Encounter Resources Limited has announced that the Jessica Copper Project in the Northern Territory (NT) has been expanded ahead of diamond drilling efforts starting in June.
Encounter said the reprocessing of seismic lines has further defined a number of drill targets and maiden diamond drilling scheduled to commence by June or July.
According to the company, the project is being explored under a Farm-in Agreement with South32 Limited, which may earn a 60% initial interest by spending $15 million in exploration expenditures over a period of 10 years.
Key terms under the agreement stipulate that after South32 earns the initial interest or further interest in Jessica, a 60-40 or 75-25 joint venture will be formed, and in the case of South32 earning the further interest, the parties must contribute funds based on their pro-rata interest or dilute according to a standard dilution formula.
South32 may also earn an additional 15% interest upon the completion of a scoping study.
Together with South32, the reprocessing of seismic data that extends through Jessica was completed by HiSeis to provide greater detail of the geology and structure in the upper 1,000m of the Jessica Copper Project.
A 2 km spaced gravity survey was also completed with 1 km spaced gravity infill data collected over a series of high-priority magnetic targets.
The seismic reprocessing and gravity surveys have identified a series of targets for drill testing, including the Zeta target, which is a significant and discrete gravity feature coinciding with a prominent magnetic feature on the margin of a large interpreted intrusive body.
Encounter Managing Director Will Robinson said the exercise highlighted new targets adjacent to Jessica and as a result, the South32 Farm-in tenure has been significantly expanded to include the new targets.
“In 2022 we utilised new, widespread seismic coverage, together with a detailed gravity survey, to generate new targets at Jessica for drilling in 2023,” he added.
