REG - East Star Resources - Award of 2nd Copper Porphyry Exploration Licence

East Star ResourcesAnnouncement

20/03/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 4688H  East Star Resources PLC  20 March 2024

20 March 2024

East Star Resources Plc

("East Star" or the "Company")

Award of 2(nd) Copper Porphyry Exploration Licence

 

East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan focused copper exploration
and resource development company, is pleased to announce the award of its
second copper porphyry exploration licence under the new copper porphyry
exploration strategy initially funded through a US$500,000 grant from the BHP
Xplor programme.

 

Highlights:

 ·         121 km(2) tenement ("Snowy Project") shows historical soil anomalies
           indicating its potential prospectivity for a copper porphyry deposit
 ·         6km long and 3km wide silica lithocap located ~150km north of the large
           Kounrad open pit copper mine and smelter (~800Mt @ 0.62% Cu and up to 0.76g/t
           Au)
 ·         BHP Xplor grant to cover the cost of all licence fees and the initial work
           programme

 

Together with BHP Xplor, East Star is conducting regional target generation
for copper porphyry deposits, principally focussed on the Balkash-Ili magmatic
arc, host to the Kounrad deposit (~800Mt @ 0.62% Cu and up to 0.76g/t Au) and
Aktogai-Aidarly deposits (~2.5Bt @ 0.39% Cu). By applying modern mineral
systems concepts with advanced desktop analytical techniques and on-the-ground
geological confirmation, East Star intends to secure several further
exploration licences within the area of interest for future field work. The
BHP Xplor grant will be directed towards licence costs, field programmes,
desktop evaluation work, and staff and administrative costs in the execution
of the work plan. The programme will be managed by East Star with input from
BHP and a wider team of experts.

Chris van Wijk, East Star Technical Director, commented:

"We are delighted to have our second copper porphyry licence granted since the
beginning of BHP Xplor programme. This is also the third licence granted to
East Star using the newly implemented Kazakh online portal system. This
demonstrates that East Star is able to promptly formulate compliant
applications for new licences and that the Kazakh ministerial process for
granting new applications is working efficiently.

 

The Snowy Project was subjected to an initial site visit in September 2023 and
we were able to confirm several zones of hydrothermal alteration near to a
very large silica lithocap which was identified from satellite imagery. We are
looking forward to starting our planned programme of geological mapping and
soil sampling to advance this project as well as continuing to generate other
prospects within our area of interest as part of our BHP Xplor-backed
programme."

Regional Setting

The licence is located on the western end of the paleozoic Balkash-Ili
volcanic arc. The Balkash-Ili arc is known to host multiple copper and gold
rich porphyry and skarn deposits with the best-known examples including
Kounrad (5Mt contained copper) which is located 160km to the south of the
licence, the Akzhal lead-zinc mine located around 50km to the south-west and
Aktogai-Aidarly further to the east.

The Kounrad ore deposit is related to the intrusion of Middle Carboniferous
(~330 Ma) granitic bodies into a sequence of Late Devonian to Early
Carboniferous volcano-sedimentary and related rocks. Kounrad contained
approximately 5Mt of contained copper and 600t of gold at the start of mining.
Kounrad is also notable in that it featured a supergene enriched zone,
exploited in its early years which ranged between 150-200m thick and hosted
grades in excess of 1% Cu (Seltmann, R. & Porter, M. 2005).

The work history of the licence is still being compiled from archive data;
however, the prospect was identified during soviet era mapping which shows
several large 'secondary quartzites' and anomalous copper, lead and mercury in
several zones around the licence as well as a broad surrounding tungsten halo.
All of these are pathfinder metals for porphyry copper systems and reinforce
the prospectivity of this licence.

'Secondary quartzites' were a soviet term used to refer to the residual,
leached silica lithocaps which are commonly associated with porphyry
intrusions. This lithocap has also been identified through analysis of ASTER
multispectral data collected and processed by the USGS and has been classified
as Argillic alteration which has been confirmed by a field visit carried out
in 2023 (see Photo 1 below).

