Litchfield Minerals lands 91m Northern Territory copper hit

Samples from Oonagalabi Main Zone prospect

Litchfield Minerals (ASX: LMS) has hit 91m of copper going 0.9% and 1.3% zinc from 8m depth at its Oonagalabi Main Zone prospect, located 120kms north of Alice Springs. It is one of the strongest drilling intersections to date by Lichfield and supports a reliable base case of a rich polymetallic mineralised envelope outcropping for at least 1.5kms along strike.

Within the 91m intersection, a zone of 37m @ 0.9% copper, 1.8% zinc, 0.1% lead, 9g/t silver, 0.1g/t gold was intersected from 7m, pointing to a polymetallic system with plenty of potentially payable credits. One hundred and seventy meters along strike to the north Litchfield previously intersected over 200m of continuous sulphide mineralisation, including 1% chalcopyrite and 1.5% sphalerite, giving hints at an even larger copper and zinc mineralised system.

The company says that VTEM, IP and magnetic geophysics all combine to suggest Main Zone is a distal alteration to a larger, perhaps more lucrative, intrusive body. The geophysical methods provide additional drill targets for Litchfield beyond the Main Zone. All mineralisation is hosted within calc-silicate and marble alteration assemblages and disseminated sulphides. Such alteration assemblages are present in highly lucrative skarn style deposits around the world and within the world class Mt Isa terrain.

Additionally, geophysical targets define a coherent structural pathway along a province scale zone of crustal weakness, ideally suited to the passage of magmatic hydrothermal fluid flow that could be mineralised. Notably, the coincidence of several datasets, including magnetics, VTEM, IP, gravity and soil geochemistry anomalies all come together to provide an excellent vector to potential mineralisation.

Oonagalabi Main Zone has a surface expression of 3kms x 0.5kms and mineralisation extends from surface to at least 500m depth based upon IP geophysics. The company says the system bears many similarities to the KGL Resources owned polymetallic Jervois System that hosts a resource of 27mt @ 1.87% copper, 0.24 g/t gold and 25.3g/t silver. Jervois, which is located 120 kms to the east, is of a similar age and has a comparable structural evolution to Main Zone.

Hole 10 is a standout result for Litchfield. Close to a hundred metres of copper–zinc mineralisation from near-surface is the kind of intercept that demonstrates real scale and strengthens the case for Oonagalabi as a significant system. Litchfield views the Main Oonagalabi Zone as the Company’s valuation foundation, and we look forward to refining our exploration across the entirety of the projected system.

Litchfield Minerals Managing Director Mathew Pustahya

We’ve now confirmed the Main Zone as a large, laterally continuous foundation for value. The new magnetic inversion is starting to tie everything together, an interpreted major intrusive zone sitting on major crustal architecture potentially acting as the fluid, heat and metal source for the entire system. More evidence shows most of the VTEM priority conductors are sitting right on or adjacent to these magnetic structures and all of these magnetic structures extend far deeper than VTEM can see.

From here, we build upwards, deeper-looking geophysics, diamond drilling, and systematic testing of the northern corridor. The potential scale is growing and Hole 10 is an important step in revealing it.

The Oonagalabi Project is emerging as an exciting polymetallic, intrusive driven system with substantial lateral continuity and significant vertical extent which is needed for large scale systems. Litchfield views the Main Zone as the company’s money shot and continues to refine all drill targets using state of the art ground and aerial geophysical methods in the lead up to a significant diamond drill program slated for the first quarter of 2026.

RC drilling recommenced on Friday 14th November at the Oonagalabi project targeting an additional five to six holes. The program aims to refine some interpretation within the Main Zone. It will also test the Bomb Diggity prospect to the north and the nearby VT2 massive sulphide conductor.

Both drill tested coincident magnetic and gravity high anomalies within the VTEM conductivity cluster. In the upper 40m in one hole, disseminated chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite was intersected in amphibolite with calc-silicate alteration, supporting the presence of a conductive sulphide halo within a fertile structural corridor. Down hole EM at VT2 identified a significant off hole conductor suggestive of a massive sulphide body and will be targeted in the forth coming follow up drill program.

Induced Polarisation (IP) is underway across VT2 and Bomb-Diggity and is scheduled to conclude on 20th November 2025. Data processing will run in parallel. The survey is designed to map resistivity and chargeability responses beneath surface to vector additional sulphide mineralisation and refine key structural controls.

Ground EM is scheduled to commence in late November, beginning at VT1 before progressing to VT2 and then into the Bomb-Diggity and surrounding cluster area. The program is designed to refine the geometry of conductive bodies across these positions and improve definition of sulphide targets within each corridor.

Another project showing promise for Litchfield is the Silver Valley prospect, also in the Northern Territory. Silver Valley boasts a cluster of historical lead-silver workings within the Murray Downs Dome, located in the southern Davenport Province. High-grade rock chips have returned values up to 20–25% lead, 11.9% copper and 554 g/t silver, with traces of gold and zinc. Despite extensive surface expressions, no modern drilling or systematic geophysics has ever been conducted at Silver Valley. Litchfield sees strong upside in exploring the broader dome structure for a larger concealed system using modern techniques.

Demand for copper continues to grow, however huge volumes of production have been disrupted at major mines around the world. A deadly mudslide at the second largest copper mine in West Papua sent copper prices soaring. Flooding at Ivanhoe Mines’ Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and protests at Hudbay’s Constancia mine in Peru were among additional disruptions to global copper production. Many analysts are predicting over the next few years the copper market will fall into supply deficit, with not enough new projects being approved to meet demand.

Litchfield’s Oonagalabi Main Zone is littered with geological coincidences that, in time, may turn out to be prophetic. The company is clearly onto a sizeable system that has thrown up multiple geological indicators and with a 550 percent share price hike since September and a chart that resembles a hockey stick, clearly the market believes it too.

NOTE you must choose just one of the below to put at the footer of your article depending on which newspaper platform you are publishing on.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: office@bullsnbears.com.au