REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Empire to Focus on Eclipse and Gindalbie Projects

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

08/02/2022 07:10

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220208:nRSH0045Ba&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0045B  Empire Metals Limited  08 February 2022

To view the announcement with the illustrative images please use the following
link:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0045B_1-2022-2-8.pdf
(http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0045B_1-2022-2-8.pdf)

 

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

8 February 2022

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

 

Empire to Focus on Advanced Exploration Opportunities at Eclipse and Gindalbie
Projects

and

Termination of Option on Central Menzies Gold Project

 

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development
company, is pleased to announce that it will commence a strategic phase of
exploratory drilling at the Eclipse Gold Project ('Eclipse') in conjunction
with an initial drilling campaign at the new Gindalbie Gold Project
('Gindalbie'), located immediately adjacent and southeast to Eclipse within
the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. This significantly larger, newly
combined Eclipse-Gindalbie project area provides the Company with an exciting
advanced gold exploration opportunity. As a result, the Company has decided
not to take up the Option over the Central Menzies Gold Project ('Central
Menzies') in order to focus its activities on the more promising Eclipse and
Gindalbie Projects.

 

Overview:

·    A substantial strategic drilling campaign has been designed for
Eclipse, in conjunction with an initial drilling campaign within the adjacent
Gindalbie project area (refer Figure 1), which will be implemented over the
coming weeks.

·    Empire expects the Tribute Agreement allowing the Company to explore
and mine the Gindalbie Project (refer announcement dated 28 January 2021) to
be concluded prior to the commencement of drilling within the Gindalbie
project area.

·    The Gindalbie project area increases Empire's mineralised footprint
around its flagship Eclipse Project by over 200% to a total of 943ha  and
covers several historic high-grade gold prospects that, together with the
Eclipse and Jack's Dream prospects, represent multiple structures within one
large gold system.

·    The highly anticipated next round of exploratory drilling at Eclipse,
utilising both reverse circulation ('RC') and Diamond Drill ('DD') holes, is
designed to gather further geological and structural information around the
Eclipse shaft ('Eclipse') and Jack's Dream shaft ('Jack's Dream') and to prove
continuity of the gold mineralisation below the gold-depleted zone of
weathering.

·    In addition to drilling the deeper targets at Eclipse and Jack's
Dream, Empire will commence an RC drilling campaign at Gindalbie, looking to
not only extend the mineralised trend a further 2km to the southeast of
Eclipse but also to understand the extent and origin of what the Company
believes to be a much larger gold system.

·    Empire announced a summary of its exploration activities at Central
Menzies on 28 January 2022, including the results of a second phase of RC
drilling which focused on testing the Nugget Patch gold trend to confirm if
there was higher grade mineralisation sitting at depth below a supergene gold
enriched zone and to confirm historic high grade gold intersections closely
associated with the main workings at Teglio. The results were generally
inconclusive, with no obvious continuity along strike and no significant
high-grade intercepts.

·    The Company has therefore decided to terminate the Option over
Central Menzies and instead intends to focus on the known high-grade gold
assets centred around the Eclipse-Gindalbie project area as well as look for
further acquisitions within Australia.

·    Empire remains well funded and capable of executing a substantial
amount of exploration over the coming months with over £2.1 million in
current cash reserves. The current favourable exchange rate between the Pound
Sterling and the Australian Dollar provides the Company with an opportunity to
carry out additional exploration activities for less expenditure than
originally envisaged.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "This next strategic round of drilling at
the Eclipse and Jack's Dream lodes will test for both high grade gold
mineralisation at depth and continuity of the mineralisation between the
previous high grade RC drilling intercepts.  We are focusing on obtaining
diamond core samples from which we expect to gather important geological and
structural data which will enable Empire to build upon and improve the
geological model at Eclipse."

"By developing a more robust understanding of the structural controls on
mineralisation we can step out our drilling targets with confidence and look
to extend the known footprint of gold mineralisation within the combined
Eclipse-Gindalbie project area, which we believe contains a very significant
high-grade gold system."

 

Figure 1. Location Map

Eclipse Drilling programme based on recent "Strategic Review"

Empire has to date completed three exploratory drilling programmes at Eclipse,
consisting of 111 reverse circulation ('RC') drill holes for a total of 9,121
metres and three diamond drill holes for a total of 201 metres. Significant
intercepts from the RC drill programmes at Eclipse (above 1.3 ppm Au) are
reported in Table 1 below.

Late last year Empire completed a strategic technical review of all the data
collected over the Eclipse licence area, focusing on understanding the
structural controls on the high-grade gold lodes identified by previous
drilling. The gold mineralisation at Eclipse is hosted in sheared felsic to
intermediate volcanics and volcaniclastic sediments, and associated with
pyrite, pyrrhotite and quartz veining. Analyses of the structural data
collected during the diamond drilling last year has confirmed the gold
mineralisation to be associated with shear foliation within the volcaniclastic
sediments.

 

The current database for Eclipse shows only 20% of the RC holes drilled to
date have penetrated below the gold-depleted regolith zone into fresh rock.
The results from previous drilling also indicate that gold mineralisation
likely continues to greater depths, and that further drilling is warranted to
test the strike and depth extensions of multiple gold structures at Eclipse.

