Exultant Mining Advances Three Copper-Gold Targets at Black Hammer Project in NSW

Three New Copper-Gold Targets Spotlight Black Hammer Project

Exultant Mining Limited (ASX:10X) is ramping up exploration at its 390km² Black Hammer Project in New South Wales’ Macquarie Arc, a region renowned for hosting world-class gold-copper deposits like Cadia and Cowal. The company has identified three undrilled priority targets, Watsons Prospect, Porters Retreat, and Vermithor, each offering distinct geological and geophysical signatures that have yet to be tested by drilling.

Field activities are already underway at Watsons Prospect, where a 2.4-kilometre copper-zinc soil anomaly remains unassayed for gold and untested by drilling. This anomaly sits within the Rockley Volcanics and is associated with quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite veining observed at surface. Watsons lies about 2 kilometres along strike from historic gold mines at Shooters Hill and Chatham Valley, adding weight to its exploration potential.

Porters Retreat and Vermithor Await Land Access and Surface Programs

Following Watsons, Exultant plans to focus on Porters Retreat and Vermithor. Porters Retreat features a sulphide-bearing monzonitic intrusive system exhibiting strong quartz-chlorite-albite alteration and chalcopyrite mineralisation at surface. Initial lithogeochemical screening suggests it could host porphyry or epithermal gold-copper mineralisation. The site is also proximal to angular alluvial gold in the Retreat River and basement magnetic anomalies hinting at a larger intrusive system beneath the surface. However, no drilling has ever tested this target.

Vermithor stands out as a newly defined, roughly 1km by 1km remanent magnetic "bullseye" anomaly with a magnetic core extending about 1.2km deep. While magnetic inversion models suggest a potential link to pyrrhotite-bearing copper-gold mineralisation, no fieldwork or drilling has confirmed this. The target lies less than 5km from the Footrot Au-Cu prospect and near the Carboniferous Isabella Granite contact, offering multiple conceptual mineralisation models.

Staged Exploration Strategy Balances Cost and Target Refinement

Exultant’s Executive Chairman Brett Grosvenor emphasised a disciplined exploration approach: "Our strategy has not changed. The objective is to undertake focused, low-cost fieldwork to identify the strongest parts of each target, validate those areas with laboratory geochemistry and geophysics, and then advance the highest-priority opportunities toward drilling." This means reconnaissance, geological mapping, rock-chip sampling, and portable XRF-assisted soil sampling will be the first steps, followed by laboratory assays and targeted geophysical surveys before any drilling commitment.

Balerion Drilling Results Pending Amid Active Fieldwork

While advancing Black Hammer, Exultant is also awaiting assay results from its maiden Balerion drill program, which concluded recently. Visual logging indicated sulphide-bearing shear zones, but laboratory assays for the final three holes are still pending. Once received and interpreted, these results will be integrated with geological and geophysical data to refine the Balerion model and inform subsequent exploration phases.

This dual-track approach allows Exultant to maintain momentum across its New South Wales portfolio, balancing the need for rapid target refinement with capital efficiency. The company is progressing land access negotiations for Porters Retreat and Vermithor, a necessary step before surface programs can commence there.