Alpha says Anagulu drill hit extends Eritrea copper-gold zone

Alpha Exploration said new drilling at its Anagulu copper-gold project in Eritrea has extended the known mineralised zone, reporting a long copper-gold intercept and step-out growth to the northeast. 

In results released on Feb. 24, the company reported 120 metres grading 0.30% copper and 0.47 g/t gold in hole ANRD049, including stronger internal sections of 69 metres at 0.38% copper and 0.66 g/t gold, and 17 metres at 0.51% copper and 0.84 g/t gold. 

Alpha said the intercept extends the mineralised porphyry unit by at least 120 metres to the northeast, while the same interpreted unit is mapped in outcrop along trend to the southwest. 

Porphyry-style copper-gold systems are typically assessed over time through their scale and continuity, not single “spike” intervals, which is why long, consistent runs can carry weight during early-stage drilling. Alpha also noted that estimated true widths are 50%–70% of the reported drill intersections at Anagulu. 

Target footprint and follow-up plan

Alpha’s interpretation places the drilled and geochemically supported core of the system at about 2 km by 0.5 km, and says that integrating drilling, copper-in-soil work, termite mound sampling and mapping expands the broader target footprint to roughly 4 km by 2 km. 

The company said it plans to begin shallow rotary air blast (RAB) drilling “in the coming weeks” to test priority copper targets under thin transported cover, a lower-cost approach often used to screen larger areas before returning with deeper drilling. 

The latest assays are from a late-2025/early-2026 phase totaling 1,585 metres, comprising 597 metres of reverse-circulation drilling and 988 metres of diamond core drilling, Alpha said. 

Local workflow and in-country value

Anagulu lies within Alpha’s 514 km² Kerkasha exploration licence area in Eritrea, held under government permitting, about 7 km south of the company’s Aburna gold discovery, and is one of several finds Alpha has reported across the licence.

Alpha said sample preparation was carried out in Asmara at NABRO, with pulps shipped to Intertek in Tarkwa, Ghana for analysis, supported by standard controls including blanks, duplicates and certified reference materials. 

Even before any development decision is in view, exploration programs of this kind translate into practical activity on the ground — technical routines, logistics, local services and training — which tend to deepen as projects move from discovery drilling into more systematic definition work.

What the update signals

Alpha cautioned that further drilling and study remain necessary before the project’s overall size and economic potential can be assessed. 

Still, the ANRD049 result adds to a pattern the market typically watches closely at this stage: step-out growth, continuity over meaningful widths, and a follow-up program designed to test whether the mineralised footprint keeps expanding.