LSE-listed Aterian has announced the completion of a scout reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme at its 100%-owned 34.5 km² Agdz copper/silver project, in Morocco's eastern Anti-Atlas mountains, demonstrating mineralisation across the project area.

The programme consisted of 13 RC holes drilled for a total of 1 080 m. Copper and silver mineralisation were reported from six holes across three separate prospects, confirming the project's potential, the company said on September 30.

The results highlight the near-surface mineralisation potential over a broad geographic area, with high silver values recorded in the north of the Makarn prospect.

The drill programme’s most notable results include 1.24% copper and 101 g/t silver over 3 m from a downhole depth of 8 m at the Makarn (North) prospect. Other intersections include 0.45% copper and 3 g/t silver over 11 m from 32 m at Makarn (South), 0.79% copper and 5 g/t silver over 6 m from 6 m at Amzwaro, and 0.27% copper and 3 g/t silver over 4 m from 16 m at Daoud.

“These scout holes were widely spaced across a large area to provide an initial indication of the subsurface potential from several prospects previously identified across the licence.

“Given the broad approach, we consider these results highly encouraging, with near-surface copper and silver reporting from three prospects: Makarn, Amzwaro and Daoud,” explained Aterian chairperson Charles Bray.

The drilling was designed to intersect mineralisation of a grade and width suitable for economic potential, to evaluate the continuity of mineralisation mapped at the surface, and to generate geological datasets for deposit-scale modelling.

Several geophysical targets, defined by previous induced polarisation gradient array and high-resolution surveys, were also tested.

Looking ahead, Aterian said that it planned to incorporate the drilling data into a geological model for step-out drill planning to follow the mineralisation along strike and target deeper zones. Additional drilling will focus on unexplored targets within the 15 km² southern portion of the Agdz licence.

“We now need to continue the work to understand the geological model and resource potential,” Bray noted, adding that future work would include stream sediment sampling and further geological traversing.