REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Airborne Gravity Survey Completed at Pitfield

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

02/08/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9778H  Empire Metals Limited  02 August 2023

Empire Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

 

2 August 2023

Empire Metals Limited

("Empire" or "the Company")

 

Airborne Gravity Survey Completed at Pitfield

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce that an Airborne Gravity Survey
has recently been flown at the Pitfield Project ('Pitfield' or the "Project"),
located in the premier mining jurisdiction of Western Australia.

 

Highlights

 

·    Airborne gravity data will help build a robust, detailed geological
model of the Yandanooka Basin, host to the previously announced massive
titanium discovery and coincident with the 40km long magnetics anomaly that
has been correlated to the extensively altered and mineralised sedimentary
beds.

·    Discrete high-density bodies of rock such as thick iron-titanium
mineralised beds or large zones of hematitic iron oxides typically associated
with copper mineralisation can be directly detected by this type of survey.

·    Initial petrographic studies confirmed the presence of ilmenite, a
highly valued source for titanium oxide ('TiO(2)') and which accounts for over
85% of the feedstock for the entire titanium industry.

·    The gravity data will be used in conjunction with all other
exploration data sets towards defining priority drill targets across the
entire length of the magnetics anomaly.

·    The fully funded next drill programme, including both diamond core
and additional RC drilling, will be carried out to confirm the scale of this
giant, titanium-enriched mineral system and also provide more information
about key parameters such as mineralogy, grades, tonnage potential and
geological controls on the thicker, higher-grade mineralisation.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "We are making good headway in
understanding the size and scale of this globally significant titanium
discovery.  The main objective of the gravity survey is to map variations in
the subsurface rock density at Pitfield across the 40km by 8km magnetics
anomaly at a high resolution that will assist in drill target selection, with
priority given to identifying and testing the thicker and higher-grade parts
of this giant titanium-rich mineral system. The iron-titanium oxide
mineralisation already encountered at Pitfield has a higher density than the
surrounding unaltered sediments and should stand out well in the survey."

 

The Pitfield Project

Empire holds a 70% interest in Pitfield which is comprised of four granted
Exploration Licences (E70/5465, E70/5876, E70/6320 and E70/6323) covering
1,042km(2). Pitfield is located near Three Springs, a town 313km north of
Perth, Western Australia on the Midlands Road, which until the opening of the
Brand Highway in 1975 was the main road route from Perth to the state's north
(refer Figure 1).

Figure 1.              Pitfield Project Location showing the
scale of the

magnetics anomaly and coincident alteration footprint.

 

Regional gravity and magnetics surveys, carried out historically by the
Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), identified strong, extensive
and coincident gravity and magnetics anomalies within the Yandanooka Basin but
lacked detail due to wide line spacing of these historical surveys. The more
detailed airborne magnetics (AM) and airborne electromagnetics (AEM) surveys
undertaken by Empire (announced 21 September 2022) confirmed a field-mapped
massive alteration footprint within the host sedimentary rocks that was
coincident with the historical gravity anomaly and the new, detailed magnetic
and electromagnetic anomalies extending over a 40km north-south distance
(Figure 1).  These new surveys also provided more internal detail of this
massive geophysical anomaly that is required for more accurate drill target
selection.

 

The maiden, reconnaissance Reverse Circulation ('RC') drilling campaign
(announced 30 May 2023) was focused on areas where Empire had previously
identified highly chargeable-highly resistive anomalies from Induced
Polarisation (IP) ground surveys, which have now been shown to be associated
with stratabound iron and titanium oxide mineralisation hosted within
hydrothermally altered sandstone-siltstone beds.

 

Airborne Gravity Survey

XCalibur Multiphysics Group ('Xcaliber') was contracted by Empire to conduct a
Falcon fixed-wing airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) survey at Pitfield, which
was flown between 17 and 21 July. The survey was flown over the entire
magnetics anomaly and consisted of 1,749 line-km at a spacing of 325m (Figure
2).

Figure 2.              Local geological map showing AGG survey
area flown.

 

Falcon is a low-noise, high sensitivity airborne system which is ideally
suited for rapid and accurate acquisition of gravity data that is related to
underlying rock densities. This type of survey measures gravity tensors which
are used to derive the vertical gravity gradient. The Falcon AGG system
employs two independent horizontally-aligned accelerometers to measure
variations in the Earth's gravitational field (Figure 3).

