REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Major Drilling Campaign to Commence at Pitfield

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

17/02/2025 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20250217:nRSQ2290Xa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 2290X  Empire Metals Limited  17 February 2025

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

17 February 2025

Empire Metals Limited

("Empire" or "the Company")

 

Major Drilling Campaign to Commence at Pitfield:

Targeting High-Grade Zones Within the Weathered, Titanium-Rich Surface Deposit

 

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-listed resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce the commencement of the next major
drilling campaign at the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects, within the Pitfield
Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'). The planned
campaign consists of 84 Air Core ('AC') drillholes for a total 4,340m drilled,
that will both test the extent of, and bulk sample, the high-grade zones of
titanium mineralisation that were recently discovered within the strongly
weathered cap covering this giant, titanium-rich mineral system.

 

Highlights

 

·    The drilling targets priority areas containing thick, strongly
weathered zones of high-grade titanium mineralisation, these having been
identified from previous Reverse Circulation ('RC') and Diamond Core ('DD')
drillholes and which show average grades of over 6% TiO(2) and intervals as
high as 18% TiO(2.)

 

·    Recent XRD analysis has confirmed that the mineral assemblage within
these high-grade weathered zones is primarily high-purity titanium dioxide
minerals, anatase and rutile.

 

·    Drilling is planned on a 100m by 100m grid, to an average depth of
around 50m, and will provide up to 80 tonnes of bulk metallurgical sample from
both of the two prospects.

 

·    The combined drill targets cover over 60 hectares of mineralised
weathered cap and were selected on the basis of three key parameters:
high-purity TiO(2) mineral assemblage, high titanium grades and significant
depth of weathering.  Metallurgical samples derived from this drill programme
will be representative of a significant mineral inventory.

 

·    The bulk samples will enable the rapid upscaling of metallurgical
test work to allow production scale testing of gravity and flotation circuits
ahead of a large-scale product development trial, aimed at providing
high-quality titanium product samples for potential customer evaluation.

 

·    The AC drillholes will be sub-sampled on 2m intervals, and
geochemically analysed, these data will provide the basis for geological
modelling which will greatly assist in, and expedite the development of, a
Mineral Resource Estimate ('MRE').

 

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "I am pleased to announce the
commencement of this very important AC drilling campaign that provides not
only the bulk metallurgical samples to enable a significant scale-up of our
metallurgical test work programme, but also represents the next phase of
defining a Mineral Resource Estimate for Pitfield. The drilling covers an area
of around 30 hectares at each of the Thomas and Cosgrove prospects, to a
targeted depth of around 50m, this being the average depth of the weathering
profile based on previous drilling results from within the area.

 

"Drilling is expected to be completed in a short period of time, given the
soft, friable nature of the weathered zone. Sub-sampling of the drillholes and
geochemical analysis will be the first priority and this will take a few weeks
to turnaround. Delivery of the bulk metallurgical samples to the processing
laboratory will follow and we anticipate moving to a large scale metallurgical
testwork programme around May-June."

 

Air Core Drilling Programme

The planned campaign consists of 84 AC drillholes for a total 4,340m drilled,
which will both test the extent of, and bulk sample, the high-grade zones of
titanium mineralisation that were recently discovered within the strongly
weathered cap covering this giant, titanium-rich mineral system.  This AC
drill programme will be funded from the Company's existing cash reserves.

 

The drilling is targeting high-grade priority areas within the Cosgrove and
Thomas Prospects and is scheduled to commence late February and run for a
two-to-three-week period.

 

Air core drilling is a drilling method that uses compressed air to flush
cuttings out of the borehole. It's a cost-effective and efficient drilling
method that's commonly used for shallow exploration projects. The use of AC
drill rigs will enable large quantities of metallurgical bulk samples to be
collected quickly and cost effectively, these samples will allow the Company
to rapidly advance and upscale the process development test work programme.

 

The location and spacing of the planned 84 AC drillholes has also been
designed to assist with the Company's MRE preparation. The programme consists
of 40 holes at each of the Cosgrove and Thomas Prospects on 100m x 100m
drillhole-spaced grids, with an average forecast depth of 51.5m, for a total
of 4,125m. Additional holes may be added to further defined the consistency of
the deposit.  Two additional holes at each prospect are planned as "twin
holes", designed to validate the geological and assay data quality of the AC
holes, focusing on the weathered portion of the existing 3 RC drillholes and 1
diamond core drillhole in the target areas. The average planned depth for each
of the four twin holes is 54m for a total of 215m. Pending the quality of the
results from the twinning of the 3 RC drillholes and the diamond core
drillhole, the Company expects to be able to utilise the geological and assay
data from the campaign towards the expedited development of a maiden MRE

 

The targeted drilling areas contain thick, strongly weathered zones of
high-grade titanium mineralisation, these having been identified from previous
RC and Diamond Core drillholes and which show average grades of over 6% TiO(2)
and intervals as high as 18% TiO(2) (refer Figure 1).

 

 

Figure 1. Pitfield Project Location showing the prior drill holes and two new
drilling target areas within the Cosgrove and Thomas Prospects.

 

Cosgrove Prospect

 

At Cosgrove, the drilling is focused on a priority area which is approximately
500m by 600m (refer Figure 2). The weathered zone interval width and average
assay grades from the two previous drill holes located within the Cosgrove
priority area are 48m at 6.50% TiO(2)  RC23COS010  and 63m at 6.13% TiO(2)
 DD24COS004 , while nearby drill holes have similar depths and high-grades
(refer Table 1 for full details).

 

The depth of weathering of the Cosgrove priority drill area was shown to be
consistently thick and contains high-grade intervals of mineralisation of up
to 17.97% TiO(2).

 

There are also broad zones of high-grade mineralisation close to surface, for
example 10m at 9.56% TiO(2) from 10m  RC23COS010  and 7.7m at 11.52% TiO(2)
from 14.9m  DD24COS004 .  These near-surface areas are also shown to hold the
highest percentage of the most important titanium bearing minerals, anatase
and rutile, which will form the primary feedstock for the upscaled
metallurgical test work programme.

 

 

Figure 2. Planned Air Core drillhole collar locations within the Cosgrove
Prospect priority area.

 

Thomas Prospect

 

At Thomas, the drilling is focused on a priority area which is approximately
300m by 1,000m (refer Figure 3). The weathered zone interval width and average
assay grades from the two previous drill holes located within the Thomas
priority area are 72m at 6.75% TiO(2)  RC24TOM021  and 54m at 7.02% TiO(2)
 RC24TOM022 . Nearby drill holes have similar depths and high-grades (refer
Table 1). What is important to note in the Thomas priority area is that the
depth of weathering is consistently deeper than the Cosgrove priority area,
having been modelled down to 76m from surface.

 

There are also broad zones of higher grade mineralisation close to surface,
for example 8m at 8.54% TiO(2) from 4m  RC24TOM022  and 8m at 9.03% TiO(2)
from 4m  RC24TOM021 .  As in the case of the Cosgrove priority area the
near-surface deposit at the Thomas priority area also contains a high
percentage of the key titanium bearing minerals, anatase and rutile.

Figure 3. Planned Air Core drill hole collar locations within the Thomas
Prospect priority area.

 

Table 1: Weathered Zone drill intercepts (previously released results)
including high-grade intervals to be followed up by AC programme

 Hole ID     Easting  Northing  Depth From (m)      Depth To (m)  EOH (m)  Weathered Interval (m)  Grade TiO(2) (%)
 RC23COS009  369647   6737881   0.0                 40.0          154.0    40.0                    6.76
 including                      6.0                 10.0                   4.0                     9.87
 RC23COS010  369799   6737456   0.0                 48.0          154.0    48.0                    6.50
 including                      8.0                 18.0                   10.0                    9.56
 including                      10.0                12.0                   2.0                     10.41
 RC23COS022  370507   6737510   0.0                 58.0          148.0    58.0                    5.70
 including                      4.0                 12.0                   8.0                     8.14
 including                      4.0                 6.0                    2.0                     9.76
 RC23COS024  370347   6736595   0.0                 52.0          148.0    52.0                    6.17
 including                      12.0                18.0                   6.0                     8.76
 including                      4.0                 6.0                    2.0                     8.96
 DD24COS004  369997   6737088   0.0                 63.0          78.7     63.0                    6.13
 including                      14.9                22.6                   7.7                     11.52
 including                      14.9                16.0                   1.1                     17.97
 RC24TOM021  373699   6724326   4.0                 76.0          154.0    72.0                    6.75
 including                      4.0                 58.0                   54.0                    6.90
 including                      4.0                 12.0                   8.0                     9.03
 including                      8.0                 10.0                   2.0                     9.98
 RC24TOM022  373329   6724796   0.0                 54.0          154.0    54.0                    7.02
 including                      4.0                 12.0                   8.0                     8.54
 RC24TOM023  373639   6724978   0.0                 58.0          154.0    58.0                    5.68
 including                      6.0                 20.0                   14.0                    6.09
 DD24TOM006  373947   6724741   0.0                 46.5          70.5     46.5                    5.94
 including                      4.5                 45.0                   40.5                    6.10
 including                      10.5                22.5                   12.0                    6.95

 

 

Metallurgical Test Programme

The AC drilling programme will provide several large bulk samples from
high-grade zones of titanium mineralisation that have been previously
identified within the weathered profile across the Cosgrove and Thomas
Prospects.  Producing metallurgical testing samples of this size and nature
will facilitate important test work aimed at confirming mineral separation and
titanium extraction characteristics, including:

 

-      scale-up and optimisation of mineral separation techniques, such
as gravity and flotation, which are already looking promising at small scale;

-      testing of comminution techniques and mineral concentration
methods that are not easily scaled down to bench scale;

-      conduct a semi-continuous piloting run on the mineral separation
flowsheet to produce a large, bulk mineral concentrate sample;

-      comparative testing of operating conditions in the titanium leach
extraction and precipitation stages, using the bulk concentrate; conduct
further purification and refining testwork to deliver high-purity TiO(2)
products; and

-      produce a TiO(2) product suitable for industry players to test
product suitability for chloride pigment and Ti sponge metal feedstock.

 

 

The Pitfield Titanium Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern
wheatbelt town of Three Springs, the Pitfield titanium project lies 313km
north of Perth and 156km southeast of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital
and major port. 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. Pitfield
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 4).

Figure 4. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure
and Services

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 Empire Metals
Australia 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                                                                       Tel: 020 4583 1440

 Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel / Arabella Burwell
 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 / Charlotte Page

 

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed exploration and resource development company
(LON: EEE) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant
titanium project in Western Australia.

 

The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with
airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics
anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated
excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the mineralised beds and
confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide
(TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones
and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and
Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface,
bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.

 

An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas
and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to
32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO(2).  Included
within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the weathered
sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m
to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a
grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO(2).

 

The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral
system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further
upside.

 

Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision
to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield,
to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.

 

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

*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in
nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource
and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a
Mineral Resource.

 

 

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  DRLFLFLSFDISLIE