Kerr has said a new resource and prefeasibility study were also on track for completion this quarter.

The company said the latest results from Phase I surface drilling extended the mineralised zone of the Footwall Zone by 255%, and discovered a new, separate Footwall mineralised zone with 105m of strike and 240m of dip.

Among the highlights, a 36.6m interval grading 7.5g/t gold and 0.26% copper also included 7.6m at 31.2g/t gold and 3m at 74.9g/t.

President Martin Kostuik described the mineralisation increase and discovery as "an amazing step" towards increasing shareholder value.

The company announced it had transformed itself in October, posting a strong turnaround in its financial position, reducing debt and increasing its cash to C$5.1 million (US$4.1 million), up $4.7 million (US$3.8 million) from a year earlier.

It followed that up with an oversubscribed private placement late last year at 30c per share that raised just over C$6.1 million (US$4.9 million), exceeding the $5 million (US$4 million) target due to high investor interest.

Copperstone is said to have produced 500,000 ounces of gold from an open pit and beneath this has a 313,000oz resource at 10.35g/t gold which saw limited mining in 2012-2013 by a previous owner.

Kerr announced positive initial metallurgical results in November, including gold recoveries of up to 91% and an evaluation into copper recovery from the gold-bearing zones.

Shares in the company slid about 1.5% to C33c but are at the higher end of their 52-week range of 11.5c-41c.