In a statement released today, the Vancouver-based company said an initial 5000m drill program would focus on the strongest combined anomalies identified from a recently completed geophysical program and previous copper and gold anomalies.

Recent geophysics results at the Amethyst Castle prospect reportedly establish the potential for significant near-surface mineralisation extending to 200m depth, with structural interpretation of the data indicating “similarities in style” to BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam.

Amethyst Castle is 7km north-northwest of the former Selwyn mill. Ivanhoe said two small excavations at one of two identified breccia zones at the prospect “suggest that they are host to a major pulse of iron-copper-gold-uranium mineralising fluids”

The geophysics program comprised high-resolution ground magnetics and magnetometric resistivity surveys over a 2.5km by 2km grid, followed by a dipole-dipole IP survey over a 1.5km by 1km grid within the prospect area.

The surveys were conducted by GAP Geophysics under the direction of Ivanhoe geophysicist Peter Eagleton.

In commenting on Amethyst Castle last month at a conference in Singapore, Friedland said: “We are also working in Australia where we have a very significant discovery that I haven’t got time to talk about … other than to say that if there is a candidate on a global scale for the next world scale discovery, it will occur in Queensland in the Mount Isa district in a place called Amethyst Castle, where we found very high-grade uranium, copper, gold.”

Ivanhoe’s work in Australia comes as it continues to try and nail down the fiscal regime for its proposed world-scale Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold development in Mongolia.

Protests in Mongolia this week related to mining policy and Oyu Tolgoi reportedly involved an estimated 3000 people and included burning of effigies of Friedland outside government headquarters.