Maronan Metals has intersected repeated copper-gold zones north of its 2025 Indicated resource at the Maronan Project, including a 20-metre interval grading 0.83% copper and 0.42g/t gold. The results support ongoing resource growth work, but further drilling and assays are needed before any resource change can be established.
- 20m at 0.83% copper and 0.42g/t gold in MRN26008
- MRN26004 returned multiple copper-gold zones, including 12m at 0.86% copper and 0.88g/t gold
- Strong lead-silver results were also recorded in the Eastern Horizon
- 14,000m of a planned 40,000m drilling program is complete
- Further drilling is targeting resource conversion ahead of the pre-feasibility study
Copper-Gold Mineralisation Steps Beyond Existing Resource
Maronan Metals Limited (ASX:MMA) has extended a run of copper-gold intersections north of the 2025 Indicated copper-gold resource at its Maronan Project in north-west Queensland, with one hole delivering 20 metres at 0.83% copper and 0.42g/t gold.
The result came from MRN26008 and included a higher-grade 4.5-metre section at 1.50% copper and 0.68g/t gold. The same hole also returned 14 metres at 0.60% copper and 0.11g/t gold, while a separate deeper zone produced 4 metres at 0.96% copper and 0.04g/t gold. Maronan said copper mineralisation at that deeper position had not previously been intersected and would require further drilling to determine its significance.
MRN26004 Delivers Multiple Copper-Gold Intersections
MRN26004, drilled to extend the mineralised system north of an earlier hole, returned several notable zones. These included 8.9 metres at 1.03% copper and 0.61g/t gold, 10 metres at 0.73% copper and 0.33g/t gold, and 12 metres at 0.86% copper and 0.88g/t gold. The reported estimated true widths were 7.6 metres, 8.5 metres and 10.3 metres respectively.
The two holes were designed to test modelled mineralisation beyond the existing Indicated resource and successfully intersected those interpreted zones. Maronan’s 2025 copper-gold resource is reported at 32 million tonnes across Inferred and Indicated categories, grading 0.85% copper, 0.63g/t gold and 7g/t silver. These new results may contribute to future resource growth, although they do not themselves constitute an updated mineral resource.
Lead-Silver Results Add a Second Mineralised Horizon
The drilling also intersected the Eastern Horizon, a separate lead-silver zone in the footwall. MRN26004 returned 4 metres at 4.4% lead and 107g/t silver, while MRN26008 recorded 0.9 metres at 10.6% lead and 282g/t silver, plus 0.7 metres at 9.0% lead and 151g/t silver.
Maronan has completed 14,000 metres of a planned 40,000-metre drilling program. The remaining work is aimed at testing shallow under-drilled areas, converting Inferred material to the Indicated category and supporting a pre-feasibility study. Further assays are pending from a substantial number of completed holes.
Core Loss and Pending Drilling Keep Results Preliminary
The headline copper intersections include some core loss: MRN26004’s 8.9-metre interval contains 1.4 metres of lost core, and the 12-metre interval contains 0.2 metres. Maronan said overall recoveries were very good, but acknowledged that it does not yet know whether recovery has created any relationship with grade or introduced sampling bias in the copper-gold zone.
That qualification matters because the immediate value of the results lies in defining continuity and confidence, rather than proving an economic outcome. The next resource update will need to show whether these northern intersections join into a sufficiently continuous body, while further drilling will test the newly identified deeper copper zone and clarify how much of the system can be advanced through the study process.
Bottom Line?
The drilling has extended copper-gold mineralisation beyond the current Indicated resource, but the next test is continuity: pending assays and the next resource update will determine whether the intersections translate into greater resource confidence.
Questions in the middle?
- Will follow-up drilling confirm continuity between the new northern intersections and the existing Indicated resource?
- Can the deeper copper zone in MRN26008 be traced into a coherent mineralised domain?
- How much additional material can be converted from Inferred to Indicated ahead of the pre-feasibility study?