True North launches drilling blitz in Qld to grow copper discovery
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Doug Bright
True North Copper has fired up rigs at its Mt Oxide project in northwest Queensland, launching a new combined drilling campaign to expand the company’s Aquila copper-cobalt-silver discovery.
The phase one program will drill 6,000 meters across 23 holes, comprising 18 reverse circulation (RC) holes and five diamond holes, with Aquila as the primary target.
Previous drilling at Aquila has yielded thick, punchy hits, including 145 meters at 0.75 per cent copper, 0.12 per cent cobalt and 2.9 grams per tonne (g/t) silver from 28 meters in a single hole. The second hole returned 59 meters at 1.77 per cent copper, 0.04 per cent cobalt and 5.2 g/t silver from 134 metres.
Aquila lies within a well-defined corridor of copper, cobalt and silver that extends for more than 10 km and connects to the established Vero resource 4 km to the southwest.
‘Phase 1 of the 2026 program focuses on establishing and expanding the Aquila discovery.’
True North Copper general manager Andrew Mooney
Vero is a high-grade copper-silver-cobalt deposit of 15.03 million tonnes grading 1.46 per cent copper and 10.59 g/t silver, including a cobalt resource of 9.15 million tonnes containing 0.23 per cent cobalt.
Vero’s copper and silver inventory represents 220,000 tonnes of copper and 5 million ounces of silver, with high-grade, continuous mineralization extending to at least 250 m below the surface.
True North says diamond drilling will help sharpen understanding of the structural controls on mineralization at Aquila and support modeling and future development work. RC drilling will test downslope and horizontal extensions.
With current headline action Aquila and Vero providing an established resource base, True North believes the Mt Oxide district is shaping up to be the region’s largest and highest-grade greenfield copper discovery for over 20 years and has the potential to stand alone as a sulphide development asset.
True North Copper managing director Andrew Mooney said: “The 2025 Aquila discovery fundamentally improved our view of the Mt Oxide and confirmed the potential to establish a large-scale copper-cobalt-silver system on the existing Vero Resource.”
More importantly, both Aquila and Vero host high-quality shoots that stay open at depth and throughout the strike, keeping plenty of blue sky in the system as the company sets out on each program.
True North first flagged the Aquila discovery in the middle of last year, after its first RC program delivered significant mineralization and opened a new target area in the wider Mt Oxide corridor.
Since then, drilling and geophysics have extended the mineralization trend to over 1.3 km within a structural corridor offering more than 10 km of prospects and multiple high priority targets.
Two other candidates, Acanthis and Apollo, ride on parallel trends on either side of Aquila, adding more follow-on options as the company moves down the corridor.
With this target pipeline in mind, the phase one program is set to run from April through June or July, folding in updated models as test results come in. The second phase program is expected to continue the momentum towards the end of 2026.
Management plans to use results from induced polarization geophysics and geochemistry to fine-tune the second phase, stepping further from Aquila, drilling the Vero extensions, and testing regional prospects including Rhea, Apollo, and Acanthis.
True North’s new campaign follows a move to tighten its grip on the Cloncurry region two weeks ago after agreeing to buy Renegade Exploration’s 22.5 per cent stake in the Carpentaria joint venture (JV).
The company’s binding agreement to acquire the Carpentaria joint venture interest also includes a 35 per cent interest in the key Mongoose lease, with an estimated resource of 3.1 million tonnes grading 0.55 per cent copper and 0.07 g/t gold.
Global miner Glencore, through its wholly owned subsidiary Mount Isa Mines, remains the senior partner of the joint venture with a 77.5 percent stake and has a 40-day right of first refusal to comply with the agreement.
Meanwhile, True North’s wholly owned Cloncurry copper project includes the Taipan deposit and is located right next to the Carpentaria joint venture and separated from it by a tenement boundary.
By acquiring Renegade’s shares, True North intends to bring Mongoose and Taipan into a more integrated development plan, with the potential to open a larger, optimized open pit at Cloncurry once the deal is completed.
With drill rods turning and phase two plans taking shape, True North looks set for a steady flow of news through mid-year as it takes its next step at scale at Mt Oxide.
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