REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Diamond Drilling to Commence & Grant of Options

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

29/02/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 8326E  Empire Metals Limited  29 February 2024

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

29 February 2024

Empire Metals Limited

("Empire" or "the Company")

 

Diamond Drilling to Commence at Pitfield:

Focused on Mineralogical and Metallurgical Samples to Advance Process
Development

& Grant of Options to Employees

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce the commencement of the next major
exploration campaign at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield'
or the 'Project'), with a total of 800 metres of Diamond Core drilling planned
to be completed in March. This will be followed up mid-March with a 40 hole
Reverse Circulation ('RC') drilling campaign covering 6,000m, expected to take
approximately 10 weeks.

 

Highlights

 

·    These drill programmes will quantify two high-grade
titanium-mineralised zones, selected for resource evaluation work in areas
that show potential to support shallow open pit mining.

 

·    The diamond drilling will also provide additional core for further
mineralogical analysis and metallurgical test work that will allow the Company
to accelerate the economic assessment and development of the Project.

 

·    The diamond drilling programme will consist of four angled, 200m
deep, diamond core drill holes focused on confirming the continuation of near
surface, high-grade titanium mineralisation identified by previous drilling
and surface sampling.

 

·    The next phase of RC drilling, the third campaign to date, will
further test and delineate the two known zones of high-grade, bedded
mineralisation as well as test new targets identified along the length of the
coincident magnetics-gravity anomaly.

 

·    As part of Empire's policy to attract and retain high-calibre
personnel, the Company has agreed to issue options at a 14p and 18p strike
price.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "I am delighted to announce that we have
commenced drilling the first of the next four diamond core holes we have
planned for Pitfield. The diamond core drilling, the second campaign of
diamond drilling at Pitfield, represents the start of a major project
development push, aimed at providing key samples for mineralogical and
metallurgical characterisation, with a view to establishing an economic
processing route to produce high-value products.

 

"The diamond core holes are focussed in areas of known titanium-enriched
mineralisation, based on the results of our previous drilling campaigns, and
the information we will gain from these four, 200m deep, drill cores will be
invaluable in terms of increasing our understanding of the nature of the
titanium minerals and their metallurgical characteristics."

 

The Pitfield Project

Located within the Mid West region of Western Australia, near the northern
wheatbelt town of Three Springs, Pitfield lies just 313km north of Perth and
156km south of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital (refer Figure 1).

 

Western Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the
world according to the Fraser Institute's Investment Attractiveness Index
published in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government,
transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitifled has existing
connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is
nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub,
which is under planning and development (refer Figure 1).

Figure 1. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure
and Services

 

 

Drilling Programme

Empire completed a maiden 21-hole RC drill programme in April 2023, which
resulted in the discovery of titanium rich mineralisation within the
hydrothermally altered sediments. The majority of the maiden drill holes were
located in the north, near Mt Scratch (a historical copper working).  Three
deeper diamond drill holes were completed during September-October 2023,
covering targets to the north (Mt Scratch), 30km to the south (Thomas
property) and in the central zone (Cosgrove property). All three diamond holes
intersected wide, high grade TiO(2) mineralisation down to a vertical depth of
350m (each hole ending in mineralisation). During November-December 2023,
Empire conducted a 40-hole RC drill programme focusing on near surface, high
grade targets within the mid and southern portions of the tenements, these
targets being up-dip from the high-grade intersections encountered in the
diamond drill holes.

 

The focus of the drilling at Pitfield has shifted from the original discovery
area at Mt Scratch to two large, shallow, high-grade zones which were
identified by surface sampling and subsequently confirmed by recent RC and
diamond core drilling programmes (refer Figure 2). With the addition of the
latest RC drill results there is good evidence that the high-grade,
sandstone-rich beds found within each zone are continuous across several
kilometres of strike length and come to surface. There is also evidence that
additional strike-extensive, thick, high-grade sandstone-rich beds are present
and parallel to these high-grade sandstone-rich beds. The upcoming drilling
programme aims to accelerate the economic development of Pitfield, with
additional drilling data that will support further delineation, sampling,
mineralogical studies and metallurgical testing of these two thick, high-grade
mineralised bedded zones, each of which has an approximate 7km continuous
strike extent.

 

Figure 2. Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity data showing
location of newly planned Diamond and RC drill holes, highlighting the
shallow, high-grade bedded sandstone zones being targeted for advanced project
work.

 

Options

As part of Empire's policy to attract and retain high-calibre personnel, the
Company has agreed to issue options over a total of 8,500,00 ordinary shares
of no-par value in the capital of the Company ('Share Options') to employees
of the group. Further details on the option terms are as follows:

 

 Exercise price (£)         14 pence                     18 pence
 Number of options granted  6,500,000                    2,000,000
 Vesting                    6 months from date of issue  12 months from date of issue

 

The Share Options represent in aggregate 1.4% of the existing issued ordinary
share capital of the Company and have been issued to a number of employees and
contractors of the Company and its operating subsidiary, Eclipse Exploration
Pty Ltd, in line with the Group's ongoing incentive plans. Following the grant
of the Share Options, in aggregate there will be 65,973,333 ordinary shares of
no par value of the Company under option to directors and employees of the
Company, representing 11% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the
Company.

 

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project
has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Eclipse Exploration
Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the
Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit
under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a
Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr
Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his
information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

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 / Kasia Brzozowska
 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 recognised
giant titanium-rich mineral system that hosts a globally significant titanium
discovery.

 

The Company also has three further exploration projects in Australia; the
Eclipse Project and 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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