REG - Phoenix Copper Ltd - Results of Metallurgical Testing at Empire Mine

Phoenix CopperAnnouncement

04/09/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 1915L  Phoenix Copper Limited  04 September 2023

Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: PXC / Sector: Mining

4 September 2023

Phoenix Copper Limited

('Phoenix' or the 'Company')

 

Results of Metallurgical Testing at Empire Mine, Idaho

 & Drilling Update at Navarre Creek

 

Phoenix Copper Ltd (AIM: PXC, OTCQX: PXCLY), the AIM-quoted USA-focused base
and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company is pleased to
announce the results of its metallurgical testing of Empire Mine ('Empire')
open pit oxide material. The test work, completed by Resource Development
Inc/Forte Dynamics of Wheat Ridge, Colorado ('Forte'), has further
demonstrated the robust copper, gold, and silver recoveries possible at Empire
using non-cyanide leaching technologies.

Forte has completed test work consisting of crushing, grinding, flotation, and
both sulphuric acid and ammonium thiosulfate ('ATS') leaching on drill core
composites collected from the 2022 Empire Mine metallurgical core drilling
programme. While testing the use of ATS as a prospective sole reagent on
material representative of the Empire Mine deposit, Forte also tested and
developed flow sheets for flotation alone, as well as the hybrid processes of
flotation followed by sulphuric acid leaching and flotation followed by ATS
leaching to recover gold, silver, and copper.

The results of the test work to date have identified two potential processes
which merit further optimisation, namely flotation plus ATS and flotation plus
sulphuric acid leach. Both of the proposed leach circuits would be confined in
agitated tanks. The metal recoveries and calculated gross metal value for each
flowsheet are shown in Table 1.

Forte will now optimise both these processes and apply operating and capital
costs to the optimisations.

Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, said: "The results of the
metallurgical test work completed thus far on the Empire open pit oxide
deposit have further solidified the Company's confidence in the project.

"When Phoenix became involved with Empire in 2017, the Empire Mine was
considered a copper project only. As a result of further drilling and test
work conducted since that time, the Empire Mine has evolved into a robust
polymetallic deposit consisting of copper, gold, and silver. These recent
metallurgical results show that a number of processes exist, allowing for the
recovery of all three metals.

"The flotation process is an industry standard for the metal extraction of
sulphide copper deposits. By taking the time to test this process on Empire's
oxide material, we believe we have set ourselves up for success both in the
short and medium term. We are continuing down this path with the expectation
that a flotation-based process will further improve the economics and
Environmental, Social and Governance credentials of the Empire open pit, while
potentially streamlining the later development of the Company's deeper
underground sulphide mineralization.

"Additional optimization and costing of the flotation plus leaching scenarios
will define the best process design for the Empire open pit. Continued test
work and mine plan development will also determine whether it will be possible
for the Company to minimize the Project's footprint by constructing the
agitated leach tanks on private property adjacent to the pit, which may offer
significant environmental and economic benefits. The results of the continuing
optimization work are anticipated in Q4 2023.

"I am also pleased to announce that the drilling campaign on our Navarre Creek
property is well underway. Thus far, we have drilled a total of 9,825 feet. We
anticipate initial drill hole assays to begin arriving from ALS Laboratories
beginning in early Q4. I look forward to sharing these assay results when they
become available."

Deepak Molhatra, Metallurgical Engineer, Forte Dynamics, said: "The data we
have collected from the metallurgical test work completed on the Empire Mine
project thus far is very encouraging. All test work completed to this point
has been performed in what is referred to as 'open cycle'. In the coming
months, we will continue working to optimize the results using 'locked cycle'
testing. Locked cycle testing will more closely simulate an active mine
environment in which there is a continuous and stable process flow. It is not
uncommon to see recovery improvements resulting from locked cycle testing."

 

 Process flowsheet option                 Cu Recovery  Au Recovery  Ag Recovery  Gross Revenue (USD/metric Ton)
 Flotation Only                           37.3%        48.8%        44.6%        35.54
 Flotation plus ATS Leach of Flot Tails   66.5%        92.7%        73.0%        64.42
 Flotation plus Acid Leach of Flot Tails  87.8%        48.8%        44.6%        57.80

Table 1: Metal recovery flowsheet options

Note: Revenue based on $1,875/oz gold, $4/lb copper, and $18.75/oz silver

 

Qualified Person

The foregoing technical information in this news release has been reviewed and
verified by Dennis Thomas, ACSM, FIMMM, FGS, CEng, Eurlng, co-founder of
Phoenix Copper Limited and Member of the Company's Advisory Board.  Mr.
Thomas has held both executive and non-executive roles in a number of
international private and public natural resources companies and is a
chartered mining engineer from the Camborne School of Mines. He is a
Qualified Person under the AIM Rules and consents to the inclusion of the
information in the form and the context in which it appears.

