Coda Minerals has deployed cutting-edge technology at its Emmie Bluff iron oxide-copper-gold and copper-cobalt deposit as it aims to define thickness and structure of the mineralisation at the SA site.
The company has commenced an Ambient Noise Tomography, or “ANT” survey that is designed to use an advanced passive seismic technique to produce a detailed sub-surface velocity map to assist in the identification of IOCG mineralisation close to the Emmie deposits.
The company says the ANT survey covers a much greater area at significantly lower cost than drilling, allowing it to refine and update the next stage of its exploration campaigns.
Coda says the deployment of Fleet Space Technologies’ “ExoSphere” ANT survey represents a pivotal new phase of exploration aimed at unlocking the broader potential of the Emmie Bluff Project and designed to follow up on the discovery of the Emmie IOCG copper-gold deposit in June 2021.
In addition to assisting with exploration for IOCG-style mineralisation, the ANT survey is also expected to assist in the identification of any additional areas of Tapley Hill shale, which is the host rock for the shallower copper-cobalt deposits that occur across its tenements.
Whilst the explorer has completed over 23,000m of diamond drilling at the Emmie IOCG, Coda says the area covered by the drilling is laterally small leaving vast areas of the anomaly untested and not yet covered by geophysical surveys capable of identifying mineralising structures.
The Emmie deposits form part of the company’s flagship Elizabeth Creek copper project.
Coda Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Chris Stevens said: “The massive advantage of the ExoSphere system is that we are able to receive real-time images from the field and react quickly to the information. This allows us to add resolution to certain areas and to really start to build up a better understanding of what is happening at depth.”
The initial survey is expected to cover an area of around 40 square kilometres across Emmie Bluff, Emmie IOCG and numerous other prospective density related anomalies in the immediate area.
In November Coda unveiled a viable pathway to steady-state production of 2.5 million tonnes per annum at the company’s Elizabeth Creek copper project.
The proposed mining schedule will see Emmie Bluff mined over 17 years whilst also extracting material from two smaller satellite deposits to be used as mill feed during the development and ramp-up of the main operation.
The cornerstone deposit hosts 43 million tonnes at 1.3 per cent copper, 470 parts per million cobalt, 11 grams per tonne silver and 0.15 per cent zinc or 1.84 per cent copper equivalent. In terms of contained metal, it boasts 560,000 tonnes of copper, 20,000 tonnes of cobalt, 15.5 million ounces of silver and 66,000 tonnes of zinc or 800,000 tonnes of copper equivalent.
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By Matt Birney
