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Carnaby Hits High-Grade Copper Shoot at Mount Hope Central
Carnaby identified the shallow Miniboom shoot via a water-bore drill hole at Mount Hope Central. Assays returned 232 metres at 1.3% CuEq from surface. The find could improve open-pit economics if continuity is confirmed by follow-up drilling.
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Carnaby Resources (ASX: CNB) has uncovered a shallow high-grade copper shoot at the Mount Hope Central ore reserve, part of the broader Greater Duchess project in Queensland. The company identified the Miniboom discovery via a vertical reverse circulation drill hole that targeted a water bore on the edge of the planned open pit.
Management believes the shoot is a shallow high-grade extension of the Boomerang lode structure. The best copper equivalent assays returned 232 metres at 1.3% CuEq (1.1% copper and 0.2 grams per tonne gold) from surface, including a higher-grade interval of 65 metres at 2.9% CuEq (2.4% copper and 0.5 g/t gold) from 25 metres.
Why Miniboom Matters for the Greater Duchess Open-Pit Economics
The Miniboom Lode represents a second high-grade mineralisation focus alongside the main Boomerang Lode, though its ultimate significance to the Greater Duchess project remains unconfirmed. The discovery sits within the Mount Hope Central ore reserve boundary, near the planned pit edge, meaning it could directly improve the stripping ratio and mine plan if the shoot proves continuous.
Managing director Rob Watkins framed the find as a predictable outcome of the complex geology at Mount Hope. He said the deposit is "strongly controlled in folded and structurally displaced quartz vein lode hosts in multiple orientations," which means new lodes are easy to miss in directed drilling. The water bore that hit mineralisation was drilled for a different purpose entirely, and the company is now ramping up follow-up drilling to assess the shoot's size and geometry.
The Geology Risk to Watch
Watkins also noted that the structural complexity implies other lodes likely exist but remain undetected. For investors, the question is whether Miniboom is an isolated high-grade pocket or part of a broader system that can materially lift the Mount Hope Central reserve. Further drilling will test continuity along strike and down dip.
Trek 2 Extensions Strengthen the Case for an Expanded Pit
Separately, Carnaby released a new step-out drill result from the Trek 2 zone, where recent high-grade intercepts below the current open-pit design have already raised the possibility of a larger resource. The latest hole returned 53 metres at 0.4% CuEq from 182 metres, about 60 metres down dip of the previously reported 35 metres at 2.9% CuEq.