A review by iron ore explorer Copper Range of its Caltowie (50% and earning up to 90%) and Gladstone (100%) Iron Projects has confirmed several large iron ore magnetic anomalies within 5 km of a major railway line near the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

And the market liked the news, with the stock spiking up 96% at one stage.

Situated at the northern end of Adelaide Fold Belt, the region has strong iron ore potential with many occurrences of banded ironstones and massive high-grade metasomatic iron outcrops.

The region has the strong advantages of existing infrastructure and ease of access for exploration.

The projects remain under-explored and significant potential exists to identify high grade large tonnage deposits of iron ore in the Caltowie area with the Hicks Quarry area initially identified as a high priority target.

The Quarry was worked between 1896 and 1902 by BHP as a source of iron flux for the Port Pirie lead smelter.

Approximately 70,000 t of high grade ore (~61% Fe) was mined from the quarry.

A further review of previous work has identified a second historic open cut iron ore mine at Huddleston, which was also used as a source of iron flux for the Port Pirie smelter.

Copper Range has also identified that drilling for copper and gold in 1998 by a previous explorer in the vicinity of Magnetic anomaly “A” intersected massive haematitic ironstone.

The company has analysed chips from drill hole LRC1 for iron as follows: Drill Hole LRC1 25 metres at 46.4% Fe from 24 to 49 metres (end of the hole).

This is a highly significant result for the company and indicates that significant widths and grades of mineralisation are present at shallow depths within the project area. This intersection is open at depth and to the south and east.

The company has prioritised the defined magnetic anomalies and the Hicks, Magnetic anomaly “A” and Huddleston targets will have detailed gravity surveys (100m x 100m) conducted over them to define the potential extent of high grade haematite mineralisation.

Negotiations with landowners are currently in progress in order to complete this work as soon as possible. The company is planning to commence an initial drilling programme to test these targets on completion of the gravity survey.

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