Kincora Copper Drilling Opens 40km Porphyry Belt With AngloGold Backing
Key Takeaways
- Drilling at Nevertire South has confirmed Macquarie Arc rock continuity across more than 40 kilometres of strike — a greater than 5x increase relative to the prior drill extent across the wider Nevertire Magmatic Complex.
- Standout hole NEDD011 returned 312.8 metres of basement intersection with peak grades of 1,525 ppm copper and 0.307 g/t gold, with intensifying porphyry indicators including B-type quartz veins, chalcopyrite, and K-feldspar alteration deepening toward the end of hole.
- AngloGold Ashanti holds the right to invest up to A$100 million across five adjacent licences covering a continuous 100km+ strike, with Kincora earning a 10% management fee on all expenditures.
- Two separate intrusive systems within the Nevertire Magmatic Complex have been identified as high-priority follow-up targets, with step-out, infill, and deeper drilling planned at the Northern NMC and follow-up drilling at the Southern NMC.
- A 400km² gravity survey is underway and a systematic 2027 exploration programme is being planned with AngloGold Ashanti, signalling the partnership is scaling up rather than pausing.
Kincora’s Nevertire South drilling opens province-scale porphyry copper-gold opportunity
Kincora Copper (ASX & TSXV: KCC) has released a drilling update confirming highly anomalous copper-gold results at its Nevertire South licence and, critically, continuity of Macquarie Arc rocks across a prospective strike of more than 40 kilometres. That strike length represents a greater than 5x increase relative to the prior drill extent across the wider Nevertire Magmatic Complex (NMC), materially expanding the scale of potential discovery.
The results come from an active earn-in partnership with AngloGold Ashanti, which holds the right to invest up to A$100 million across five adjacent licences. To date, 24 holes for 10,379.7 metres have been drilled across Nevertire and Nevertire South, with scout drilling also resumed at the Nyngan licence, where 5 to 8 holes are planned across two targets.
This is early-stage exploration with strong geological vectors, not a resource announcement. What the results do establish is a potentially province-scale porphyry opportunity across ground that has seen very limited prior drilling.
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What the 2026 drill results show
Drilling in 2026 returned often higher grades and broader intervals than the 2025 program, upgrading two interpreted intrusive systems within the wider NMC. Both systems have been identified as priorities for follow-up drilling.
Northern Nevertire Magmatic Complex — hole NEDD011
Hole NEDD011 is the standout result. Drilled to 588.4 metres total depth with 312.8 metres of basement intersected, the hole returned progressively intensifying indicators of proximity to a porphyry core with depth.
Key observations downhole included B-type quartz veins with magnetite and chalcopyrite, increasing vein density and sulphide intensity, aplite dykes, brecciation, and patchy K-feldspar alteration in the final hundred metres. The source notes these features “could be the discovery indicators of a large porphyry system centred laterally or deeper.”
Headline assay results from NEDD011:
- Peak copper: 1,525 ppm; peak gold: 0.307 g/t
- Broad interval: 312.8m @ 0.025% Cu and 0.030 g/t Au from basement to end of hole
- Significant interval: 33.2m @ 0.059% Cu, 0.089 g/t Au from 440m
- Higher-grade sub-interval: 2.0m @ 0.115% Cu, 0.307 g/t Au from 459m
- Trace molybdenite-bornite and covellite observed in step-out holes
Further step-out drilling is proposed before infill and deeper drilling at this complex.
Southern Nevertire Magmatic Complex — encouraging follow-up vectors
The Southern complex, interpreted to host holes including NEDD003, NEDD005, NEDD018, NEDD019, ACDNY005 and MG019ACD, also returned encouraging indicators. Secondary biotite-actinolite, disseminated magnetite, quartz-chalcopyrite veining with localised stockwork, and a chalcopyrite over pyrite sulphide ratio are interpreted as diagnostic of inner-propylitic to potassic transitional positions in zoned porphyry copper-gold systems. Trace bornite and molybdenum provide further vectors toward an interpreted proximal intrusive centre.
