Solstice Minerals has extended copper-gold mineralisation beyond Nanadie’s current resource boundary, while downhole electromagnetic surveying has identified a 140m by 140m conductor scheduled for immediate drilling. The results add momentum to a three-rig campaign, but the resource itself remains unchanged.
- 52m at 0.71% copper and 0.13g/t gold in NANRCD033
- 140m by 140m conductive plate identified below the hole
- 850m follow-up hole to test the DHEM target
- Three diamond tails intersected mineralisation outside the current MRE
- Assays pending from 16 diamond and more than 20 RC holes
New Drilling Pushes Beyond Nanadie Resource
Solstice Minerals Limited (ASX:SLS) has found more copper-gold mineralisation outside the current Nanadie Mineral Resource Estimate, with the strongest result accompanied by a sizeable geophysical target waiting below it. Diamond tail NANRCD033 returned 52m at 0.71% copper and 0.13g/t gold from 406m, including 6m at 1.79% copper and 0.37g/t gold from 408m.
The same hole also produced 48m at 0.59% copper and 0.16g/t gold from 334.8m. Solstice said both zones were drilled well beyond the existing resource boundary in the central part of the deposit, where grades are understood to increase towards the eastern edge of the host gabbro. The reported lengths are downhole intervals; true widths have not yet been established.
DHEM Plate Becomes Immediate Drill Target
Follow-up downhole electromagnetic surveying in NANRCD033 identified a 140m by 140m high-conductance plate below the hole, positioned beside a local cross-fault. Solstice interprets that structural setting as prospective for accumulated copper sulphides and plans to test it with an 850m RC/diamond hole.
The follow-up drilling will be co-funded through the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme. Solstice said its broader Nanadie work has not identified an unmineralised “false-positive” EM conductor, although the new plate remains an exploration target until drilling confirms what lies beneath it.
Southern and Northern Extensions Add Scale
In the southern part of Nanadie, NANRCD009 returned 28.3m at 0.74% copper and 0.21g/t gold from 334.8m, followed by 43.8m at 0.55% copper and 0.19g/t gold from 514.2m. Solstice said the mineralised footprint on that section spans a 300m-wide corridor, with copper sulphides and grade generally increasing at depth.
The hole also encountered altered, mineralised and deformed gabbro east of the expected gabbro contact. The company is preparing additional RC drill sites to test that position closer to surface. In the north, NANRCD020 delivered 10.2m at 0.41% copper and 0.19g/t gold from 288m, plus 23m at 0.41% copper and 0.05g/t gold from 359m, confirming mineralisation along the eastern side of the host gabbro.
Three-Rig Campaign Keeps Assays Flowing
Solstice is running three rigs at Nanadie, with RC and diamond drilling expected to continue through the rest of 2026. Assays remain pending from 16 completed diamond holes and more than 20 RC holes, creating a substantial queue of results as the company tests strike, depth and additional targets near the Stark Prospect.
Nanadie currently carries an Inferred resource of 40.4 million tonnes at 0.4% copper and 0.1g/t gold, containing 162,000 tonnes of copper and 130,000 ounces of gold. The latest drilling may support a future resource expansion, but no update to the MRE has been made in this announcement. Metallurgical testing is also at an advanced planning stage, according to the company.
Bottom Line?
The next meaningful test is not another headline intercept but whether the 850m hole confirms sulphide mineralisation beneath the new DHEM plate and whether the accumulating results justify a larger resource.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the 140m by 140m DHEM plate produce economic copper-sulphide mineralisation when drilled?
- How much of the newly identified mineralisation can ultimately be converted from exploration results into an updated resource?
- Will the pending assays define consistent higher-grade zones rather than isolated intervals within a broad system?