MOD Resources has confirmed the discovery of a substantial new copper zone below its T3 resource in Botswana, with Blue Ocean Equities suggesting the company has the potential to become a third institutional-quality ASX copper stock. The company announced the 75m hit below the T3 resource last month, and the assays are now in. The hole returned 72.6m at 1.5% copper and 27 grams per tonne silver from 250m, including 18m at 2.7% copper and 52gpt silver. Confirmation of the discovery comes exactly a year after the initial T3 find was made. MOD managing director Julian Hanna described the hit as outstanding. “This new intersection exceeds the width and grade of the overlying T3 resource which is several times wider than most copper deposits in the Kalahari Copper Belt,” he said. “While we haven’t yet reached the limits of understanding the potential at T3, it is clear we need to rethink ways to upscale the PFS production targets and ramp up exploration to a new level.” T3 remains open at depth and along strike with the new intersection extending mineralisation to more than 100m below the maiden resource. A separate hole, for which assays are pending, hit a separate zone of disseminated copper around 250m below the resource. MOD and 30% partner Metal Tiger have agreed to accelerate drilling and there are now four rigs onsite, with a view to incorporate results into the current prefeasibility study. T3 has a resource of 28.3 million tonnes at 1.24% copper and 15.7gpt silver for 350,221t of copper and 14.3 million ounces of silver, at a 0.5% copper cut-off. The resource, of which 64% is indicated, was delineated at a discovery cost of just $US1.7 million or 22c per pound of copper. The partners have already completed a scoping study for a 2Mt per annum open pit over 9-10 years from 2019. At a $2.53/lb copper price, the project has a pre-tax net present value of $180 million and internal rate of return of 31%. Blue Ocean analyst Steuart McIntyre said the grade in the new zone boded well for the scale and economics of T3. “We maintain the view that MOD Resources has strong potential to evolve into the third institutional-quality ASX copper stock (after Sandfire and OZ)… and today’s announcement further galvanises our view,” he said. “The company’s market cap is testing around $A100 million today… an important threshold to put this stock on the radar for a whole new group of institutional investors.” MOD shares jumped by 16.7% to 6.3c – a four-year high – giving it a market capitalisation of $102.7 million.
MOD Price at posting:
6.2¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
