Gippsland (ASX: GIP) has reported visible copper in the form of malachite (copper carbonate) collected during exploration completed in May 2010 at its Adobha Project in Eritrea, located in the Horn of Africa.

The exploration work included the collection of additional drainage samples, geological mapping and rock-chip sampling.

It was following up very encouraging results obtained from a reconnaissance drainage geochemical survey of Thematic Mapper (TM) anomalies, completed during November 2009, which yielded anomalous gold and base metal values from three target areas (E14, E21 & E26).

The company said presence of widespread copper mineralisation combined with some high lead values in bedrock samples "significantly upgrades the prospectivity of Gippsland's Adobha tenements."

Jack Telford, chief executive officer, said "these very encouraging results, which are consistent with our expectations, greatly increase the potential for the Adobha tenements to yield a significant VMS style deposit."

"It is particularly encouraging that the company has discovered large areas of copper mineralisation so early in the overall exploration programme."

At TM anomaly E26 widespread copper mineralisation in bedrock with values up to 10.63% Cu was received with a large area of discontinuous copper mineralisation (390m x 520m). Mineralisation is open to the east and north and copper bearing samples analysed up to 1.15g/t Au.

TM Anomaly E21 (404800E/1905000N) had copper mineralisation identified over 1.7km strike length and there were High lead values (up to 0.97%) that indicate favourable lithology for VMS deposits.