Canterbury Resources Limited has started a diamond core drilling program exceeding 2,000 metres at the John Hill copper-molybdenum deposit near Monto in central Queensland, marking the first exploration work on the project since 2013.

The program consists of eight initial drill holes designed to test lateral and depth extensions across the porphyry system. Work will focus initially on the northeast target as a 100-metre step-out north along strike from previous broad mineralised intervals, including historic hole 12KC055, which returned 464.1 metres at 0.20% copper and 170 parts per million molybdenum from 91 metres.

The John Hill deposit features a near-surface copper mineralisation footprint of approximately one square kilometre. Historical data supports an inferred mineral resource estimate of 254 million tonnes at 0.21% copper, 100 parts per million molybdenum, and 1.1 grams per tonne silver. Approximately 40% of the known footprint remains untested by drilling.

Canterbury acquired the six exploration tenements comprising the Monto Project from private interests in April 2026. The company plans to use geological insights gained from its nearby Briggs copper project, located 80 kilometres to the north, where a pre-feasibility study is evaluating a large-scale open-cut mining operation.

"This is a very exciting time for Canterbury shareholders. The John Hill deposit was an excellent discovery, but exploration efforts were prematurely terminated in early 2013, and the project has been dormant and unloved since then," said Grant Craighead, Managing Director. "Our knowledge and understanding of large-scale, low-grade copper-molybdenum systems in central Queensland will enable us to rapidly advance the project up the value curve. We look forward to reporting a steady flow of results over coming months."

Drilling operations are expected to continue throughout 2027. Canterbury intends to incorporate data from all holes completed this year into an updated mineral resource estimate scheduled for release in early 2027, with results anticipated as the program progresses.

Read the full announcement: Drilling Commencing at John Hill