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- Castillo Copper (CCZ) spikes in early trade after the company’s first site visit to its potential new lithium project in the Northern Territory
- The company says early due diligence work highlights a “significant” pegmatite outcropping along the Lithfield Lithium Project’s western border
- This outcropping neighbours Core Lithium’s (CXO) Finnis Lithium Project, which has an ore reserve of 7.4 million tonnes at 1.3 per cent lithium oxide
- Castillo is now awaiting assay results from 657 surface samples taken from along the northwest boundary of the Litchfield project
- Shares in Castillo Copper are up 9.38 per cent and are trading at 3.5 cents each at 10:04 am AEDT
Junior explorer Castillo Copper (CCZ) has spiked in early trade after the company’s first site visit to its potential new lithium project in the Northern Territory.
The company told investors this morning that early due diligence at the Litchfield Lithium Project had highlighted a “significant” pegmatite outcropping along the project’s western border.
Importantly, this pegmatite outcropping neighbours fellow ASX-listed Core Lithium’s (CXO) Finnis Lithium Project, which has an ore reserve estimate of 7.4 million tonnes at 1.3 per cent lithium oxide — making it one of the highest-grade spodumene projects in Australia.
Castillo said the Litchfield project was contiguous to the Finnis project and satellite imagery verified the geology at the two projects was comparable.
As such, Castillo’s business partners have taken 657 surface samples from along the northwest boundary of the Litchfield project to determine the potential for mineralisation contiguous to Finnis.
Castillo Managing Director Simon Paull said the company was now awaiting the assay results from the samples.
“Initial due diligence at the Litchfield Lithium Project is off to an excellent start, with demonstrable photographic evidence of pegmatite outcropping along the western boundary,” Mr Paull said.
The company added that the areas from which the samples were taken were mostly made up of metamorphic rocks linked to the Burrell Creek formation, which CCZ said was a host rock for the regional occurrences of pegmatites.
Portfolio diversification
Castillo Copper currently owns three key projects in Australia and four in Zambia. Each of the projects is prospective for copper and a variety of other metals.
The company announced in late September its plans to purchase two Australian lithium projects as it worked to diversify its asset portfolio.
Litchfield is one of these projects, with the other being the Picasso Lithium Project in WA.
Castillo is purchasing both projects from private companies Lithium Technologies and Lithium Supplies, subject to a 90-day due diligence process.
The Litchfield site visit and surface sampling assays are part of this process.
What’s next for CCZ?
Castillo said its immediate focus was the ongoing due diligence work at the Picasso and Litchfield projects, which includes assay results from surface sampling campaigns.
In the meantime, the company is gearing up to kick off drilling work at the Arya prospect in the wider Mt Oxide project.
Mt Oxide lies in Queensland’s Mt Isa copper belt.
Castillo said prep work at the Arya prospect was nearly done, and drilling could begin shortly thereafter.
As for Castillo’s Zambian assets, the company said it was completing induced polarisation (IP) survey work at the Luanshya and Mkushi projects, which would help the company outline important targets for test-drilling in the areas.
Shares in Castillo Copper were up 9.37 per cent and trading at 3.5 cents each at 10:04 am AEDT. The company has a $41 million market cap.
