REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Diamond Drilling Update at Pitfield

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

25/10/2023 08:00

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RNS Number : 2356R  Empire Metals Limited  25 October 2023

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

 

25 October 2023

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

 

Diamond Drilling Update at Pitfield:

 Completion of Two of the Three Planned Diamond Drill Holes

Successfully Mapping Scale and Structure of the Giant Titanium-Enriched
Mineral System

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce that two of the three planned
Diamond Core holes have been completed at the Pitfield Project in Western
Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'), and drilling of the third and final
Diamond Core drill hole is now underway.

 

Highlights

 

·    Logging of the core from the first diamond drillhole near Mt Scratch
has identified titanium mineralisation throughout the entire length of hole,
confirming that the titanium mineralisation previously intersected in the
maiden reverse circulation ("RC") drill program extends to depth.

·    The mineralisation is stratabound and hosted by east-dipping,
intensely altered sedimentary beds, principally an interbedded
sandstone-siltstone succession.  The mineralisation remains completely open
at depth and along strike.

·    Visual inspection of the core from the second drillhole, located
~30kms to the south, has indicated the presence of similarly extensive,
stratabound titanium mineralisation hosted by a coarser succession of
sedimentary host rocks, largely conglomerates and sandstones.

·    Logging and sampling of the drill core is ongoing with all assays
pending. The Company expects to be able to release more information about key
parameters such as mineralogy, grades, and geological controls in the coming
weeks.

·    Field activities have continued in parallel with the drilling
campaign, with geological mapping and rock chip sampling carried out across
the strongest parts of the large  gravity high anomaly delineated by the
recent airborne gravity survey and which are believed to outline the thicker
and denser, more mineralised parts of this giant titanium-rich mineral system.

·    The next phase of RC drilling, scheduled to begin later in Q4 2023,
will involve a much larger programme with approximately 40 RC holes totalling
6,000 metres currently planned along the length of the high-density gravity
core within the regional magnetics anomaly.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "I am pleased to report the positive
progress being made at Pitfield with two out of the three planned diamond core
holes now completed. We have completed logging and sampling on the first drill
hole and are awaiting assay results. Based on our geological logging and
portable hand-held XRF measurements we are confident that the titanium
mineralisation identified in our maiden RC drill programme (announced 30 May
2023) continues at depth."

 

"The diamond core drilling is the first phase of a major exploration push
aimed at understanding the grade, mineralogy, thickness and magnitude of this
giant titanium-rich mineral system. Samples of the core collected have been
shipped for assay and mineralogical studies. Further samples are being
prepared for metallurgical testwork, which will help define the nature and
potential economic value of this giant, titanium enriched mineral system."

 

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.

 

 

Diamond Core Drilling Update

The maiden, reconnaissance RC drilling campaign (announced 30 May 2023)
focused on areas where Empire had previously identified highly
chargeable-highly resistive anomalies from an Induced Polarisation (IP) ground
geophysical survey. These anomalies were sourced to stratabound titanium

and iron oxide mineralisation hosted within a strongly hydrothermally altered,
bedded succession of clastic sedimentary rocks, composed of interbedded
sandstones and siltstones, and lesser conglomerate beds. None of the holes
from the maiden drill programme targeted these newly defined discrete, strong,
high-density anomalies(Figure 2).

Figure 2.  Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity survey
results with indicative highest density zones (solid yellow outlines) and
locations of diamond core drill holes and maiden RC drill holes/IP survey
lines.

 

The extensive, high-grade titanium mineralisation (between 4% and 10% TiO(2)),
identified in all but one of initial 21 RC holes previously drilled, has
proved to be a globally significant, world class exploration target that
required diamond core drilling as the next step towards fully assessing its
economic potential. The three diamond core drill holes of this programme were
strategically positioned to provide broad coverage across the 30km length of
the largely coincident regional gravity and magnetics anomalies (refer Figure
2).

 

The Company has completed drilling two of the three planned diamond
drillholes, with the first drillhole (DD23MTS001) now having been logged and
sampled. This hole was located at Mt Scratch, where the majority of the maiden
RC drillholes were completed. The final length of the angled hole was 408.4m,
ending approximately 350m vertically below surface. The drillhole intersected
a thick sedimentary succession of interbedded sandstones and siltstones,
referred to as the Mt Scratch Siltstone formation. These sedimentary host
rocks display extensive and strong iron-rich alteration, including a
steel-grey hematitic alteration and a ferruginous brown alteration which
alternate throughout the hole. Titanium mineralization appears to be extensive
and associated with strong iron-rich alteration as indicated by portable XRF
logging of the core. Petrographic analysis will better define these two
important iron-rich alteration types and help determine the association with
titanium mineralization and Ti grade. Chlorite and epidote alteration of the
host sedimentary rocks is also observed and varies in intensities.

 

 

Photos of diamond drill core from Mt Scratch (DD23MTS001):

 

 

Future Work

The next drill programme, scheduled for late Q4 2023 will involve a
significant RC drilling campaign, which will be carried out along the length
of the strong gravity high with a particular focus on the inferred very dense
zones that have been identified within the magnetics anomaly. The objective of
this drill programme is to not only confirm the scale of this giant,
titanium-enriched mineral system but 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.

 

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
 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 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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