Tartana Minerals has reported striking reconnaissance assays from historic workings across its Far North Queensland portfolio, led by 26.7% copper at Ortona. The results broaden the exploration pipeline, but follow-up mapping and drilling are still needed to establish continuity and scale.
- 26.7% copper, 160 g/t silver and 0.83 g/t gold at Ortona
- 13.3% copper and 11.5% bismuth at Muirson Pinnacle
- 6.14% tin and 0.14% tungsten at Daisy Bell
- 4.50% copper at Porphyry Hill and up to 1.64% copper at Caves
- Conduct and Compensation Agreement settled at De Wett and Daisy Bell
Ortona delivers the program’s strongest copper assay
Tartana Minerals (ASX:TAT) has uncovered a 26.7% copper assay from historic workings at Ortona, accompanied by 160 grams per tonne of silver and 0.83 grams per tonne of gold. It was the strongest copper result from the company’s latest field program across its Herberton and Ortona projects in Far North Queensland.
The result came from a mullock sample collected at old copper workings within the Ortona tenement in the Forsayth district. Tartana said the assay provides a new high-grade data point, with follow-up mapping and sampling planned to test how the mineralisation is distributed around the historic workings and how it relates to the local geology.
Herberton results span copper, bismuth, tin and tungsten
At Muirson Pinnacle, a mullock boulder returned 13.3% copper and 11.5% bismuth, alongside 163 g/t silver, 5.12% lead, 1.17% arsenic, 0.20% antimony and 383 parts per million tellurium. Tartana said the workings sit beneath a remnant silica-sericite-altered lithocap, and will be assessed through additional mapping and sampling.
The fieldwork is the first practical output of the company’s September operational review, which is intended to reassess historical prospects and shape a more focused exploration program. Other results included 6.14% tin from historic mine material and 0.14% tungsten from an outcropping greisen at Daisy Bell, while two mullock samples at nearby Caves returned 1.60% and 1.64% copper.
Further multi-metal results came from De Wett, where historical mine material assayed 1.11% tin, 0.92% copper, 2.99% zinc, 77.9 g/t silver, 0.78 g/t gold, 120 parts per million indium and 406 parts per million cobalt. Porphyry Hill produced a 4.50% copper surface assay, while two samples from the historic Mistake fluorite workings returned 29.7% and 30.7% elemental fluorine.
Historical drilling adds clues but not a new resource
Tartana also pointed to historical drilling at Porphyry Hill, including 21 metres at 0.75% copper from nine metres and 9.1 metres at 0.62% copper from 160.6 metres downhole. At Daisy Bell, previous exploration reported 13.7 metres at 1.46% tin and 0.48% tungsten trioxide from 36.6 metres downhole.
Those intervals were drilled by previous explorers, not Tartana, and the company has not completed drilling as part of the current program. The Daisy Bell results have not been reported under the JORC Code 2012 and are included only as historical exploration context. True widths remain unknown, and the relationship between the historical intersections and the new surface results has yet to be established.
Selective samples now face the continuity test
The headline grades should be treated as exploration indicators rather than estimates of average project grade. Tartana collected 21 selective reconnaissance samples from outcrop, mullock and scree around historic workings; mullock and scree are ex situ and do not establish the grade, width or continuity of mineralisation in place.
The company will combine the assays with geological mapping, structural interpretation and historical exploration data before ranking prospects for more work. A Conduct and Compensation Agreement has been settled for the relevant areas at De Wett and Daisy Bell, supporting near-term exploration, although any drilling program remains dependent on target refinement and applicable access and statutory requirements.
Bottom Line?
The assays expand Tartana’s list of compelling targets, but the next value-defining step is proving that these historic-workings results extend into coherent in-situ mineralisation.
Questions in the middle?
- Will follow-up mapping show continuous mineralised structures around the highest-grade historic workings?
- Which prospects will Tartana prioritise once the new assays are combined with historical drilling and structural data?
- How soon can target refinement, access requirements and statutory approvals translate into new drilling?