One of the key pieces of feedback Kagara received from investors over the past six months was that the life of its operations was too short so a key part of its new exploration strategy is to remedy that and extend mine lives out to at least 8-12 years.
 
Rather than seek out new projects, the focus is on organic growth within the company's own tenement package.
 
"We're a company which has a healthy project pipeline," Kagara managing director Geoff Day said in North Queensland last week.
 
At June 30, Kagara had copper reserves of 448,400 tonnes at 2.7% copper, 0.05 grams per tonne gold and 12.7gpt silver and resources of 8.82 million tonnes at 1.4% copper, 0.2% zinc, 0.09gpt gold, 27.2gpt silver, 0.01% molybdenum and 0.12% tin, and zinc reserves of 2.19Mt at 9.41% zinc, 0.9% lead, 1.1% copper, 0.2gpt gold and 44gpt silver and resources of 12.88Mt at 7.8% zinc, 1.3% lead, 0.9% copper, 1gpt gold and 34.3gpt silver.
 
Historically, the company has a resource-to-reserve conversion rate of around 70%.
 
The company has set exploration targets for many of its targets and is aiming to add around 5.2Mt of indicated resources before the end of the current financial year, spending $26 million and drilling around 30,000m per quarter.
 
Day says the budget is double to quadruple what its comparable peers are spending on exploration.
 
The aim is to delineate 6-10Mt of resources at each of its three provinces to ensure at least two mines per region have 8-12 years production ahead of them.
 
Northern Region
 
Around $12.5 million of the 2012 financial year budget will be spent in the Chillagoe, or Northern Region, which holds Kagara's Mungana mine and a partially completed processing plant.
 
The company's tenements lie within a belt of Mid Palaeozoic Chillagoe Formation rocks adjacent to the Palmerville Fault.
 
The King Vol skarn deposit will be the next mine at Chillagoe, with development set to begin next year.
 
The deposit has probable reserves of 1.3Mt at 11.2% zinc, 0.7% lead, 0.8% copper, and 36gpt silver as well as inferred resources of 1.97Mt at 14% zinc, 1.1% lead, 0.9% copper, 43gpt silver.
 
Infill drilling is underway and Kagara has set an additional exploration target of 5Mt at 7-10% copper for the deposit before the end of the year.
 
The adjacent Montevideo deposit has an inferred resource of 720,000t at 7.7% zinc and 7gpt silver but has not been subjected to any drilling since 2006.
 
Another advanced project in the region is the Griffiths Hill copper discovery, beneath the historical Red Dome pit.
 
Earlier this year Kagara announced a 1.05Mt inferred resource at 3.06% copper, 0.62gpt gold and 64gpt silver. A 1.8 kilometre decline from the current Mungana portal is being planned.
 
Current drilling is focused on the Red Cap Thrust, with the company releasing results last week which included an intersection of 14.8m at 12.2% zinc, 1.2% copper, 1.8% lead and 97gpt silver from 288.2m, including 3.6m at 23.1% zinc, 4.6% copper and 7.2% lead.
 
Kagara has set an initial exploration target of 1.5Mt, with an inferred resource expected by the end of the year, and a longer term target of 3Mt at 7-10% copper.
 
"I think the target for Red Cap is probably conservative," Kagara executive general manager - minerals and business development Joe Treacy said.
 
Central Region
 
Kagara's Central Region includes the Mt Garnet operations, the Balcooma mine, the Maitland and Baal Gammon projects, as well as a number of other regional deposits and targets.
 
The Einasleigh copper project, which is being acquired from Copper Strike, will also form part of the Central Region.
 
The company has set 500,000t targets for Mt Garnet and Bald Hill while several other near-mine prospects have been identified through soil sampling.
 
At the Balcooma volcanogenic massive sulfide project, around $8.5 million will be spent on exploration with Treacy describing it as the "hottest copper prospect we've got"
 
Kagara just completed a detailed aeromagnetic survey - the first since the 1980s - with results due in several weeks.
 
Treacy said the survey would provide targets for many years to come.
 
The Maitland deposit, 40km south west of Balcooma, was acquired from Glengarry Resources for $6.5 million in 2008 but no work has been carried out on the project since.
 
The project has a resource of 1.5Mt at 1.5% copper and 0.02% molybdenum but mineralisation remains open down-plunge and down-dip.
 
Drilling will begin next year, with an initial target of 500,000t at 2-4% copper.
 
The company is particularly excited by the Baal Gammon copper deposit, which it secured the rights to mine in a deal with Monto Minerals earlier this year.
 
The deposit has a resource of 5.5Mt at 0.8% copper, 0.2% tin and 29gpt silver and mineralisation is open down-plunge and down-dip with limited deep drilling completed in the past.
 
Kagara has set an initial 500,000t exploration target at 2-4% copper but Treacy says the area could possibly host a large copper porphyry system.
 
"I've not seen an area like this so well mineralised anywhere," he said.
 
"It's almost inconceivable that there's not something quite large in this area."
 
Southern Region
 
The Thalanga operation, 70km west of Charters Towers, is the centre of the Southern Region, but the area also contains many VMS targets along a 165km strike length.
 
Much of Kagara's tenement position covers the highly prospective Mt Windsor volcanic belt and the company will look to consolidate further in the region.
 
At the Thalanga deposit, no deep drilling or exploration has been carried out since 1999 and the deposit has down-dip and strike potential.
 
The deposit will be drilled in January, with a two-year exploration target of 2.8-3.8Mt at 7-10% zinc set.
 
One of the most advanced projects in the area is the Liontown deposit, which has 1.84Mt at 7.5% zinc, 2.4% lead, 0.6% copper, 28gpt silver and 0.55gpt gold resource.
 
No drilling has been completed at depth and Kagara believes there is potential for repetitions. Drilling is set to begin at the end of the year or after the wet season with an initial 2Mt target.
 
Kagara expects to reach the target within 6-12 months.
 
The Waterloo deposit is another advanced project, with a resource of 707,000t at 11% zinc, 1.6% lead, 1.9% copper, 50gpt silver and 1gpt gold.
 
The geology is similar to Liontown but the deposit was found under sedimentary cover and the company is confident of finding more deposits under cover.
 
The deposit, which is open down-plunge and along strike, will be drilled in mid next year.
 
Kagara is the first company to hold the ground over the prospective Jasper Flats anomaly, which is considered a high priority target.
 
Admiral Bay
 
Outside of the North Queensland operations is the Admiral Bay deposit in Western Australia's Kimberley region.
 
The massive deposit is more of a medium to long term development plan but Kagara still regards it as having extremely high potential for further resource growth.
 
The project already has an inferred resource of 72Mt at 3.1% zinc, 2.9% lead, 18gpt silver and 11.6% barium for 2.2Mt of contained zinc, 2.1Mt of lead, 45.7 million ounces of silver and 8.6Mt of barium.
 
The resource is based on drilling completed over just 2.1km of the estimated 18km strike length.
 
The company believes the project could host up to half a billion tonnes of mineralisation and is seeking a partner to fund the $184.5 million bankable feasibility study, which will comprise the sinking of a shaft to drill a 1.2km section of the resource to reserve status.
 
NM Rothschild has been appointed to find a partner for the project and Day said there had been a lot more interest than expected.
 
"The key focus is to answer whether it will be a key project in the future and how," he said.
 
Discussions with interest parties are expected to begin next month and be completed by the end of the year.