m southeast of the main Lewis Ponds resource, with initial drilling hitting encouraging base metal grades, including a 1.7-metre section containing 11.35% zinc, 0.34% copper and 18.05g/t silver from 585m.

Rounding out Orbit’s portfolio is the Narraburra rare earths project, 250km southwest of its flagship Lewis Ponds. The ionic-clay rare earths deposit hosts a maiden JORC-compliant resource of 94.9 million tonnes (Mt) grading 739 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides, including a higher-grade core of 20Mt at 1079ppm.

With its JV partner footing the bill to chase a promising porphyry discovery at Goodrich and a suite of potentially company-making assets in its own right, Orbit appears to have engineered multiple streams of news flow. While the Goodrich work unfolds, all eyes will be on the pending assays from Lewis Ponds to see if the visual sulphide hits can deliver the grades needed to edge the potential billion-dollar project closer to reality.

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