en.Wedoany.com Reported - West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) is preparing for upcoming drilling activities in two Australian states, with key targets including copper targets at Cobar West in New South Wales and the Salazar scandium project in Western Australia.
In New South Wales, the Blind Freddie project is scheduled for initial air-core drilling this quarter, targeting a large surface copper-gold anomaly coinciding with a gravity high. At Lilyvale, land access and approvals are progressing, with plans for ground gravity surveys to refine copper targets ahead of drilling. West Cobar holds 1,091 square kilometers of tenements at Cobar West in New South Wales, covering 120 kilometers of prospective Cobar stratigraphy, with multiple concealed targets exhibiting geological, geophysical, and geochemical characteristics similar to established Cobar-type deposits, including CSA and Hera.
At Salazar in Western Australia, the company is planning infill drilling around high-grade scandium intersections, pending approvals. Managing Director Matt Szwedzicki stated that the portfolio provides diversified commodity exposure and a strong pipeline of potential news flow. Szwedzicki said that at Cobar West, the company is finalizing drilling approvals and plans for Blind Freddie, aiming to test a large and anomalous surface copper anomaly and its associated gravity high. Meanwhile, the company is also developing a drilling program at Salazar to target high-grade scandium in the Newmont deposit, while continuing metallurgical development focused on scandium recovery.
The Cobar West region hosts the Bulla Park copper-antimony-silver deposit, with an inferred resource of 20 million tonnes at 0.58% copper equivalent, including 0.30% copper, 0.10% antimony, and 4.7 g/t silver, which remains open along strike and at depth. Metallurgical test work achieved 94.6% copper recovery, 84.1% antimony recovery, and 82.6% silver recovery. Bulla Park was discovered beneath 60-120 meters of barren cover, with only a weak surface geochemical response, and is associated with a gravity high interpreted as dense siderite-barite alteration related to mineralization, supporting gravity surveys across the broader Cobar West tenement area.
Blind Freddie is among the first regional copper targets to enter the drilling phase, defined by a large surface copper-gold anomaly and a coincident gravity high. Air-core drilling is planned for this quarter, pending final approvals, with results guiding subsequent reverse circulation drilling at Blind Freddie and other priority Cobar West targets. At Lilyvale, the company is advancing approvals for a ground gravity survey over a copper target considered analogous to Bulla Park, with the survey planned for the third quarter of 2026, followed by data processing, interpretation, and drill target definition in the fourth quarter.
At Salazar, West Cobar Metals is intensifying its focus on high-grade scandium mineralization within the Newmont deposit. Newmont hosts an inferred resource of 15 million tonnes at 153 ppm Sc₂O₃ in shallow saprolite, based on wide-spaced air-core drilling at 500-meter by 100-meter spacing. High-grade zones identified from earlier drilling include: hole SAC358 intersecting 13 meters at 318 ppm Sc₂O₃ from 9 meters, including 3 meters at 649 ppm from 10 meters; and hole SAC391 intersecting 11 meters at 282 ppm Sc₂O₃ from 6 meters, including 4 meters at 350 ppm from 9 meters. The company plans infill drilling at 100-meter by 50-meter spacing around these intersections to determine scale and continuity.
Drilling planning is progressing in parallel with metallurgical test work to evaluate potentially cost-advantaged processing routes for Salazar scandium. Recent bioleaching screening tests achieved up to 39% extraction under atmospheric conditions, while earlier acid leach tests using atmospheric acid leaching achieved up to 81% scandium recovery. West Cobar Metals stated that Salazar's shallow saprolite mineralization and atmospheric leaching characteristics may offer processing and capital cost advantages relative to projects reliant on high-pressure, high-temperature routes. This work comes amid growing Western interest in reliable scandium supply for defense, aerospace, advanced aluminum alloys, solid oxide fuel cells, and semiconductors.
Salazar, located approximately 120 kilometers northeast of Esperance, hosts a large critical mineral system containing scandium, rare earths, titanium, gallium, and alumina. In addition to scandium resources, Salazar also hosts indicated and inferred resources of 230 million tonnes at 1,178 ppm TREO, including 44 million tonnes in the indicated category at 1,239 ppm TREO (using a 600 ppm TREO cut-off grade). Additional inferred resources include: 42 million tonnes at 5.2% TiO₂; 263 million tonnes at 35 ppm Ga₂O₃; and 4 million tonnes at 29.7% Al₂O₃. Upcoming work will focus on high-grade scandium drilling, heap leach and mixed rare earth concentrate studies, further bioleaching tests, and ongoing discussions around US funding and offtake.