Photo 1: Silica lithocap in central Snowy Project licence, with argillic
alteration immediately behind the field vehicle and the entire hill in the
background. View looking north.

The licence is well served by existing infrastructure including the national
highway running from Balkash to Astana, located some 35km to the south-west, a
rail line which runs parallel to the national highway, and numerous powerlines
servicing the towns along the highway as well as a system of gravel roads
running from the highway into the interior providing for easy vehicle access.

Work Programme

Initial work on the licence shall consist of confirmatory geological mapping
and broadly spaced soil samples combined with Terraspec analysis. The results
of this exploration will enable the Company to confirm or negate the
prospectivity of the system through analysis of the metal zonation patterns
and the clay species within the soils.

 

Figure 1: Snowy Project licence map with silica lithocaps inside a broad area
of argillic alteration.

About BHP Xplor

BHP Xplor is a cohort-based world-first accelerator programme, dedicated to
unearthing new critical mineral deposits by uniting BHP experts, thought
leaders and innovative mineral explorers to offer participants with the
opportunity to accelerate their exploration concepts and the potential to
establish a long-term partnership with BHP. The programme offers participants
funding, mentorship and coaching, and connection into BHP's network of
suppliers and service providers.

BHP Xplor merges concepts from both venture-capital and early-stage
accelerators, to establish a fit-for-purpose exploration portfolio of
innovative, early-stage mineral exploration companies and helps drive their
exploration campaigns. The programme provides candidates with a one-off,
non-dilutive grant of up to US$500,000, together with in-kind services,
mentorship, networking opportunities with industry and investors and
connections. The grant is a once off opportunity and there are no obligations
or commitments on East Star beyond the conclusion of the Xplor programme;
however, East Star has committed to grant BHP certain pre-emption rights with
respect to investments in East Star or its projects within the programme.

The Xplor programme is designed to create disruptive results in mineral
exploration by identifying new concepts, leveraging new data and testing
opportunities at a much faster pace than discoveries to date.

 

 

(1)Seltmann, R. and Porter, T.M., 2005 - The Porphyry Cu-Au/Mo Deposits of
Central Eurasia: Tectonic, Geologic & Metallogenic Setting and Significant
Deposits; in Porter, T.M. (Ed.), Super Porphyry Copper & Gold Deposits: A
Global Perspective. PGC Publishing, Adelaide, v. 2, pp 467-512.

 

East Star Resources Plc

Alex Walker, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234 (via Vigo Consulting)

 

SI Capital (Corporate Broker)

Nick Emerson

Tel: +44 (0)1483 413 500

 

Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Broker)

Peter Greensmith

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0930

 

Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)

Ben Simons / Peter Jacob

Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234

 

About East Star Resources Plc

 

East Star Resources is focused on the discovery and development of strategic
minerals required for the energy revolution. With eight licences covering
1,190.3 km² in three mineral rich districts of Kazakhstan, East Star is
undertaking an intensive exploration programme, applying modern geophysics to
discover minerals in levels that were not previously explored. East Star's
most advanced project is a copper deposit on the world-class Rudny Altai VMS
Belt where the Company is working towards the delivery of a JORC compliant
open pit copper resource close to infrastructure, within trucking distance of
third-party mills with excess capacity. East Star's management are based
permanently on the ground, supported by local expertise, a joint venture with
the state mining company on certain projects, and grant funding from BHP
through the BHP Xplor programme for copper porphyry exploration.

 

Visit our website:

www.eaststarplc.com (http://www.eaststarplc.com)

 

Follow us on social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-star-resources/
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-star-resources/)

 

X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/EastStar_PLC
(https://twitter.com/EastStar_PLC)

 

Subscribe to our email alert service to be notified whenever East Star
releases news:

 

www.eaststarplc.com/newsalerts (http://www.eaststarplc.com/newsalerts)

 

The person who arranged for the release of this announcement was Alex Walker,
CEO of the Company.

 

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Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). Upon the
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