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查看配图：FireFly Metals cuts bonanza copper grades at Green Bay, N.L.The Ming underground mine, Newfoundland and Labrador. Credit: FireFly Metals
FireFly Metals (TSX, ASX: FFM) has found a new copper-gold system near its idle Nugget Pond mill in Newfoundland, adding a potential satellite deposit to its Green Bay development plans.
Hole FFR26-071 at Mount Joy cut 22.5 metres grading 1.87% copper and 0.64 gram gold per tonne from 109 metres downhole. The prospect is 35 km east of the Ming mine, the main Green Bay deposit, which is about 360 km northwest of St. John’s.
“We view the discovery as an encouraging early indication of the regional exploration potential at Green Bay, with several additional targets yet to be tested,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Rene Cartier wrote in a note Tuesday.
The discovery, just 2.6 km from Nugget Pond, gives FireFly another target to test alongside its proposed Ming restart and expansion. A larger regional resource base could support more production over a longer mine life, although Mount Joy’s size and economics have yet to be established and the company has yet to establish how it might fit into its development plans.
Shares gained 9.2% to $1.42 by midday in Toronto, valuing FireFly at about $1.32 billion (US$941 million). The stock closed 9.3% higher in Sydney at A$1.41.
Shallow discovery
The Mount Joy intercept included nine metres grading 2.95% copper and 0.95 gram gold from 112 metres. The initial hole, FFR26-064, returned 6.45 metres grading 0.81% copper and 1.19 grams gold from 15.55 metres downhole.
A survey inside the first hole identified a conductive target about 80 metres to the south, leading FireFly to drill FFR26-071. Such surveys measure electrical conductivity to help locate sulphide bodies beyond a drill hole.
Follow-up hole FFR26-076 cut about 40 metres of semi-massive sulphides between 240 and 280 metres downhole. Assays are pending and expected within about four weeks. Visual sulphides alone don’t establish metal grades or economic value.
The company interprets a fault between the mineralization in the latter two holes. More conductive targets remain to be tested and FireFly plans a winter access road from Nugget Pond to support drilling early next year.
FireFly described Mount Joy as a volcanogenic massive sulphide, or VMS, system with characteristics similar to Ming and Tilt Cove. It lies along the same geological contact as the former Tilt Cove mine.
Restart plans
FireFly has budgeted $16.7 million for regional exploration in fiscal 2027, with three surface rigs working across its targets. An initial resource for the separate Main Mine prospect, less than 3 km from Ming, is due in the first quarter.
Six underground rigs are converting and expanding Ming’s resources ahead of an updated estimate and feasibility study due in the first quarter of 2027. FireFly expects to consider a final investment decision around mid-year and targets copper production in 2029.
The Green Bay inferred resource published in August totals 60.2 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.9% copper and 0.5 gram gold, containing about 1.16 million tonnes of copper and 908,000 oz. gold. The total includes Ming and Little Deer.
An August preliminary economic assessment outlined a base case processing 1.8 million tonnes annually over more than 32 years. Newfoundland and Labrador has approved selected early works, including clearing and a construction camp. Electrical and wastewater-treatment upgrades are underway.
“In our view, continued exploration success, and growth in resources, will further support FireFly’s investment case for an upscaled centralized processing facility with higher production rates over a longer mine life,” Cartier wrote.