Koryx Copper has completed 29 drill holes out of a planned 37 holes in Phase 2 for 8,647m of diamond drilling at the Haib Copper Project.
The Haib Copper Project is an advanced-stage copper, molybdenum, and gold project envisioned to produce a copper concentrate through a conventional crushing, milling, and flotation metallurgical process, with the potential for additional copper production through heap leaching.
The company states that work is ongoing to produce an updated geological model, which is expected to improve mineral resource estimation later in 2025.
The updated geological model will include enhancements in lithology, structure and modelling of molybdenum and gold by-products.
The team had initially planned to drill 55,000m over the Phase 2, 3, and 4 programs up until the end of 2025, which required additional man-portable rigs to be mobilised during Q2 2025 and rigs operating on double shifts to achieve the meter rate needed.
The overall schedule has been pushed back due to the delayed delivery of four newly manufactured man-portable rigs, and many of the drill sites are unsuitable for safe nighttime drilling because of the rugged terrain. According to the current schedule, the Phase 2 program is now expected to be completed by mid-year, and the Phase 3 program by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Compared to the original drill plan, Koryx now expects to complete 28,000m by the end of 2025, with most of the drilling scheduled for the second half of the year.
The final Phase 4 infill drilling program, aimed at converting the entire mineral resource to the indicated category, is scheduled to commence in Q2 2026 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Koryx Copper president and CEO Heye Daun said the latest drill results demonstrate that the Haib copper/molybdenum project continues to improve incrementally, albeit at a slightly slower drilling and assaying pace than we expected earlier this year.
Daun also said the company has a strengthened technical team in place, with additional drill rigs expected to arrive within the next few weeks, enhancing the drilling rate from the second half of the year.
“In parallel with the drilling, we are making significant progress with various metallurgical testwork components towards demonstrating the feasibility of a large-scale conventional sulfide flotation concentration flowsheet,” Daun said.
He added that, together with various engineering specialists, they have also made exceptional progress with ancillary studies related to tailings deposition, site infrastructure, power and water supply, and concentrate transportation, all of which are aimed at an updated technical report to be published late in 2025.
