Litchfield Minerals goes deep on NT copper-gold hunt
- Michael Busbridge
- 24 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Litchfield Minerals (ASX: LMS) hasn’t let the grass grow under its feet as it launches another determined assault on the company’s Oonagalabi project in the Northern Territory.
A deep diamond drill program has kicked off, barely months after standout assays, including broad copper-zinc hits, were returned from the company’s key phase one reverse-circulation (RC) drilling at the project.
That drilling uncovered multi-element and multi-phase mineralisation, highlighted by a standout gold-bismuth overprint in one RC drillhole that delivered 15m assaying 0.45g/t gold and 0.17 per cent bismuth from 50m. The same intercept included encouraging gold hits of 1m at 2.86g/t gold and 1m at 1.62g/t gold, all wrapped in a strong magnetite overprint on the earlier copper-zinc system.
Further support came from other broad copper-zinc hits, including a hefty 91m assaying 0.9 per cent copper and 1.3 per cent zinc, prompting the company to launch its maiden diamond campaign at Oonagalabi.
The diamond drilling, co-funded by the Northern Territory Geological Survey, will target two high-priority intrusive zones that could prove the existence of heat, fluid and metal drivers that may support a big copper-zinc-gold system.
The phase one RC drilling has already nailed a coherent mineralised footprint with two distinct styles. The first style comprises early copper-zinc with variable lead mineralisation hosted in what could be a sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) or possible skarn-related style that stretches over a strike of about 3km and a width of about 1km. Studies indicate the mineralisation pre-dates both folding and high-grade metamorphism.
That early system appears to be overwritten by later gold-silver-bismuth mineralisation, believed to be linked to intense magnetite alteration in the shape of a finger. It exhibits characteristics consistent with other intrusion-related and possibly iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation similar to that seen at Tennant Creek.
Intriguingly, that magnetite finger-like anomaly lines up well with the whopping 1km x 1km pipe-like Bomb-Diggity target, another factor that persuaded the company to inspect the target with its latest diamond drilling push.
The first diamond drill hole is designed to probe the target to a depth of 700m to test its interpretation as a primary intrusive body, which could be a heat, fluid, and metal driver for the whole corridor.
Bomb Diggity sits in a structural hinge zone surrounded by multiple intrusive bodies. Long-lived conduits are thought likely to have been created around the hinge zone and remained open to repeated mineralising events - a classic setup for big systems like Mount Isa, where early SEDEX mineralisation has been overprinted.
Litchfield Minerals managing director Matthew Pustahya said: “This maiden diamond drilling campaign represents an excellent first test of what we believe may be a later-stage, intrusion-related mineralising event associated with gold and bismuth. Phase 1 RC drilling confirmed a large mineralised footprint and, importantly, the presence of two potentially distinct mineralisation styles, an earlier copper-zinc system and a later gold-silver-bismuth overprint linked to intense magnetite alteration.”
The second diamond hole will plunge 300m into the main Oonagalabi zone and include the curious magnetic finger-like extension that appears to be directly linked to the original gold-bismuth hit. This could be an important conduit for the later intrusive event.
Versatile time domain electromagnetic geophysics (VTEM) has lit up multiple high-priority conductors across the broader corridor, many of which sit on or close to the numerous magnetic features previously identified in earlier studies.
Litchfield believes they are genetically tied to Bomb-Diggity and the other nearby intrusions. If proven, those conductors could massively expand the company’s target inventory along the crustal boundary between the Aileron and Irindina Provinces and could completely change the overall picture - and the company’s fortunes.
With drill rods already spinning and the Northern Territory Geological Survey backing the play, Litchfield’s intrusion-driven model is getting its first proper test.
Early signs - including multi-phase mineralisation, strong geophysical alignments and open scale - scream potential for something substantial in this underexplored NT belt.
If drilling hits paydirt on these multiple geophysical bulls-eyes, the Oonagalabi story could quickly transition from intriguing or promising to a definite must-watch.
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