Australian explorer Mining Group says it has made significant progress towards establishing a JORC-compliant resource at its Comval copper-gold project in the Philippines, since acquiring an 80% stake in the tenement in January this year. Exploration activities at the Mindanao province project have revealed further geoscientific data and generated additional drill targets. 
The Comval project covers 4310 hectares in the established copper and gold- producing Compostela Valley region where there is much potential for large-scale copper and gold porphyry mineralization. It’s about 90km north of the Mindanao capital Davao, on the East Mindanao Ridge which hosts world-class deposits including Kingking and Dilwalwal.
The last 10 weeks of activities at the site have included re-logging and sample checking of about 20,000 metres of drill core and RC drill holes, re-interpreting and integrating geological, geophysical and geochemical data and commencing a 24-hour per day diamond drilling program at the newly identified Bayag Bayag target.
Manila-based QED drilling has three drill rigs operating on the site, with five holes completed to date over 1588 metres. These diamond drill holes have been designed to twin the historical RC holes. Validation and verification of historic RC drill hole data is being undertaken to assist with the calculation of a JORC compliant resource before September.
Cadan Resources had previously identified outcropping copper mineralization at Bayag Bayag, about 800 metres south of the Tagpura pit. Mining Group’s geological team has now begun further work at this target. Initial drilling has encountered apparent visible copper mineralization with one hole intersecting promising geology over 100 metres of variably skarn altered and sulphide mineralized limestone which is 40 metres wide.
Mining Group’s managing director Andrew Maurice says, “This intercept provides encouragement that the exploration model being developed by the company is valid and can be used to define further skarn targets in the vicinity of the Tagpura pit.”
Copper and gold mineralization was first discovered in the Comval area during the 1960s and the area was subject to historical mining activity in the 1980s by Sabena Mining.