Rio Tinto was looking for copper, but found gold
February 27, Canberra. Rio Tinto has discovered a copper and gold mine in the West Australian province of Paterson as part of the Winu project. The discovery was made when the corporation was conducting a program to search for copper mineralization.
The results of the soil analysis revealed that copper intersections are also associated with gold and silver. Rio Tinto said in a statement that despite the encouraging results, the exploration project is still at an early stage and drilling to date does not provide sufficient insight into the mineralized body to assess the potential size or quality of mineralization. Interpretation of existing data is ongoing and will be used during drilling in 2019.
The province of Paterson has been known for many years as an area rich in copper deposits, but gold and silver have been discovered here almost for the first time. Working on this site is a highly costly task due to its inaccessibility and shaky soil. Here minerals are extracted by drilling deep and expensive wells. However, there are already two mines in the area, Newcrest and MetalX.