Junior's sleuths dig up an old-time monster by: Criterion...

Junior's sleuths dig up an old-time monster

by: Criterion From:The Australian June 01, 201212:00AM

Source: The Australian

THE oddity about the South Australian junior's "spectacular" drilling results just north of the town of Burra was that the copper lies close to surface adjacent to the old Monster Mine, which produced 80,000 tonnes up to 1981.

Phoenix Copper (PNX) 9.1c

"It just needed a bit of sleuthing work," says chief executive James Fox, a reference to poring over 1880s maps and government exploration records.

Phoenix shares yesterday piqued 2.4c (35 per cent) after the company reported drilling results of up to 10.46 per cent copper, including a 26.3m zone at 2.71 per cent and 15.7m at 4.4 per cent.

Depending on variables such as location and type of ore, folk get excited about grades of 1 per cent, or less.

After completing the last of an eight-hole program, Phoenix needs government assent for more work. And, yes, Phoenix will need more cash, although a swag of June-expiring options could raise $5.1 million if the share price can get above the 10c strike price.

A quirk of Phoenix is that it has already been a producer, albeit of low-grade copper cement, at its Leigh Creek mine. The facility was put on care and maintenance last year as management pondered a viable option to the heap leaching method used.

Phoenix also has tenements on the Yorke Peninsula, next to Rex Minerals' 217 million-tonne resource and in the same copper elephant country as Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill.