The latest induced polarisation geophysical survey has reinforced the significant copper and gold discovery potential at Tarrina Resources’ (ASX: TR8) Walparuta project in South Australia, with 5 strong and laterally continuous IP chargeability anomalies having been mapped across 700m of strike – which have been interpreted as being related to sulphide mineralisation and fall within a 5km stretch of magnetic and gravity geophysical anomalies that look excitingly similar to other major discoveries in the region. The results show previous assays including 36.6 m at 0.37% Cu and 0.27g/t Au line up with a small but well-defined chargeability anomaly, which acts as a critical validation result that demonstrates that the IP method successfully detects copper and gold bearing sulphide mineralisation. This makes the larger and stronger IP responses very exciting targets – especially in a region where the same geophysical roadmap was utilised to discover the monster 1.1Mt Cu, 3.1Moz Au and 23.2Kt of Co Kalkaroo deposit – which is the subject of a $240 million farm-in agreement that Sandfire Resources (ASX: SFR) recently entered into with Havilah Resources (ASX: HAV). 

TR8 also released the first assays from its maiden drill program at the Christmas Gift mine in NSW, hitting the widest intersections at the project so far. This initial hole recorded 14.5m at 2.23g/t Au from 58m, which was followed by 16.4m at 2.06g/t Au from 75.6m. Potential strike at the project has also been extended by 1.16km to over 4km through very encouraging soil samples up to 1.86g/t Au – with 12 high-priority targets waiting to be drilled.

The main question that remains is if Walparuta’s orebody contains economic grades of mineralisation – and TR8 has an extraordinary opportunity to test this potential with a few very accurately placed holes that are guided by a robust dataset – and an $8.5 million market cap does not price in any successful discovery that could come from this campaign. TR8 will be expanding IP and geochemistry across the remainder of the 5km to attain the full scope of the system, before then hitting the highest priority targets. Part of $8 billion SFR’s deal with HAV includes $30 million of regional exploration expenditure to find more deposits in this highly prospective area – so they will certainly have their eyeballs on TR8’s maiden drilling campaign at Walparuta.

Successful IOCG discoveries are typically all based on the same three-pronged geophysical anomaly approach, which combines magnetics to identify iron oxide alteration in magnetite and hematite, gravity that should closely mirror the magnetic trend to confirm a dense mineralised orebody – and IP chargeability to detect the presence of sulphides which confirms the that there are minerals that have potential to carry copper and gold. Walparuta is situated in SA’s Curnamona Province – considered IOCG royalty with deposits like the world class Olympic Dam in the nearby Gawler Craton, and also HAV’s Kalkaroo deposit – which sits on the same geological belt as Walparuta. HAV also has another sizeable project in the same region, being the 12.5Mt at 1.5% Cu, 0.16% Co and 0.2g/t Au Mutaroo project – which just two weeks ago landed a $50M deal with Hillgrove (ASX: HGO).

While TR8 shot up 46% off the back of the geophysics results – it is still not even close to being priced for any discovery at Walparuta or material extensions at Christmas Gift with a $8.5 million market cap, and the company’s $2.7 million cash balance should be enough to drill test a few of Walparuta’s high-priority targets and begin RC drilling at Christmas Gift once the final diamond drill assays roll in. These final assays are due any day now, and intersected the same geology as sections that previously hit 8m at 17.23g/t Au from 12m and 13m at 13.20g/t Au from 68m, and will include results from up to 250m away from the main mine area. 

We will cover the soil samples and the rest of TR8’s drilling campaign at Christmas Gift in more depth as the assays come out, but the results that have come out since listing are encouragingly in line with our investment thesis of there being material resource growth potential at the project – and a high quality existing resource that is more than defendable at the current valuation. A paradigm shift of exploration strategy to unlock expansion opportunities with modern techniques is exactly what we were hoping to see from TR8’s CEO Dr Greg Partington, who managed the acquisition of the Bullabulling deposit at 410koz and drove the growth that turned it into a 3.7Moz monster at a discovery cost of just $5/oz – which since became the 4.5Moz flagship asset of $1.85 billion market cap Minerals 260 (ASX: MI6). Christmas GIft has previous production of 30koz at a superb grade of 18g/t Au, and these initial intercepts came from either side of a 3m stope from historical mining and contained extremely high-grade intervals within the headline assays, with 14.5m at 2.23g/t Au from 58m including 0.75m at 23.12g/t Au from 71.75m, and 16.4m at 2.06g/t Au from 75.6m including 2.64m at 10.49g/t Au from 83m.

The most compelling target confirmed by IP can be seen below, which sits 200-400m southeast of the Walparuta mine and has never been drilled. The central anomaly coincides with the priority magnetic-gravity target, and has chargeability values of 30–78mV/V and begins from just 70m below surface:

Source: TR8

This line of IP crossed the historic Walparuta Cu-Au breccia and existing drill holes, with the copper and gold intersections being directly on top of a well-defined high-chargeability anomaly. Some more of the assays were 38.1m at 0.26% Cu and 0.31g/t Au from 15.2m, 32m at 0.23% Cu and 0.01g/t Au from 56.0m, and 19.8m at 0.29% Cu, 0.58g/t Au from 132.6m. There are 5 discrete chargeability anomalies that begin from near surface and extend to 350m depth, with one to the east of drilling that has recorded values above 70 mV/V and has not been drilled. The conductivity data on the bottom confirms that the chargeability highs are coincident with moderate conductivity, which is consistent with continuous zones of a sulphide-bearing rock – and has also not been drilled:

Source: TR8

The chargeability anomalies on each IP line at Walparuta can be seen below, along with interpreted strike extents over the 700m length of the survey:

Source: TR8

There remains significant scope to expand IP coverage at Walparuta. This initial survey was focused on the northern end of the 5km magnetic-gravity corridor, near the historic Walparuta mine and previous copper-gold drill holes, with further coverage to the south and west now being assessed:

Source: TR8

The cross section below shows the TR8’s maiden hole drilling right into the centre of a main section of the orebody at Christmas Gift, in relation to historic drilling and mine workings:

Source: TR8

There are very clear catalysts playing out over the next few weeks to months that have serious potential to increase TR8’s share price. If any material discovery is made at Walparuta, it would very quickly become a game changing asset – and if the assays that extend as far as 250m north from the Christmas Gift mine come back with similar grades to the central section, then the scope of the project becomes significantly larger. TR8 is currently midway through a roadshow on the East coast, so this newsflow is coming at an ideal time.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content, and may own shares in any of the mentioned companies. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.