Highest grade undeveloped open pit copper project in Cloncurry today.
The brownfield Duck Creek Copper Project (Duck Creek) is one of two high-value critical minerals projects being developed by Transition Resources, approximately 40 km south-west of Cloncurry, Qld.
Duck Creek includes shallow high-grade sulphide copper-gold deposits that remain open in all directions. Hundreds of additional priority targets remain undrilled and present substantial growth potential. Phase-1 development options include multiple third-party processing plants within trucking distance, with first mining from as early as 2027. Phase-2 will build or acquire a processing plant.
Road and rail pass by the mine gate, and the nearby Cloncurry township provides an operational base for a skilled workforce, essential mining services, and modern amenities such as a jet airport.
Phase 1 (first 4 years) production targets1
(see Competent Person Statements 5-1-2026)
Phase-1 mine life
(Open pit only)
To be extended
Phase-1 capex
(Toll processing)
Regional options
Phase-1 pre-tax NPV8
(Toll processing)
MID-Pricing
11.1koz gold
(In copper concentrate)
Phase-1 production
Input prices: US$5.00 per pound copper, US$4000 per ounce gold, AUD/USD 0.67
Note 1: internal estimates are subject to change, as new data becomes available, and independent studies (pending) are completed.
Duck Creek Copper Project Highlights
Duck Creek is 45 km south-west of Cloncurry
Cloncurry is 120 km east of Mt Isa, in North West Queensland, Australia
Duck Creek commodities: copper and gold by-products
Key Project Facts
- Large, 100% owned ground position of 1,042 km2 of tenure with no prior ownership legacies.
- Breakthrough exploration methods from a 6-year R&D program are delivering new greenfield and brownfield discoveries, with hundreds of priority targets yet to be drill tested.
- The unfolding new discoveries commence from surface, with in-pit grades averaging ~1.6% copper, ~0.15 g/t gold, offering attractive starter pit economics and accelerated revenue.
- Clean cohesive orebodies, shallow open-pits, and low-capital development options, including cost sharing with Transition’s nearby gold-tungsten project.
- The pending resource update will include the new Artefact discovery from drilling in 2024 (67 informing drill holes with 375 intervals, averaging 2.03% Cu (weighted average), drilled to indicated category. All resources remain open.
- Target resources are multiples of the below 2023 resource inventories.
Duck Creek Mineral resources estimate 2023 reported to JORC2012 guidelines (update pending 2026)
| Category | Tonnage (Mt) | Cu (%) | Cu (t) | Au (ppm) | Au (Oz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 0.90 | 1.70 | 15,283 | 0.14 | 3,999 |
| Inferred | 4.54 | 1.40 | 63,451 | 0.11 | 15,632 |
| Total | 5.44 | 1.45 | 78,734 | 0.11 | 19,631 |
Note: resource estimate based on drilling by Transition in 2022 and 2023 (13,633 metres), and third-party drilling in 2008 and 2011 by prior owners (4,163 metres).
See Competent Person Statements 5-1-2026.
Resource update pending1
Resource Update to include the above, and additional drilling by Transition in 2024 (6,901 metres) that includes the new high-grade Artefact discovery (67 informing intervals, average grade 2.03% Cu).
Guidance based on internal estimates (Non-JORC20012) indicate the following target ranges are possible:
6.2 to 6.7 Mt @ 1.50 to 1.7% Cu, and 0.11 to 0.15 g/t Au
Note 1: internal estimates are subject to change, as new data becomes available, and independent studies (pending) are completed.
RC drill chips from high-grade zone at the Meteor deposit
Drilling at Duck Creek
In 2023 Transition released a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Duck Creek copper project, including historical drilling by third parties and new drilling by Transition.
Using a 0.5% Cu cut-of, WSP Golder reported 5.44 million tonnes @ 1.45% Cu, 0.11 g/t Au (JORC2012).
This included a reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction (RPEEE) in-pit resource of 2.41 million tonnes @ 1.55% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au (JORC2012)
| Year | Drill type | Drill holes | Min holes | Min intervals | Av Int width | Cu % | Metres drilled | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 (QMC) | RC | 16 | 12 | 110 | 10.0 | 0.95 | 806 | |
| 2011 (QMC) | RC | 52 | 21 | 350 | 8.8 | 1.50 | 4,377 | |
| 2022 (TR) | RC | 47 | 42 | 569 | 12.1 | 1.68 | 6,396 | 2023 MRE 5.4Mt @ 1.45% Cu |
| 2023 (TR) | RC/DD | 40 | 35 | 356 | 8.9 | 2.00 | 6,119 | |
| All to 2023 | ALL | 155 | 110 | 1,168 | 10.6 | 1.67 | 17,698 | |
| 2024 (TR) | RC | 77 | 67 | 375 | 5.7 | 2.03 | 6,916 | |
| Totals | ALL | 232 | 177 | 1,543 | 8.7 | 1.76 | 24,614 | Pending MRE |
Long section through the new Artefact discovery in 2024, which remains open in most directions.
Hundreds of targets yet to be drilled
Current exploration & mining projects
“Transition may have discovered one of the largest previously unrecognised epithermal-gold, copper-porphyry systems, globally.”
Transition’s Technical Advisor R&D, Emeritus Professor Ken Collerson