CuFe Limited (ASX: CUF) has announced a substantial update to its 55% owned Gecko Copper / Gold Resource at the Tennant Creek Project. CuFe is a mineral resources company focused on discovering and developing high-quality ore deposits. The update reveals a 400% increase in copper metal tonnes, alongside a noteworthy rise in gold ounces relative to the previous estimate from 2022.
The new JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Gecko Trend is based on modelling the full mineral resource. This extends the boundaries of the previous estimate, includes valuable non-copper metals, and more accurately recognises the impact of historical mining. The overall copper equivalent tonnes have increased to 18.4 million tonnes.
The Gecko Deposit resource now stands at 18.4 million tonnes at 2.01% copper and 0.25 g/t gold, based on a 1.0% copper equivalent cut-off grade, covering a strike length of approximately 3km. The total Tennant Creek Resource, when Gecko is combined with the Orlando Deposit, is increased to 24.3 million tonnes at 1.80% copper and 0.56 g/t gold.
CuFe Executive Director, Mark Hancock, commented that the resource update has added a significant volume of copper metal to the project, frankly exceeding expectations when commissioning the review. He also noted that by maximising the use of historical data captured over the past 50 years, the global resource at the project has increased from 7 million tonnes when acquired to 24 million tonnes on a very cost-effective basis. The new resource provides invaluable confidence in the development options the company is currently studying.
