Norwest up 36% on high grade copper in rockchips at WA ‘Bali’ play; RC rigs on-site

Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) has hit high grade copper-gold veins at its 100% owned project in Western Australia some 75km west of Paraburdoo. 

Interestingly, the play is called the ‘Bali’ project, but make no mistake: the company is not mining the Indonesian tourist hot spot. 

Today’s results are from rock chip samples collected from outcrops on-site the project across the ‘Deep South’ target area. Investors would be wise to note an 4,000m RC drill campaign is currently ongoing. 

While overall gold mineralisation averages at a low grade, copper is the real takeaway. 

What has Norwest found? 

To make context of grades: investor information provider Undervalued Equity notes high-grade copper is that with concentrations over 1.5% while gold is considered high grade at 5 grams of ore per tonne (5g/t).

Based on rock chip results, the company reports the discovery of 5 mineralised veins with attaching grade information. Concentrations are averaged across multiple samples pulled from each vein. 

• V1: 21.2% copper and 1.17g/t gold 

• V2: 27.2% copper and 2.93/gt gold 

• V3: 24.5% copper and 0.83g/t gold 

• V4: 11.1% copper and 0.13g/t gold 

• V5: 13.4% copper and 0.17g/t gold 

High-grade copper on-site clearly supersedes that of gold mineralisation; but with copper widely forecast to boom as an overlooked battery metal, it isn’t hard to deduce which markets Norwest is angling towards. 

Part of today’s investor enthusiasm for the copper project is no doubt also due to projected forecasts of the copper market.

BloombergNEF and the Australian Chief Economist have also predicted copper prices to continue experiencing a rally well into the 2030s; as well as nickel and silver. 

Also worth noting: taking a step back from averaged concentrations; the company is also reporting peak standalone rock chip results of: 

• 46% copper 

• 6.7g/t gold 

Drilling to test historical prospects 

“The discovery of the new veins is a very exciting outcome following Norwest’s recent commencement of work at the unexplored Deep South area,” Norwest CEO Charles Schaus said. 

“Drilling is already underway to test four historical copper prospects along the Bali Shear, whilst drilling to test the down dip extent of these new high-grade veins.” 

“Drilling work is being undertaken alongside ongoing fieldwork programs.” 

Norwest Minerals' three month charts make clear the sharp upturn in investor sentiment today