Pacgold hits copper-gold jackpot under existing SA gold system
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Andrew Todd
Pacgold Limited rose almost 50 percent to 16 cents in early trading after it announced a significant discovery of high-grade copper-gold at its White Dam North gold project in South Australia.
The company’s latest copper deposits were previously dormant beneath shallow oxide gold mineralization drilled earlier in the project, indicating a potential project-wide copper and gold bounty in gold production activity.
Pacgold announced several solid copper-gold hits, including a 20-metre strike grade containing 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 0.5 per cent copper, and a striking 6-metre high-grade core containing 7.5 g/t gold and 1.2 per cent copper from just 58 metres.
Another hole yielded a 10-metre intercept grading 3.4 g/t gold and 0.7 per cent copper from 54m, including a 5-metre section at 5.0 g/t solid gold and 1 per cent copper.
‘Curnamona Province is now a very high priority copper-gold exploration destination with numerous high-grade copper-gold discoveries.’
Pacgold managing director Matthew Boyes
The discovery looks like a big step forward for the company; It confirms that a high-grade copper sulphide system lurks beneath what he previously thought was just an oxide gold mineral system, which had been the focus of all historical studies at the site.
Pacgold says the new discovery coincides with a magnetic anomaly that extends up to a kilometer across, leaving plenty of flesh on the bone for further study.
Importantly, the company says its discovery is open in all directions, and a series of assays from the same program from holes returning large visible sulfide zones are still pending.
Huge patches of sulphide mineralization up to 59 meters deep have been observed in five other holes in the program, Pacgold said, and analyzes for visual copper hits have yet to come back.
The discovery of a primary sulphide system at depth opens a completely new exploration front for the company, as only a limited number of deep drillings have been carried out on the project to date.
Management says there are numerous other untested magnetic anomalies with similar structural settings at the nearby Rolling, White Dam East and Hannaford West potentials.
Pacgold managing director Matthew Boyes said: “Curnamona Province is now becoming a very high priority copper-gold exploration address, with numerous high-grade copper-gold discoveries in a region that is still very underexplored to date.”
Pacgold’s White Dam project is located just 80 km west of the famous Broken Hill mine in the developing Curnamona Region on the South Australia-New South Wales border.
While the state is famous for being home to BHP’s huge lead-zinc-silver deposit, it is increasingly recognized as a developing copper-gold region with strong similarities to the Gawler Craton, home to the Olympic Dam.
The area has seen a flurry of activity recently, highlighted by Sandfire Resources’ megafarm deal with Havilah Resources to acquire 80 percent of the nearby Kalkaroo copper-gold project in a transaction worth up to $240 million.
The company made its latest discovery while focusing on infill drilling of the project’s existing 102,000-ounce oxide gold resource in late 2025. However, this latest finding regarding the primary sulphide system looks set to significantly increase the project’s potential.
With the rods still rolling, a geophysical survey planned, and a series of analyzes from the visually impressive boreholes on their way to the laboratory, Pacgold has plenty of news on the way.
What started as an effort to consolidate a known gold coin shaker quickly yielded what appeared to be a jackpot. As copper prices soar to all-time highs, a copper-gold discovery in Australia’s leading copper-producing region looks like an even bigger prize with clear blue skies.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
