Raptor Maps New Copper Targets Beyond Chester Drilling

Strong Off-Hole Response Adds a New Chester Target

The most consequential result from Raptor Metals Ltd (ASX:RAP) is not another assay. It is the strongest off-hole electromagnetic response recorded during the company’s survey, detected near CDH001 at 35 metres downhole. The response was not directly intersected by the hole, creating a defined target adjacent to an existing intersection reported at 33.16 metres grading 3.03% copper from 82.6 metres in the body of the announcement. Appendix A instead records that result as 3.16 metres at 3.03% copper, an inconsistency that investors should keep in mind when assessing the reported drilling context.

The borehole electromagnetic survey, completed across 12 diamond holes at the 100%-owned Chester Copper Project in New Brunswick, also recorded a second off-hole response near CDH001 at 70 metres. Raptor says both responses point to conductive material beyond the existing drill intercept, although electromagnetic conductors do not by themselves prove continuous or economically recoverable copper mineralisation.

Central and Eastern Conductors Align With Copper

A shallow, west-dipping central conductor was recognised across six holes: CDH004, CDH007, CDH008, CDH014, CDH017 and CDH019. On-hole responses coincided with several copper-bearing zones, including 3.55 metres at 1.79% copper in CDH008, with a 0.53-metre section at 9.13% copper, and 5.18 metres at 3.15% copper in CDH004. Consistent off-hole responses at 10 metres in CDH007, CDH008 and CDH019 support the company’s interpretation that the conductor continues laterally across the central area.

A separate eastern system was identified across CDH009, CDH010, CDH012 and CDH013. Its on-hole response in CDH010 coincided with 11.75 metres at 1.49% copper, alongside zinc, lead and silver. The modelling indicates moderate lateral extent and a broadly horizontal geometry extending beyond individual drill-hole intercepts.

Three Geophysical Datasets Point Along One Trend

Raptor says the BHEM responses correlate closely with previously interpreted VTEM conductors and magnetic anomalies. That alignment gives the company three independent geophysical datasets supporting the same interpreted mineralised trend, while the VTEM interpretation indicates the trend continues west beyond the area surveyed from the drill holes.

The western extension is being tested by Raptor’s ongoing 2026 diamond drilling programme, with assays pending. At the western end of the current survey, CDH015 returned two on-hole conductors associated with reported intersections of 16 metres at 1.28% copper and 12 metres at 1.23% copper; the announcement notes that assays were pending at the time of the interpretation for those conductor responses.

Next Drilling to Test Conductors and Western Extension

Raptor plans to fold the BHEM, VTEM, magnetic and drilling results into an updated three-dimensional geological model. It intends to extend BHEM coverage as drilling advances, using lower base frequencies recommended by the interpreting geophysicist, and to prioritise drilling around the CDH001 off-hole responses and the western VTEM extension.

That is a more useful outcome than a purely descriptive geophysical survey: the work has narrowed where the next holes might be placed. The harder question is whether those conductors translate into sufficiently thick, continuous and high-grade mineralisation. The pending western assays and drilling of the CDH001 targets will provide the next test.