Auking Mining Limited has significantly increased the overall mineral resources at its flagship Koongie Park Copper/Zinc Project in Western Australia's Halls Creek region, reporting a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Emull deposit. AuKing's total MRE now stands at 21.1 million tonnes (Mt) after a further 12.2Mt were added to the company's existing 8.9Mt resources at the Sandiego and Onedin deposits to the east. Total metal content now comprises 121,800 tonnes of copper; 372,600 tonnes of zinc; 46,000 ounces of gold; 11 million ounces of silver and 79,300 tonnes of lead.

Emull's MRE has been classified as an Indicated and Inferred resource and was based upon 99 drill holes totalling 11,051m, comprising 88 historic reverse circulation (RC) drill holes by Northern Star Resources between 2003 and 2012 for 9,141m, and 11 RC holes by AuKing during 2022 for 1,910m. Follow-up extensional resource drilling both to the north-west and the south-west will be a key feature of proposed drilling in early 2023 and support an upgrading of the resource classification. The Emull deposit extends to a depth of 280 vertical metres and is currently modelled with a strike length of approximately 600m, with mineralisation still open at depth and along strike to the north- west.

The Emull Exploration Licence (E80/4957) is located within the overall Koongie Park tenure package about 19.5km south-west of the Sandiego deposit, and 44kms south-west of the Halls Creek township, along the Great Northern Highway. The licence forms part of the existing Koongie Park Joint Venture between AuKing and Astral Resources NL, of which AuKing owns an 80% interest. Since the early 1970's, several companies have explored within the Emull tenement area, primarily focusing on the potential for a significant stratabound lead-zinc system with volcanogenic affinities.

North Star Resources commenced exploration work in the area in E80/2612 in 2003-2004 for a number of target styles including polymetallic mineralisation as seen at Emull, Au mineralisation as identified at the nearby Nicholson's gold mine and possible PGM mineralisation. North Star undertook extensive drilling in the area with Emull being a strategic focus and concluded exploration activities in the area in 2012 following their Paulsens gold acquisition. A new 3D block model for the Emull deposit was developed by AuKing as part of the resource estimation process.

The block model highlights copper mineralisation above 0.2% with the clear potential to expand the deposit along strike and at depth. Having established the maiden MRE for Emull, the focus of future activities at the deposit will be to significantly increase the resource estimate by pursuing copper mineralisation along the magnetic features that exist to the north-west and south-west of the main deposit area. As indicated in Figure 4 below, these targets extend for more than 3kms and are highly prospective areas based on previous soil sampling and historic drilling.

AuKing plans to commence this extensional drilling at Emull after completion of the northern wet season in late March/early April 2023. The Emull base metal deposit occurs in Koongie Park Formation, part of the Palaeoproterozoic Lamboo Province, within the northeast trending Halls Creek Orogen. The deposit is hosted by altered and contact metamorphosed calc-silicate rocks, which have been intruded by and partially assimilated by the Emull gabbro.

Thin, semi-massive and disseminated mineralisation is confined to several discontinuous but apparently stratabound lenses, dominated by sphalerite, with subordinate chalcopyrite and galena. The largest lens has a strike length of 500m and a maximum plan width of 50m. The genesis of mineralisation at Emull is not certain, although models based on an origin as a volcanic hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit partially assimilated during intrusion of gabbro, or as a skarn developed during intrusion of gabbro into carbonate units within the Koongie Park Formation, have been proposed.