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True North Copper’s final assays confirm high-grade copper continuity at Aquila with 4m at 7.09% copper from 124m
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Mineralisation extends to 250m depth over 900m strike length and remains open in all directions
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Results demonstrate the scale and continuity that True North’s Mt Oxide system is capable of supporting
Special Report: Drilling has confirmed the continuity of high-grade zones along strike at the Aquila discovery near Mt Isa, Queensland, validating the accuracy of True North Copper’s geological model.
Final assays from the drill program at Aquila, a +900m long trend within the Mt Oxide copper project, returned results such as:
- 33m grading 1.67% copper, 0.08% cobalt and 5g/t silver from a down-hole depth of 120m including 4m at 7.09% copper, 0.05% cobalt and 9.5g/t silver from 124m (MOX263);
- 20m at 0.82% copper, 0.11% cobalt and 8g/t silver from 149m and 7m at 1% copper, 0.26% cobalt and 21.8g/t silver from 176m (MOX264); and
- 104m at 0.28% copper, 0.03% cobalt and 1g/t silver from 170m (MOX265).
This confirmed the continuity of high-grade zones along strike to a depth of at least 250m and a true width of about 60m with mineralisation remaining open along strike and down-dip.
True North Copper (ASX:TNC) managing director Andrew Mooney said the results from the drill program represent a growing body of evidence that the company’s geological model is working across the broader district.
“It is the strongest demonstration to date of the scale and continuity that the Mt Oxide system is capable of supporting,” he added.
“Aquila continues to demonstrate it is a large, robust and growing copper system, with mineralisation extending both along strike and at depth.
“The system shows clear similarities to other major copper deposits in the region, including Capricorn Copper, which has proven depth extents exceeding 1.2 kilometres.
“With drilling at Aquila only testing to around 250 metres depth and 900 metres of strike so far, substantial exploration potential remains, with Mt Oxide emerging as a significant new copper district.
“The next phase of work will focus on extending and infilling Aquila, while systematically testing other high-quality targets with similar surface expressions and geophysical responses along the broader Mt Oxide trend as part of our 2026 drilling program.
“This approach is fully aligned with TNC’s three-stage growth strategy, maintaining a strong focus on geological certainty and capital discipline.”
Aquila discovery
Aquila is one of six high-priority prospects at the Mt Oxide project, which sits 140km north of large TNC shareholder Glencore’s Mt Isa copper concentrator and smelter.
It was first discovered in July 2025 and has seen previous drill hits such as 59m at 1.77% copper plus silver and cobalt with a higher-grade zone of 7m at close to 8% copper.
Notably, it sits on the same +10km prospective trend that also hosts the Vero deposit and multiple analogous targets that remain underexplored.
Vero has a strike length of +1000m and a resource of 15.03Mt grading 1.46% copper.
The discovery of Aquila and the subsequent confirmation of its potential scale have highlighted the emergence of Mt Oxide as a multi-deposit copper district.
Watch: TNC lays its prefeasibility pathway
Road ahead
With Phase 2 drilling now complete, TNC is currently awaiting assays for holes testing the Acanthis, Apollo and Aquila North Trends, which are expected in mid-January 2026.
It noted that while these holes were drilled from sub-optimal pad locations, they were completed with Aquila drilling to allow early testing of trends and to inform targeting decisions for drilling in 2026.
The company is planning to carry out extensional induced polarisation surveys in Q1 2026 to test areas to the north and south of currently defined Aquila, Apollo, and Acanthis trends along with additional IP coverage at the Rhea target within the Mt Gordon Fault Zone.
An airborne magnetic survey is also scheduled over the identified target areas.
Planning is also underway for the 2026 drilling campaign with assay, earthworks, drilling and accommodation tenders in progress.
Environmental land access and cultural heritage surveys are progressing for exploration at Aquila and across the broader 10 km+ prospective trend.
This campaign is designed to extend and grow Aquila’s footprint through infill and extensional drilling.
It will test for additional discoveries by testing high-priority analogous targets along the +10km trend.
Learnings from exploration in 2025 will be used to optimise hole placement based on integrated geological and geophysical targeting to maximise discovery potential.
This article was developed in collaboration with True North Copper, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.