Intrepid hits high-grade copper in historic hotspot

[Ben Graham]

Drilling by Intrepid Metals (TSXV: INTR) in the Earp zone at its Corral copper project in southeast Arizona has returned highlights of 16.3 metres grading 1.68% copper and 0.67 gram gold per tonne. Shares rose.

That result, from 15 metres depth in hole CC25_036, included 8.3 grams silver and was part of a larger intercept of 42.5 metres at 0.96% copper, 0.28 gram gold and 5.1 grams silver, the company reported Tuesday.

Another highlight, hole CC25_035, returned 65.4 metres at 0.25% copper, 0.07 gram gold and 2.4 grams silver from 18.5 metres depth, including 18.9 metres grading 0.46% copper, 0.12 gram gold and 2.9 grams silver. Corral is about 350 km southeast of Phoenix.

“The first drill results of 2025 from the Holliday and Earp zones continue to deliver strong outcomes, building on the momentum from last year,” Intrepid CEO Ken Engquist said in a release. “Positioned northwest of Ringo, these results help define the true size of the corridor, filling in key gaps along the 3.5-kilometre trend and reinforcing our confidence in the scale and potential of this mineralized system.”

Historic copper hub

The pre-resource, advanced exploration Corral project sits in a district where copper mining dates back to the late 1800s. More than 50,000 metres of historical drilling has been conducted in its mining district and Corral lies about 30 km from the former Bisbee copper camp, where mining produced more than 3 million tonnes of copper until the 1970s. It’s also near the former, bustling mining town of Tombstone.

Intrepid shares gained 2% to C$0.51 apiece on Tuesday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of about C$40 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of C$0.33 to C$0.65.

Holliday hits

Other significant intersections reported Tuesday, in the Holliday zone, include hole CC25_033 that cut 44.5 metres grading 0.74% copper, 0.2 gram gold and 35 grams silver from 153 metres depth, including 21.6 metres at 1.47% copper, 0.36 gram gold and 64.6 grams silver.

In addition, hole CC25_032 returned 97.8 metres at 0.21% copper, 0.26 gram gold and 5.8 grams silver from 3.1 metres depth, including 48.2 metres grading 0.34% copper, 0.32 gram gold and 6.7 grams silver.

The highlight holes are among 14 drilled at the Ringo, Holliday and Earp zones as part of a second-stage 5,000-metre program that started in April. A total of 3,696 metres have been drilled so far this year. The company drilled 5,000 metres at Corral in a first-stage program last year.