The peak result from NEDD018 was 1,285 ppm copper from 322.85m.
The table below summarises peak assay values for key holes with results returned:
| Hole | Complex | Basement Interval (m) | Peak Cu (ppm) | Peak Au (g/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEDD010 | NMC | 132.8 | 1,155 | 0.076 |
| NEDD011 | Northern NMC | 312.8 | 1,525 | 0.307 |
| NEDD014 | Northern NMC | 210.8 | 778 | 0.669 |
| NEDD015 | NMC | 342.9 | 780 | 0.412 |
| NEDD018 | Southern NMC | 173.9 | 1,285 | 0.025 |
Source: Kincora ASX Announcement, 22 September 2026, Tables 1 and 2. Peak Au (g/t) values sourced from Table 2 (Gold column, units reported as ppm in source equating to g/t for gold). True widths not known; all intervals are downhole lengths.
Understanding porphyry copper-gold systems — why scale matters
A porphyry copper-gold system is a large, mineralised body formed by magmatic fluids intruding into host rocks, depositing copper and gold in disseminated and vein-hosted styles across a broad footprint. They are the engine room of global copper supply, often containing hundreds of millions to billions of tonnes of lower-grade ore that can support large, long-life open-cut or block-cave mining operations.
What makes them particularly valuable is their scale. A single porphyry complex can host multiple deposits, and entire belts can host world-class clusters. This is exactly the setting Kincora is exploring.
The Macquarie Arc in New South Wales is already established as one of Australia’s most significant porphyry belts. Key context points from the source:
- The Arc hosts world-class deposits including Cadia, Cowal and Northparkes
- Over A$16 billion of mergers and acquisitions has occurred for producing porphyry assets in the district
- Over A$385 million of exploration earn-in and joint venture activity has been recorded in the region
- Two discoveries or resource expansions exceeding 10 million ounce gold equivalent have occurred within the district
- The NMC sits in the covered (underexplored) northern extension of the Arc, where prior drilling has been very limited relative to the southern outcropping sections
The source explicitly notes that “information disclosed for Cadia-Ridgeway is not necessarily indicative for the NMC” — a caveat that applies to any analogue comparisons drawn to established deposits in the belt.
Kincora’s core thesis is that the covered northern extensions offer new district-scale discovery potential, with magnetics, gravity and Ambient Noise Tomography surveys supporting large-scale targets comparable to the geology in the southern Arc.
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AngloGold Ashanti partnership and the road ahead
The commercial structure underpinning Kincora’s exploration reflects the strategic appeal of the ground. AngloGold Ashanti holds the right to invest up to A$100 million across five licences (Nevertire, Nevertire South, Nyngan, Nyngan South and Mulla), covering a continuous strike of greater than 100km. Kincora manages the programs and receives a 10% management fee on expenditures.
The AngloGold Ashanti partnership was structured to give Kincora the financial firepower to explore a continuous 100km-plus strike at scale, with AngloGold earning in across five licences while Kincora retains management control and a 10% fee on all expenditures.
To date, Kincora has drilled a total of 43 holes for 17,620 metres in partnership with AngloGold Ashanti across three licences. The partnership signed a major amendment in Q2 2025 to include a second joint venture, supporting the expanded five-licence, 100km+ continuous strike structure.
John Holliday, Technical Committee Chair, and Peter Leaman, VP of Exploration
“…To have established this scale of opportunity within the first year of drilling at Nevertire South is a significant outcome and provides multiple high-priority opportunities for follow-up drilling.”
The next steps for the programme, as outlined in the announcement, are:
- Step-out, infill and deeper drilling at the Northern NMC (NEDD011 complex)
- Follow-up drilling at the Southern NMC
- Scout drilling ongoing at Nyngan (Ace of Spades and Gerar targets, 5–8 holes planned)
- Approximately 400km² gravity survey programme underway, with approximately 110km² completed and a further approximately 32km² scheduled for late September 2026
- A 2027 systematic exploration programme being planned with AngloGold Ashanti to advance the province-scale opportunity
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