Cannindah resource grows 37% as Breccia drilling points to more upside

Breccia resource expands to 216.5Kt of copper equivalent

Cannindah Resources Limited (ASX:CAE) has delivered the number that matters most in its September quarter: the Cannindah Breccia Mineral Resource has grown 37% to 23.2 million tonnes at 0.93% copper equivalent, containing 216.5 kilotonnes of copper equivalent. The estimate includes 121.9Kt of contained copper, 274.3 thousand ounces of gold and 8.0 million ounces of silver.

The resource is not merely larger on paper. Measured and Indicated material now accounts for 85% of total tonnage, up from a less certain base as 45 additional drill holes were incorporated into the model. The estimate is reported within optimised open-pit shells to a maximum depth of 330 metres, at a 0.3% copper-equivalent cut-off and using 24-month average metal prices of US$10,700 per tonne for copper, US$3,450 an ounce for gold and US$46 an ounce for silver.

The update follows the 45-hole resource drilling program, which had targeted extensions beyond the existing resource and along the broader Breccia structure. Cannindah says the system remains open at depth and along strike, with a further 1.4 kilometres identified to the south as an exploration priority.

A high-grade Southern Shoot result awaits its full assay picture

Post-quarter drilling added another encouraging data point. Diamond hole 26CRD009W returned a partial 75-metre interval at 1.17% CuEq from 213 metres, including 18 metres at 1.53% CuEq and 17 metres at 1.35% CuEq. The result extends the interpreted high-grade Southern Shoot by about 50 metres to the north, according to the company.

There are important qualifications. The intercept is partial, further assays remain outstanding, all lengths are downhole rather than true widths, and the true thickness of the mineralisation is not known. Cannindah is nevertheless using the result to improve geological interpretation and assess potential resource modelling and open-pit extensions, rather than presenting it as a standalone economic conclusion.

Two rigs are continuing to drill around the Breccia resource, with assays pending from 11 additional extensional holes. The company has also prepared 13 pre-collar holes for diamond tails, keeping the immediate exploration campaign concentrated on the deposit that has so far produced the clearest resource growth.

Coarse flotation shows strong copper and silver recovery

Metallurgical work is supplying a second strand to the story. NovaCell coarse-particle flotation recovered 94% of copper and 92% of silver at a P80 grind size of about 450 micrometres, with an 18% mass pull. In practical terms, 82% of the processed material was rejected at that stage, a result Cannindah says could reduce downstream processing requirements.

That result is promising but not yet a settled flowsheet. NovaCell gold recovery was 68%, below the 86% reported for a conventional comparison test, and the company cautioned that gold results are affected by the spotty distribution of gold and small concentrate masses. Further testwork is planned, including work aimed at improving gold recovery and producing more representative assays.

The conventional route also produced useful results, with testwork showing that a revised cleaner-stage collector and finer regrind could lift copper concentrate grade as high as 32.5%. The updated resource used conservative recoveries of 90% for copper, 65% for gold and 80% for silver, rather than relying on the strongest individual test result.

Cash funds another quarter of resource drilling

“Location of the Mt Cannindah project area and the Mt Cannindah Breccia.”

Cannindah spent A$3.17 million on exploration and evaluation during the quarter and finished with A$10.86 million in cash. On the quarter's relevant outgoings, the Appendix 5B indicates about 3.39 quarters of funding, with no financing facilities available or drawn. That provides room for the current two-rig campaign, although the runway is measured in quarters rather than years if spending remains at this level.

The Southern Porphyry Target remains in the portfolio, where Appletree drilling has outlined anomalous copper, gold and silver over an approximately 400-metre east-west zone within a broader 1,800-metre mineralised footprint. But with assays still pending from three diamond holes, scout drilling there will be delayed while the company prioritises Breccia resource growth. The next material tests are therefore straightforward: pending assays, further step-outs and whether metallurgy can convert encouraging recovery figures into a credible processing design.