Three of the initial assays from Macarthur Minerals' (TSXV: MMS) Hillside gold and copper project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia have returned anomalous grades for base metals and gold, the company says.
One gossan outcrop returned 6.4% copper and 0.45% zinc, 0.185 ppm gold and 37.8 ppm silver, showing similar copper grades to a historical rock chip from another gossan outcrop 6 km south along strike. Both outcrops lie within a strong magnetic anomaly identified in a 2018 electromagnetic survey.
In addition, two anomalous quartz reef gold samples returned 0.224 and 0.024 ppm gold.
The Hillside project is a joint venture between Macarthur Minerals and Fe Limited (ASX: FEL) where Fe can earn up to 75% of the project through a series of staged payments to Macarthur and project expenditures over a three-year period. In addition to copper and gold, several Hillside tenements have lithium potential, the company says.
MacArthur's executive chairman Cameron McCall says the early exploration results at Hillside, which has been a priority area for exploration, are "encouraging."
The Hillside gold project comprises a group of tenements located 185 km southeast of Port Hedland and 50 km southwest of Marble Bar. The area has previously been explored by various companies for gold, copper, zinc and lead, although little drilling has been done, the company says.
At press time, Macarthur shares were trading at 7 ? per share with a 52-week range of 2 ? to 16 ?. The company has 321 million outstanding shares for a $22.5-million market capitalization.