Litchfield Minerals survey lights up big NT copper-zinc targets
- James Pearson
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Litchfield Minerals (ASX: LMS) has pulled back the curtain on what may be one of the Northern Territory’s most promising emerging base-metals systems.
New induced polarisation (IP) survey results have outlined multiple fresh, high-priority targets across its Oonagalabi copper and zinc project, hinting at a large intrusion-related sulphide system that looks like it might be up to one kilometre deep.
The company ran eight IP lines, each about 1.5 kilometres long, using tight 75-metre dipole spacings to see deeper into its northeasterly trending Oonagalabi system.
Notably, the program has, for the first time, directly linked its VT2, Main and Bomb Diggity prospects to one continually anomalous corridor that now extends more than 450 metres beyond previous limits.
We may be dealing with an intrusion-related sulphide system at depth that remains largely untested.
The emerging geophysical pattern points to an anticlinal fold plunging deeply to the north at Bomb Diggity, including broad zones of low resistivity normally associated with sulphide-rich rocks.
Intriguingly, the new readings surrounding the company’s VT2 prospect appear to have thrown up two sub-parallel corridors, each stretching more than half a kilometre and sit right beside the modelled VT2 downhole electromagnetic plates.
The chargeability reading - reaching up to 15 millivolts per volt (mV/V) at VT2, points to disseminated sulphides exactly where Litchfield expected the eastern side of the anticline to light up. The company says the new results not only confirm its initial theory, but they also reveal the zone may be even larger than first thought.
This first phase of IP has changed the way we look at VT2 and the broader Oonagalabi corridor. We are now seeing continuous chargeability and resistivity data that links the Oonagalabi Main Zone through Bomb Diggity and into VT2.
Litchfield Minerals Managing Director Matthew Pustahya
Litchfield’s confidence was already rising after drilling in October at its VT2 prospect hit semi-massive and massive sulphides from 180m to 291m downhole. The sulphides were dominated by pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and pyrite - all hosted within dense, iron-rich intrusive rocks.
The rocks at VT2 also appear to be part of a feeder system sitting beneath a disseminated halo that has formed around the anticlinal nose of a far bigger structure.
Adding to the prospect’s credentials and unlike many other classic Northern Territory deposits, the VT2 prospect is blind at surface. With no signs of erosion, outcropping or hints of geochemical leakage to give away its presence, the system appears to have remained completely untouched until modern geophysics began peeling back the cover.
Litchfield says the broader picture at Oonagalabi is now starting to come together, thanks to its new 3D magnetic inversion mapping. What appears to be emerging is a potentially large intrusion-related sulphide system sitting at depth, with disseminated mineralisation nearer surface, likely formed by fluids flowing upwards from a hidden intrusive structure below.
Moving forward, Litchfield plans to fire off a new ground EM survey later this month to sharpen the geophysical picture. The company will also complete the remaining IP lines north of Bomb Diggity and southeast of VT2 to trace the zone further down the eastern limb of the anticline.
Once the data is in, the company plans to roll the rigs back in with a far more precise drilling blueprint.
With a growing pipeline of targets, strong structural controls and a system that appears both intact and deep, Litchfield now finds itself with a genuine elephant hunt on its hands.
For punters that follow Litchfield, the next few months should provide plenty of news flow as the company shifts it’s focus from an early-stage exploration project to a large-scale conviction play.
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