The latest quarterly report from Castillo Copper Ltd, the Australia and Zambia-focused base metal explorer, highlighted significant progress at copper projects in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

In the East Zone of the BHA Project in NSW, assay results from the Tors Tank Prospect confirmed a shallow rare-earth element (REE) discovery, with the best intercept of 13 meters at 1,550 parts per million (ppm) Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO).

High-value Magnetic REO (Nd+Pr+Dy+Tb) accounted for 38.9% of the TREO grade, significantly higher than the 25% peer average.

The company's geology team is set to visit several prospects, including Big One, Arya and Valparaisa, during the first half of 2023 to identify new drilling targets within the NWQ Copper Project in Queensland.

Additionally, Entech Mining has been appointed to conduct a pit optimization and mine design study for the Big One Deposit.

Plans have been approved to update and enhance the confidence in the 2017 inferred JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Cangai Copper Mine in NSW.

The revised geological model will factor in considerable drilling work, bulk sampling on historic stockpiles, a drone topographic survey, and accurately georeferenced mine workings.

In Zambia, no further work was undertaken on the assets during the review period, aside from tenement management activities.

In the update, Castillo announced two new additions to its board as non-executive directors: David Drakeley, an experienced field geologist, will oversee exploratory work across the group's portfolio, and Jack Sedgwick, a corporate strategist, will manage portfolio optimisation and finances.

Post-period, Castillo appointed ANSTO to undertake comprehensive metallurgical test-work on six samples from the Fence Gossan, Reefs, and Tors Tanks Prospects.

This step aims to advance the viability of the BHA Project's East Zone REE potential and secure interest from prospective development partners, investors were told.