 

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance

Phoenix is committed to meeting and exceeding the environmental standards
required by law as a core value of the Company. The baseline environmental
data collected to date will be used for furthering the permitting process, but
as importantly, will be used as the building blocks for the Company's ongoing
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) platform, overseen by
the Company's ESG & Sustainability Committee. The Company has recently
published its inaugural Sustainability Report, which can be viewed on the
Company's website.

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The Company deems the information contained within this announcement to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014, which has been incorporated into UK law by the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via
the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered
to be in the public domain.

Contacts

For further information please visit https://phoenixcopperlimited.com
(https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/)  or contact:

 Phoenix Copper Limited                              Ryan McDermott                                Tel: +1 208 954 7039

                                                     Brittany Lock                                 Tel: +1 208 794 8033

                                                     Richard Wilkins                               Tel: +44 7590 216 657
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser)  David Hignell / Kasia Brzozowska              Tel: +44 20 3470 0470
 Tavira Financial Limited (Joint Broker)             Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield            Tel: +44 20 7100 5100

 WH Ireland (Joint Broker)                           Harry Ansell / Katy Mitchell                  Tel: +44 20 7220 1666
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker)          John Prior / Hugh Rich / Ailsa Macmaster      Tel: +44 20 7886 2500
 EAS Advisors (US Corporate Adviser)                 Matt Bonner / Rogier de la Rambelje           Tel: +1 (646) 495-2225
 BlytheRay                                           Tim Blythe / Megan Ray                        Tel: +44 20 7138 3204

(Financial PR)

 

 

Notes

Phoenix Copper Limited is a USA focused, base and precious metals emerging
producer and exploration company, initially targeting copper, gold and silver
production from an open pit mine.

Phoenix's primary operations are focused near Mackay, Idaho in the Alder
Creek mining district, at the 80% owned Empire Mine property, which
historically produced copper at grades of up to 8%, as well as gold, silver,
zinc and tungsten, from an underground mine.

Since 2017, Phoenix has carried out extensive drill programmes which have
defined a NI 43-101 completed PEA (preliminary economic assessment) for an
open pit heap leach solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine,
which was updated in October 2020. From the 2020 PEA, the measured and
indicated resource is: 22,909,059 tonnes at an average grade of 0.38% copper,
0.324 grammes per tonne ("g/t") gold, 10.3 g/t silver, and 0.19% zinc. The
contained metal for the measured and indicated resource is 87,543 tonnes of
copper, 238,406 ounces of gold, 7,595,198 ounces of silver and 43,871 tonnes
of zinc.

In addition to Empire, the district includes the historic Horseshoe, White
Knob and Blue Bird Mines, past producers of copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead
and tungsten from underground mines. A new discovery at Red Star, 330 metres
northwest of the Empire Mine proposed open pit, has revealed high grade
silver / lead sulphide ore, and from three shallow exploration drill holes a
maiden inferred resource of 103,000 tonnes containing 173.4 g/t silver, 0.85
g/t gold and 3.85% lead (1.6 million ounces silver equivalent) was reported in
an NI 43-101 technical report published in May 2019. Additionally, the
district includes Navarre Creek, a volcanic-hosted precious metals target in
a 14.48 sq km area. The Company's total land package at Empire comprises 8,034
acres (32.51 sq kms).

At Empire, it is estimated that less than 1% of the potential ore system has
been explored to date and, accordingly, there is significant opportunity to
increase the resource through phased exploration. The stated aim of the
Company is to fund this phased exploration through free cashflow generated by
its initial mine. A Plan of Operations in respect of the initial open pit mine
was filed with the relevant regulatory authorities in June 2021.

Phoenix also has two wholly owned cobalt properties on the Idaho Cobalt Belt
to the north of Empire. An Earn-In Agreement has been signed with Electra
Battery Materials, Toronto, in respect of one of those properties.

Phoenix is listed on London's AIM (PXC), and trades on New York's OTCQX
Market (PXCLF and PXCLY (ADRs)). More details on the Company, its assets and
its objectives can be found on PXC's website
at https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/ (https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/)

 

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