 

 

 

Table 1. Significant intercepts of the RC drill programme at Eclipse (reported
above 1.3 ppm Au).

 Hole_id     Depth From  Depth To   Interval   Au (g/t)  Target

             (metres)    (metres)   (metres)
 Phase 1 Drilling Programme - October 2020
 ECRC20_005  42          50         8          2.14      Eclipse
 ECRC20_009  45          48         3          21.96     Eclipse
 ECRC20_017  49          52         3          3.18      Eclipse
 ECRC20_021  9           10         1          7.76      Eclipse
 ECRC20_021  13          23         10         1.49      Eclipse
 ECRC20_022  22          36         14         3.78      Eclipse
 ECRC20_026  0           1          1          6.93      Eclipse
 ECRC20_026  10          11         1          4.51      Eclipse
 ECRC20_027  33          36         3          5.37      Eclipse
 ECRC20_031  15          16         1          1.51      Eclipse
 ECRC20_032  26          30         4          4.58      Eclipse
 ECRC20_036  30          31         1          1.58      Eclipse
 ECRC20_037  133         141        8          3.20      Eclipse
 ECRC20_039  94          105        11         3.04      Eclipse
 ECRC20_040  77          78         1          2.46      Eclipse
 Phase 2 Drilling Programme - January 2021
 ECRC21_002  91          94         3          2.45      Eclipse
 ECRC21_003  118         126        8          2.83      Eclipse
 ECRC21_004  134         137        3          2.61      Eclipse
 ECRC21_005  138         146        8          1.86      Eclipse
 ECRC21_006  93          97         4          1.44      Eclipse
 ECRC21_007  144         147        3          2.38      Eclipse
 ECRC21_008  99          100        1          1.86      Eclipse
 ECRC21_009  62          67         5          1.59      Eclipse
 ECRC21_010  52          53         1          2.50      Eclipse
 ECRC21_015  50          52         2          1.32      Steinhobel
 ECRC21_017  70          78         8          2.32      Eclipse
 ECRC21_020  46          70         24         1.44      Jack's Dream
 ECRC21_020  82          85         3          2.51      Jack's Dream
 ECRC21_024  38          39         1          2.10      Twin Shaft
 ECRC21_024  45          48         3          2.07      Twin Shaft
 ECRC21_027  33          39         6          5.52      Eclipse
 ECRC21_029  33          37         4          2.80      Eclipse
 ECRC21_030  49          54         5          4.77      Eclipse
 ECRC21_032  55          56         1          1.46      Eclipse
 ECRC21_033  49          54         5          1.42      Eclipse
 ECRC21_034  75          78         3          2.40      Eclipse
 ECRC21_035  47          49         2          2.22      Steinhobel
 Phase 3 Drill Programme - April 2021
 ECRC21_045  126         131        5          3.54      Jack's Dream
 ECRC21_046  50          56         6          2.39      Jack's Dream
 ECRC21_053  40          42         2          1.68      Eclipse - NW extension
 ECRC21_053  51          54         3          2.08      Eclipse - NW extension
 ECRC21_054  66          70         4          4.78      Twin Shaft
 ECRC21_059  75          77         2          1.75      Eclipse
 ECRC21_060  53          55         2          3.65      Eclipse
 ECRC21_062  0           1          1          4.08      Eclipse

 

 

A detailed fourth drilling programme of over 2300m has now been designed for
the Eclipse and Jack's Dream lodes and includes 900m of diamond core drilling
and 1400m of RC drilling. The drilling will focus on the Eclipse and Jack's
Dream lodes, along strike of the mineralised trends (refer Figure 2.)

 

Figure 2: Plan view of the southern half of the Eclipse licence.

 

Magnetics (RTP), with drill intercepts indicating Eclipse and Jack's Dream
area and lines delineating the long-sections shown in Figures 3 and 6 below.

The following sections illustrate examples of how the planned drilling at
Eclipse and Jack's Dream will be targeting high-gold zones within the fresh
rock below the regolith (weathered profile).

 

Eclipse Ore Zone

Two diamond holes drilled previously near the Eclipse shaft successfully
penetrated fresh rock (ECDD21_01 and ECDD21_03) and these have provided
valuable structural information pertaining to what controls the gold
mineralisation. A total of 60 structural measurements were taken from the
drill core, measuring the bedding, foliation, and quartz-carbonate veining of
the fresh rock. These were plotted onto a 'stereonet' with Au assays, which
showed the high-grade mineralisation to be associated with a steeply-dipping,
northwest-southeast trending foliation.

 

When the drillhole and assay data are plotted into 3D modelling software, and
a long-section is defined along strike of the foliation, it shows the
mineralisation is open at depth and along-strike within the fresh rock (Figure
3), highlighting areas which to date have been completely untested. In doing
so, Empire has defined several priority drill targets, two of which are
highlighted in the cross-sections shown in Figures 4 and 5.

 

 

Figure 3: Long-section of Eclipse orientated along strike of the foliation.

