Horseshoe Metals bags 16% copper intersection from drilling at Kumarina

Neil Marston, managing director, told Proactive Investors today that Horseshoe will now investigate with diamond holes the high grade copper zones as a priority. "We are observing zones of higher grade copper mineralisation at depth below shallow shafts."

Horseshoe Metals (ASXL HOR) continues to unearth high grade copper zones from the Kumarina Project, which is located in a rapidly emerging copper district in Western Australia - where several other explorers have recently discovered broad high grade zones of copper.

The defining factor as to why these results are so impressive is that they are similar to those achieved in the first drilling program, indicating that Horseshoe may well be hosting a significant amount of contained metal at Kumarina.

Highlights from the second drilling program from the Rinaldi Prospect include;

- 13 metres at 2.7% copper from 67 metres, including 2 metres at 14.4% copper, which hosts the peak intersection of 1 metre at 16.2% copper;

- 28 metres at 1.8% copper from 37 metres, including 3 metres at 7.5% copper, which hosts 1 metre at 13.7% copper;

- 13 metres at 3.0% copper from 10 metres, including 3 metres at 9.9% copper; and

- 13 metres at 2.7% copper from 94 metres, including 6 metres at 5.0% copper.

The program which discovered the high grade copper comprised 25 reverse circulation percussion holes for around 2300 metres, which ranged in depth from around 50 metres to 160 metres.

Neil Marston, managing director, told Proactive Investors today that the latest drilling results at the Rinaldi Prospect continue to provide the company with significant encouragement.

"We are observing zones of higher grade copper mineralisation at depth below shallow old shafts which is probably what the original miners were chasing.

"We will continue drilling this year with a few diamond holes being a priority so we can obtain some core of these high grade zones. Amongst other things this should improve our understanding of what going on at depth."


Exploration heading forward

Horseshoe now has sufficient data to undertake an interpretation of the intersected mineralisation at the Rinaldi Prospect and intends to recommence diamond and reverse circulation percussion drilling later this year, once all necessary land access approvals and weather conditions permit.

A program of more widespread exploration will also be conducted in 2012 to test for repetitions of the copper mineralisation identified at the Rinaldi Prospect.

Over at the Horseshoe Lights Project, drilling is also scheduled for the coming months with programs being planned to test for zones of copper mineralisation north of and along strike of the existing open pit, and to test the deep target below 200 metres from surface south east of the open pit.


Major discoveries in the area

The region in which Horseshoe is currently operating continues to emerge as a major copper district in Australia, highlighted by the fact that the massive Sandfire Resources NL’s (ASX: SFR) DeGrussa Copper-Gold mine is less than 100 kilometres away.

Add to the mix the location 90 kilometres north of Ventnor Resources' (ASX: VRX) Thaduna Copper Project, which yesterday announced some stellar results including; 37 metres at 2.61% copper from 111 metres, including 10 metres at 7.53% copper; and 62 metres at 2.19% copper from 125 metres, including 32 metres at 3.10% copper.

Kumarina is also 35 kilometres south-west of Montezuma Mining Company’s (ASX: MZM) Butcherbird Copper project.