(Sharecast News) - Nevada-focussed minerals explorer Golden Metal Resources announced promising findings at its Garfield Project on Wednesday.
The AIM-traded company said recent exploration work revealed the potential for substantial skarn and porphyry-type copper mineralised bodies within the project's confines, located in the state's esteemed Walker Lane Mineral Belt.
On 22 May, Golden Metal reported the discovery of two major copper zones within the Garfield territory.
Named the 'Power Line Zone' and the 'High-Grade Zone', historic rock sample results from the areas showed concentrations as high as 2.6% and 5.53% copper, respectively, underscoring their significance as major copper reservoirs.
Given the import of the May findings, Golden Metal then contracted the services of Simon Griffiths at consulting firm 3PXS to undertake an in-depth geochemical analysis of the Garfield Project.
Griffiths, with over 32 years in mineral exploration and a decade of service as chief geochemist and geologist at Barrick Gold, found compelling evidence for large-scale mineralised bodies at Garfield.
At the High-Grade Zone, noteworthy discoveries occurred in the northeastern section, where a hornfels zone enriched with tellurium and arsenic was identified, indicating the likelihood of a skarn deposit.
The southwestern region meanwhile displayed sericite-altered volcanics with enrichments of copper, lead, and zinc.
That offered substantial evidence of a concealed mineral system with a potential porphyry affinity.
Due to the potential tonnage associated with the geochemical anomaly and the porphyry affinity, the High-Grade Zone was earmarked as a top priority for subsequent exploration.
Analytical data suggested multiple mineralised structures requiring field verification at the Power Line Zone.
In response to the findings, Golden Metal was primed to embark on priority prospecting and rock sampling endeavours, primarily focusing on the High-Grade Zone.
The board assured that updates on the field activities would be promptly relayed to the market.
"We are very excited about the discovery of what appears to be both skarn-type as well as porphyry deposit geochemical signatures within the Garfield Project's High-Grade Zone, where minimal historical rock sampling returned up to 5.53% copper," said chief executive officer Oliver Friesen.
"As shareholders may well be aware, there is an urgent need for the discovery of large-scale copper deposits in secure jurisdictions, and the Garfield Project is, in our view, demonstrating this potential.
"As a result of this discovery, follow-up fieldwork will follow imminently, and we look forward to providing updates from this exploration in due course, including photos of both the project location and select rocks extracted for full geochemical analysis."
At 0843 BST, shares in Golden Metal Resources were up 2.7% at 9.5p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Guardian Metal Resources PLC (GMET)