A ‘nearology’ rush is underwayRight now Cadia Valley and...

A ‘nearology’ rush is underway

Right now Cadia Valley and Northparkes in NSW are the only two copper-gold porphyry mines in Australia.

In recent years major miners like Sandfire, Freeport and Fortescue have been pegging ground on the so-called Lachlan Fold Belt, a zone of folded/fault rocks of similar age which dominates NSW and Victoria, searching for the next Cadia.

This massive, super low-cost operation currently produces nearly 913,000oz of gold and 91,000 tonnes of copper every year.

But investor attention has been sparked more recently by two important discoveries.

Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) hit thick porphyry copper-gold at the Boda prospect, about 110km north of Cadia.

Later that same month, Stavely Minerals (ASX: SVY) made a huge copper discovery at its namesake Victorian project, also part of the Lachlan Fold Belt.

Results from the Thursday’s Gossan prospect revealed a monstrous shallow, very high-grade intersection — which included a ‘stunning’ 2m intersection grading 40 per cent copper, 3g/t gold and 517g/t silver.

The potential for a bulk-tonnage porphyry copper-gold system at depth remains a potential prize.

For Stavely and Alkane — and a few of their small cap neighbours — these were share price re-rating events. Now there’s numerous explorers searching for the next big porphyry discovery.

In the Lachlan Fold these include , Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT), Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA), Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAU), Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM), Alice Queen (ASX:AQX), DevEx Resources (ASXEV), Talisman Mining (ASX:TLM) and Carawine Resources (ASX:CWX).

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