Results from a target 500m north-east of the East Seel deposit have confirmed the new discovery has potential to host high-grade resources, the company says.

The PEA-stage project already hosts a compliant 224 million tonnes in the measured and indicated categories, for about 1.1 billion pounds of copper and one million ounces of gold.

Step out drilling is adding new dimension to the deposit. The first hole of the 2018 programme was 50m of the East Seel deposit which returned 138m grading 0.31% copper and 0.37 grams per tonne (gpt) gold.

Hole S18-214 intersected 22m grading 1.5% copper equivalent (Cu Eq) within a larger interval containing 48m grading 0.7% Cu Eq. Hole S18-212 intersected 22 metres grading 0.5% Cu Eq., including 6m grading 1.2% Cu Eq.

"Holes S18-112 and 214 have confirmed a new discovery which is showing potential to host high grade Cu-Ag mineralisation within a very large alteration system containing zones of elevated copper, zinc and silver," president Dr Shane Ebert says.

The new discovery occurs in a covered area containing no surface exposure and the company thinks the zone could extend for 500m or more, although the strike of the zone remains poorly constrained, according to Ebert.

Further, Holes S18-212 and 214 indicate the high-grade zone could be steeply dipping, potentially increasing in width and grade toward the surface, but more drilling would be needed to delineate the new zone and establish whether open-pit or underground resources might be defined along it, Ebert said.