First drilling campaign planned for new PNG assets
In November 2022, our junior exploration Investment Los Cerros (ASX:LCL) acquired multiple high-grade copper, gold and nickel targets across five project areas in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The company today announced it has selected the Kusi Copper/Gold Prospect for the first drilling campaign of these assets.
So, why Kusi first?
Kusi lies within the Ono Project, which is perhaps the most advanced of the new projects acquired. Oso spans some 1,630km2 and is considered prospective for high grade oxide gold in skarns along with epithermal and porphyry style mineralisation.
It is located ~150km from the industrial port of Lae, and within the same structural belt as the multi-million-ounce Hidden Valley gold mine (8Moz) and the Wafi-Golpu copper/gold project (28Moz Au + 13.7Mt Cu). Despite its high prospectivity, much of the project area has never been prospected nor assessed with modern techniques and understanding
At Kusi in particular, historical drill intersections have been impressive, including 35m @ 3.04g/t gold from 136m, plus there is trench sampling that includes 8m @ 11.5g/t gold, 2.6% copper, 24g/t silver.
The combination of big regional discoveries within the same geological formations alongside existing trove of drilling data and gold intercepts made Kusi the standout choice to focus initial exploration activities.
A 3,000m drilling campaign is now in the works, which will deliver over ~18 diamond holes, and is expected to commence in March. A semi-permanent field base is being constructed near the Kusi village — a sign that LCL expects to be drilling here for quite some time (i.e. beyond this initial campaign).
We’re hoping that results from this campaign will lead to progress on our Big Bet for LCL:
“LCL to re-rate 1,000% off exploration success on its new PNG gold, copper, nickel projects or from developing its advanced gold project in Colombia.”
NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved - just some of which we list in our LCL Investment Memo. Success will require a significant amount of luck. There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true.
Next up
We await drilling to commence in March, with first assays expected in the following quarter. We are also keen to see an update on the progress of LCL’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) at its Quinchia Project in Colombia, which would provide clarity on what investment returns that development of the project could deliver.