Figure 3.              XCalibur's Falcon fixed-wing AGG system.

 

The airborne gravity data will aid exploration efforts by better defining the
geological anatomy of the Yandanooka Basin even in areas lacking surface rock
exposures due to transported cover, and, most importantly, the place of
titanium, and potentially also copper mineralisation and their controls. A
more detailed geological understanding of this giant mineral system will allow
Empire to better target the more intensely mineralised part of the system with
the overall objective of quickening the pace of project development.

 

The data generated by the AGG survey will be complementary to the existing
magnetic and electromagnetic data over the same area as it is measuring
variations in rock density, a different but equally fundamental physical
property of rocks. Detailed gravity surveying can also be used as a direct
detection tool for identifying discrete high-density zones of significant
mineralisation, such as thick iron-titanium oxide-rich mineralised beds or
large zones of hematitic iron oxides often associated with copper
mineralisation.

 

Future Work

The maiden drill campaign consisted of only 21 RC drill holes totalling 3,206
metres, with the first 18 holes focused near the old Mt Scratch workings to
the north and the final three holes spread evenly across a 30km distance to
the south. The next fully funded drill programme, including both diamond core
and additional RC drilling, will be carried out along the entire length of the
magnetics anomaly to confirm the scale of this giant, titanium-enriched
mineral system and to also understand the distribution of key factors better,
such as grade, mineralogy, thickness and extent of mineralised beds and
controls on high-grade TiO(2) mineralisation.

 

TiO(2) Industry and Market Demand

Titanium minerals are highly valued as a source for titanium oxide ("TiO(2)"),
a high growth commodity used primarily as an input into the process of the
manufacture of pigments which are used in the production of paints, paper and
plastics. Titanium as a metal alloy is known for its properties of low density
(light weight), high strength and rust-resistance, making it a key component
for the automotive industry with the rapid growth in demand for light weight,
fuel efficient vehicles and for green energy generating technologies such as
wind turbines.

 

Use in pigment manufacture accounts for approximately 90% of total global
demand for titanium feedstocks. Titanium metal and welding flux cord wire
jointly account for the remaining 10% demand.

 

TiO(2) is generally mined as ilmenite, typically either from hard rock
deposits or from beach sand operations.  Titanium dioxide feedstocks are
graded by their titanium dioxide content, which ranges from approximately 50%
(sulphate ilmenite) to 95% (natural rutile).  These feedstocks are sold as
either "unprocessed" (chloride or sulphate ilmenite) or as "processed"
(sulphate or chloride slag) where the source material (ilmenite) has been
upgraded to increase the concentration of TiO(2) in the feedstock.

A schematic of the titanium market is laid out in Figure 4 below.

 

 

Figure 4.           Titanium Market Products and Feedstocks.(1)

 

Pigments are essential to the manufacture of a wide range of consumer
products.  Pigments are found in products with high quality finishes, in
plastics and paper and in foods and pharmaceuticals.  As disposable incomes
have increased the demand for these consumer products has increased.

 

The global titanium market size has been estimated to be worth circa USD 26
billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach USD 36 billion by 2028, with a CAGR
of 5.5% during the period of review.(2)

 

Titanium minerals are regarded as a "critical" resource and titanium is on the
strategic "critical minerals list" in many countries including the United
States, the European Union, Japan and Australia.

 

1.     Source Iluka Resources Ltd website

2.     Source
www.marketwatch.com/press-release/titanium-market-insights-2030-2023-06-19

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No
596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018, until the release of this announcement.

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk
(http://www.empiremetals.co.uk)   or contact:

 Empire Metals Ltd

 Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel                                                               Tel: 020 4583 1440
 S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker)                                      Tel: 020 3470 0470

 Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl
 Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)                                               Tel: 020 7186 9950

 Damon Heath
 St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial                                                       Tel: 020 7236 1177
 PR)

 Susie Geliher / Ana Ribeiro

 

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development
company with a project portfolio comprising copper, titanium and gold
interests in Australia and Austria.

 

The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different
stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the Pitfield Project
in Western Australia, which has demonstrated to contain a newly recognized
giant mineral system that hosts a globally significant titanium discovery.
The Company is also advancing the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project in Western
Australia, which is prospective for high-grade gold and also kaolin used to
produce high-purity alumina, an essential component in lithium-ion batteries.

 

The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Walton
Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely Project in the Stavely Arc
region of Victoria, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a
historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.

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