en.Wedoany.com Reported - Taruga Minerals (ASX:TAR) has commenced its first active field exploration program at the Kol Mountain copper-gold project in East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, where the company holds a 100% option. The exploration aims to verify a 4.8-kilometer-long copper-gold soil anomaly mapped in the 1980s that has never been drill-tested, and to advance it into the next drilling target.
Company Chairman Paul Cronin stated that Kol Mountain already has a 4.8-kilometer-long porphyry target that has never been drilled, along with a high-grade shear zone where surface sampling returned gold grades of up to 63.5 g/t. Taruga's field team, together with Makolkol contractors, is advancing channel construction and exploration at the Agadul (Bukuam) copper-gold porphyry target, as well as the Agadul (Kapea) shear zone high-grade gold outcrop. The team is using the northern access track to reach the project area.
Targets identified by Southern Geoscience Consultants (SGC) through lithological-structural interpretation and magnetic data reprocessing are being verified through mapping and sampling. Cronin explained that SGC's study provides a clear structural framework to guide subsequent exploration direction. The study's targeting strategy focuses on epithermal and porphyry copper-gold mineralization types, with selection criteria including proximity to major fluid pathways, structural complexity, volcanic-limestone contacts, and geophysical evidence of potential alteration or mineralization.
SGC subsequently reprocessed and interpreted existing airborne magnetic and radiometric data over the Kol Mountain tenement (EL 2513, 123 square kilometers), supplemented by geological mapping, historical drilling, geochemical data, and LiDAR/SRTM topographic data. This approach enabled detailed mapping of lithological domains, major structures, and geophysical anomalies within the project area. Completed at a 1:10,000 scale, the study provides a lithological-structural framework covering the entire tenement. Rock chip samples collected during clearing of access to the Agadul channel returned visible sulfide mineralization, including pyrite and chalcopyrite, with assay results pending.
Historical surface sampling of the Agadul (Kapea) shear zone and skarn zone yielded high-grade gold results, indicating a structurally controlled system that remains open along strike and at depth. Notable results include: a rock chip sample containing 63.5 g/t gold (Sample 24077); 60 meters at 1.5 g/t gold, including 2 meters at 21.3 g/t gold and 4 meters at 3.7 g/t gold (trench sampling – Costean 1); and 6 meters at 2.2 g/t gold from 36 meters depth in hole DD89BU1. Field work at Agadul includes trenching and channel sampling of priority target areas identified in the 1980s. Across the entire Kol Mountain project, 25 exploration targets have been identified, including within and adjacent to the Agadul corridor. Pyrite and chalcopyrite sulfides were observed in initial outcrop and float rock chip samples collected during the reconnaissance program.
Additional geological mapping, rock chip sampling, and stream sediment geochemistry work on priority targets is also underway. Results will be integrated with existing data to refine priority drilling targets at Agadul and across the entire EL 2513 tenement. Cronin stated that the team is now on site at Agadul, transforming study maps into real targets that can be drilled—a critical step from interpretation to evidence.
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