Qld government grants to help Red Metal drill big copper-gold targets
The funds are set to spearhead the company's proof-of-concept drilling program at two highly prospective iron oxide-copper-gold projects at its Gulf and Three Ways prospects.
The company says its high-impact drill testing on geophysical targets in the Mount Isa terrain will be the first deep testing of the prospects, which are in a region renowned for hosting world-class base metal deposits.
Red Metal has zeroed in on its GT9 target at Gulf, a compelling gravity anomaly that mirrors the scale and intensity of BHP's giant Oak Dam copper-gold deposit in South Australia. Oak Dam has 1.4 billion tonnes of resources, including 220 million tonnes at 2 per cent copper and 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
Historic drilling at Gulf has already uncovered hematite breccias - key indicators of IOCG systems - lending weight to the company's bold claim that the 'must-drill' target suggests the potential for a game-changing discovery akin to Oak Dam.
At Red Metal's Three Ways project 100 kilometres south of Gulf, the company is preparing to drill a 1.7km-long magnetic target, which coincides with a strong conductance anomaly that Red Metal says is indicative of Mount Isa-style sedimentary-hosted copper mineralisation.
Located in a newly identified basin near a major fault zone, Three Ways copper sulphidic host rocks and proximity to a regional structure make it a prime property for big-scale base metal deposits.
Heritage surveys for both projects are slated for June, paving the way for drilling to kick off in August.
Red Metal's managing director Rob Rutherford recently noted: 'If we hit a huge IOCG breccia, it could be a write-your-own-cheque scenario for a junior like us.'
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In a legal letter sent on Pogust Goodhead's behalf, lawyers representing the firm allege BHP, Vale and Samarco pressured claimants to "settle their claims at far below their true value". Pogust Goodhead also alleges that a 170 billion-reais ($A47 billion) compensation agreement that Brazil signed with BHP, Vale and Samarco in October 2024 prevented claimants discussing the deal with the firm or paying its legal fees. The firm says it has also incurred an extra $US1 billion ($A1.6 billion) in borrowing costs to finance the English case over the dam's collapse. "We reject Pogust Goodhead's claims and allegations in their entirety and dispute their factual and legal basis," a BHP spokesperson said in a statement. "These allegations and threatened claims are entirely without merit and BHP rejects and will vigorously contest them." The BHP spokesperson pointed to 2024's compensation deal, saying: "We continue to believe Brazil is the most appropriate, effective, and efficient place for compensation for the Fundao dam failure from Samarco to be delivered." Pogust Goodhead's threat of legal action - in a so-called "letter before action" that is required as part of the process - is the latest development in the litigation, after the High Court in June ruled BHP should face a full contempt of court hearing for funding parallel litigation in Brazil. BHP, meanwhile, still awaits judgment following a trial of the underlying lawsuit over the dam collapse, in which Pogust Goodhead said it was seeking damages of up to Stg36 billion. When the dam burst in 2015, it unleashed a wave of toxic sludge that killed 19 people, left thousands homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River. The trial began in October and finished in March. BHP denies liability and says the case duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programs in Brazil. BHP and Vale face a London lawsuit from the law firm representing hundreds of thousands of people over Brazil's worst environmental disaster, alleging the companies sought to cheat the firm out of legal fees by procuring settlements. Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP said it rejected the allegations "in their entirety" and would contest them. Brazil-headquartered multinational Vale declined to comment. Pogust Goodhead, which represents the claimants in an ongoing case against BHP over the 2015 collapse of the Fundao dam in Mariana, southeastern Brazil, says it will seek Stg1.3 billion ($A2.7 billion) for unpaid fees. The firm was representing more than 600,000 Brazilians in the case at London's High Court. A June presentation by BHP and Vale's Samarco joint venture - which owned and operated the dam - said about 130,000 people had settled. In a legal letter sent on Pogust Goodhead's behalf, lawyers representing the firm allege BHP, Vale and Samarco pressured claimants to "settle their claims at far below their true value". Pogust Goodhead also alleges that a 170 billion-reais ($A47 billion) compensation agreement that Brazil signed with BHP, Vale and Samarco in October 2024 prevented claimants discussing the deal with the firm or paying its legal fees. The firm says it has also incurred an extra $US1 billion ($A1.6 billion) in borrowing costs to finance the English case over the dam's collapse. "We reject Pogust Goodhead's claims and allegations in their entirety and dispute their factual and legal basis," a BHP spokesperson said in a statement. "These allegations and threatened claims are entirely without merit and BHP rejects and will vigorously contest them." The BHP spokesperson pointed to 2024's compensation deal, saying: "We continue to believe Brazil is the most appropriate, effective, and efficient place for compensation for the Fundao dam failure from Samarco to be delivered." Pogust Goodhead's threat of legal action - in a so-called "letter before action" that is required as part of the process - is the latest development in the litigation, after the High Court in June ruled BHP should face a full contempt of court hearing for funding parallel litigation in Brazil. BHP, meanwhile, still awaits judgment following a trial of the underlying lawsuit over the dam collapse, in which Pogust Goodhead said it was seeking damages of up to Stg36 billion. When the dam burst in 2015, it unleashed a wave of toxic sludge that killed 19 people, left thousands homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River. The trial began in October and finished in March. BHP denies liability and says the case duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programs in Brazil.
