Second sulphide hit supercharges Litchfield Minerals NT copper-zinc hunt
- James Pearson
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Litchfield Minerals (ASX: LMS) has once again lit up the sulphide radar at its Oonagalabi project in the Northern Territory after a proof-of-concept hole hit a new 111-metre zone of intermittent mineralisation – this time at its satellite VT2 conductor, just east of the project’s main zone of interest.
The latest update lands just days after Litchfield stunned the market with a monster 104-metre copper sulphide hit from surface on the western edge of its main Oonagalabi prospect - a headline-grabber that sent its share price rocketing 300 per cent to 75 cents.
The new hole - dubbed hole 11- hit the mark, slicing into the heart of a 500m-long electromagnetic conductor and pulling up a string of sulphides from 180m to 291m downhole.
The intercept revealed a mix of disseminated, semi-massive and massive sulphides dominated by pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and pyrite - all hosted within dense, iron-rich intrusive rocks.
Two standout intervals - spanning 199m to 204m and 246m to 256m - cut straight into zones of semi-massive to massive sulphides, with visual estimates running up to 15 per cent content.
The sulphides are heavily laced with chalcopyrite and sphalerite, which the company says is exactly the sort of minerals it wants to see when out hunting for serious copper-zinc systems. Their presence adds yet more strength to the growing belief that Litchfield may be circling in on a system-scale orebody.
According to management, the early win at VT2, which is 2.5 kilometres due east of the stellar hole reported at the start of the week, has stretched the known mineralised strike by another kilometre, pushing the total system length out to at least four kilometres.
Notably, Oonagalabi is evolving beyond its original carbonate-hosted roots seen at the project’s main zone. The latest hole, much like the earlier one has hinted at a second mineralisation style that’s mafic-intrusive hosted and has been seen elsewhere at site.
With similar mineralisation now also confirmed at Litchfield’s Silverado, Bomb-Diggity cluster and VT2 targets, the company is piecing together what could be a massive, folded, mineralised corridor - one potentially extending for many kilometres and driven by a deeper intrusive engine.
The VT2 intersections mark a major milestone for Litchfield at Oonagalabi. We’re already seeing chalcopyrite and sphalerite in both disseminated and massive textures aligned with a strong 500m + VTEM response. That combination of observations and VTEM anomaly strongly supports system scale and indicated we’re vectoring toward the core of a large, mineralised system.
Litchfield Minerals Managing Director Matthew Pustahya
The company isn’t wasting any time either. A downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey is set to fire up next week, aiming to lock onto the core of the VT2 conductor and pinpoint targets for the next round of drilling.
Management says the results of the DHEM will also help fine-tune the plate modelling and shed light on how the fresh sulphide hit ties into the broader, fast-growing mineralised corridor.
With hole 11 at VT2 now complete, the drill rig is already heading six kilometres southwest to another electromagnetic target called VT1. The conductor is three times more conductive than VT2 and is associated with gossanous outcrops bearing gold, silver, copper and tellurium - an unusual but promising geochemical cocktail.
On the ground, Litchfield says it has pared back to a single rig while it waits for a higher-performing crew to come online. For now, that rig will stay locked onto top-priority targets at VT1 and VT2 as the company works through the DHEM and logging data.
A second rig could be called back in once the geological picture sharpens and the next big move becomes clear.
With each step, Litchfield is turning the lights on across a previously blind corridor - one that’s now humming with sulphides, conductors and the hallmarks of a very large mineralised system in the making.
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