 

Viewing northeast through a 20m wide window. Shaded zone indicates the
higher-grade gold mineralisation which remains open at depth, and to the
northwest, where it could potentially link to Jack's Dream.

 

Figure 4. Eclipse Cross section 1

 

Figure 5.  Eclipse cross-section 2

 

Jack's Dream Prospect

At Jack's Dream, where only RC holes have been drilled, a similar approach has
been employed using the structural measurements from Eclipse (Figure 6). This
shows again the upside and exploration potential for discovering more gold
mineralisation within the fresh rock at depth, which remains untested. It also
supports the idea that Eclipse and Jack's Dream are upper parts of a larger,
linked gold system at depth below the regolith horizon between the two areas
and will be targeted during this drilling campaign, as illustrated in the
cross-section (Figure 7).

 

Figure 6: Long-section of Jack's Dream along strike of the foliation defined
from Eclipse.

 

Viewing northeast through a 40m wide window. Shaded area indicates higher
grade gold mineralisation which remains open at depth, and towards the
southeast.

 

Figure 7. Cross section at Jack's Dream

Gindalbie Gold Project Exploration Planned

The recently announced agreed Heads of Terms to enter into a Tribute Agreement
for the Gindalbie Gold Project, the granted area within the adjacent mining
lease M27/158, is an exciting development for the Company as it provides the
potential for significant additional high-grade gold targets to be evaluated
within the combined Eclipse-Gindalbie area, both along the southeast strike
extension of the Eclipse trend and in sub-parallel northwest-southeast trends
lying to the northeast and southwest of the Eclipse trend (refer Figure 8).

 

The exploration activities being planned for Eclipse-Gindalbie area will be
executed as a phased approach, taking the benefits from the data collected
from both the Eclipse drilling programmes and from a technical review of the
existing exploration database covering the Gindalbie Gold Project. It is
important that additional data be collected from the fresh rock to fully
understand lithological and structural context, at both Eclipse and Jack's
Dream, which influence controls on the gold mineralisation. The design and
implementation planning for an initial drilling programme at Gindalbie is
underway, with the plan to commence drilling once the Eclipse RC drilling
programme is completed.

 

Figure 8.  Granted area within ML27/158 showing major mineralised
sub-parallel trends running north-west and south-east

 

Central Menzies Gold Project Update

The Central Menzies Gold Project, located in the Menzies Shire, approximately
115km north of the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 10km south of the township
of Menzies, consists of four prospecting tenements (P29/2361, 2362, 2363 and
2364) covering an area of 618 hectares.

 

Empire held an Option to acquire a 70% interest in Central Menzies at a cost
of AUD$1,750,000 in cash and AUD$1,250,000 to be settled via the issue of new
ordinary shares of no-par value at a price calculated by reference to a 10%
discount to the 30-day VWAP.

 

A summary of the exploration activities, carried out by Empire at Central
Menzies since entering into the Option Agreement in May 2021, was recently
announced and included the results of a second phase of RC drilling. The
second round of drilling was focused on testing the Nugget Patch gold trend to
confirm if there was higher grade mineralisation sitting at depth below a
supergene gold enriched zone and to confirm historic high grade gold
intersections closely associated with the main workings at Teglio. The results
were generally inconclusive, with no obvious continuity along strike and no
significant high-grade intercepts within fresh rock. After a detailed
technical evaluation Empire considers that the results achieved to date do not
warrant further exploration expenditure and has decided not the take up the
Option, much preferring to focus the Company's exploration activities on the
highly prospective Eclipse-Gindalbie region and also to look further afield
for acquisitions within Australia.

 

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Eclipse Gold
Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Bewsher, a full-time employee of BM
Geological Services. Mr Bewsher is a Member of the Australian Institute of
Geoscientists. Mr Bewsher has been engaged as a consultant by Empire Metals
Limited. Mr Bewsher 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 Bewsher 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:

 

 Shaun Bunn                                                         Empire Metals Ltd                                                                             Company                                                                 Tel: 020 7907 9327
 Greg Kuenzel                                                       Empire Metals Ltd                                                                             Company                                                                 Tel: 020 7907 9327
 Ewan Leggat                                                        S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP                                                             Nomad & Broker                                                          Tel: 020 3470 0470
 Adam Cowl                                                          S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP                                                             Nomad & Broker                                                          Tel: 020 3470 0470
 Damon Heath                                                        Shard Capital Partners LLP                                                                    Joint Broker                                                            Tel: 020 7186 9950
 Susie Geliher                                                      St Brides Partners                                                                            PR                                                                      Tel: 020 7236 1177
                                                                    Ltd
 Selina Lovell                                                      St Brides Partners                                                                            PR                                                                      Tel: 020 7236 1177
                                                                    Ltd

 
 

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

 

The Company strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project in Western Australia, with the goal to expand through the addition of further projects in the region to develop a viable and compelling portfolio of precious metals assets.

 

Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria.

 

The Board continues to evaluate opportunities through which to realise the value of its wider portfolio and reviews further assets which meet the Company's investment criteria.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCGRGDDBGGDGDI