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noRtHeRn teRRItoRY sPotLIGHt

Mt Hardy, we’re coming for you

he uncertain future of Western Austral- copper with grades
Tia’s hard border has made it difficult for up to 3.9% to be fol-
Todd River Resources Ltd’s projects in the lowed up.
Northern Territory to flourish, but the com- When Todd River
pany says next year will be different. does return, it plans
Of the company’s options up yonder, the to conduct further
Mt Hardy zinc-copper project northwest of RC and diamond
Alice Springs is “absolutely” the most pro- drilling, a ground-
gressed of the bunch, according to manag- based moving-loop
ing director Will Dix – but getting up there EM on the western
has been hard. corridor and fur-
“One of the real challenges we’ve had ther structural and
from being in WA is access to anywhere EM target ground
else,” Dix told Paydirt. “It is true that the testing that would
NT is open to WA at the moment, but these guide future drilling.
things change so quickly that there is an el- “The Hendrix re-
ement of reluctance to mobilise equipment source is small, but
and drill rigs, while there is still some level of the grade is pretty
uncertainty from our side about how easy it good,” Dix said. “It’s
is to get in and out of the state.” open at depth and
Dix also acknowledged the high risk of to the north. We’ve
potentially bringing COVID-19 and its Delta also got a number
variant to remote Aboriginal communities of other prospects
that have been deemed as more suscep- within Mt Hardy
tible and less equipped to handle an out- where we’ve done
break – a significant factor in the recent some RC drilling
State Government vaccine mandate for and received inter-
resource workers. sections such as
“We are quite close to the Aboriginal 7m @ 7% zinc An outcrop spotted at Todd River’s Mt Hardy project in the
community at Mt Hardy so we are well which needs fur- Northern Territory
aware of making sure we’re as safe as we ther work.
possibly can be,” he said. “From a practical “The northern half of the Mt Hardy pro- when I started my career, so I know what
point of view, it’s probably unlikely we’ll be ject does go undercover, and we’ve got goes into that. It is quite a specialist niche
in the NT this year and Mt Hardy will end up more work to do there in terms of some that requires specialist geologists.”
as a 2022 project for us. There is no doubt more shallow drilling and then hopefully With the company pining for the NT over
that we’ll be up there next year.” some deeper drilling around some other the past year or so, it would be wrong to
Todd River’s long-distance relationship prospects.” think they have sat on their hands the whole
with Mt Hardy is evident by the drought in Mt Hardy is joined in the NT portfolio by time. Todd River has completed significant
announcements about the project in the Todd River’s other opportunities such as work at the Berkshire Valley nickel-copper-
past year. The last time the explorer was the McArthur zinc-lead-copper and Peter- PGE project, northeast of Perth.
there, they drilled seven of a total 17 EM tar- manns gold-copper projects. Significant anomalous areas were ex-
gets, realising significant thick intersections Mt Hardy ostensibly sits as the focus panded in August following geochemical
of the copper and zinc available. among the siblings, with McArthur a “lower sampling across 7km of prospective strike.
The project, which was first discovered in priority” and traces of uranium at Peter- “Berkshire is analogous to what Chalice
the 1930s and sporadically mined up until manns also not of interest. Dix said the [Mining Ltd] have done down near Toodyay
the 1970s, is particularly vulnerable to new- company has been negotiating for the suc- at their Julimar project,” Dix said. “We’ve
er and more advanced techniques. cess of a land application for several years got mafic and ultramafic intrusions and we
Copper grades as high as 1% over five at Petermanns. know there’s exciting geochemistry associ-
prospects have been previously returned “No one has done any meaningful ex- ated with those.
from drilling by TNG Ltd in 2013 and Todd in ploration at Petermanns for over 40 years,” “We’re about to embark on a pretty de-
2017. Hendrix really heated up in 2018 with he said. “There are opportunities that were tailed drilling and geophysics programme in
hits of 9.15m @ 4.5% copper, 8.8% zinc, identified back in the late 1960s and early early November. We’re in a position where
7.6% lead and 182 g/t silver, and 13.45m @ 1970s that need work, but we are excited to we’ve got really good people involved and
15.9% zinc, 0.9% copper, 5.75% lead and be able to get on the ground there hopefully the ability to work through these prospects
83 g/t silver. in 2022. quickly and understand what’s there.
Because the company has been hesitant “As for the uranium, if we stumble across “There’s nothing quite like the truth ma-
to return up north with a hard border still at something that is irrefutably exciting, we chine of a drill rig to tell you if you’re on the
home, a number of untested EM anomalies would stick to the strategy of the traditional right track or not.”
remain along strike from Hendrix. As well, metals…but we would bring in a partner for – Fraser Palamara
the nearby Browns prospect is just as en- that – we wouldn’t do it alone.
couraging with hits such as 7m @ 1.8% “I spent five years in the uranium space

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