REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Pitfield Project JV to Include All Minerals

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

17/04/2024 07:01

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RNS Number : 8520K  Empire Metals Limited  17 April 2024

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

17 April 2024

Empire Metals Limited

("Empire" or "the Company")

 

Pitfield Project Joint Venture Agreement to Include All Minerals

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce that the terms of the Joint
Venture Agreement ('JV') covering the Pitfield Project in Western Australia
('Pitfield' or the 'Project') have been amended to include all minerals
discovered within the Project tenements.

 

Under the revised terms of the 70% Empire and 30% Century Minerals Pty Ltd
('Century') JV, there are no exemptions or other separate mineral rights
applying to Pitfield. The consolidation of all minerals under the one JV
simplifies the ownership structure and eliminates the potential for multiple
parties to be working on the same ground, exploring for different commodities
and allows for the continued rapid development of Pitfield.

 

Highlights

 

·    Under the original terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (dated
6th April 2022) Century retained 100% of the rights to Mineral Sands and the
JV retained 100% of all mineral rights to any and all bedrock mineral
deposits, inclusive of titanium minerals.

 

·    Although both Empire and Century have made it clear that the titanium
mineralisation discovered at Pitfield, hosted within the bedded sedimentary
bedrock, was not classified as Mineral Sands and thus formed part of the
existing JV property, the consolidation of all minerals under the JV prevents
other potential third parties in the future from exploring for other minerals
and allows for the continued and unencumbered development of Pitfield.

 

·    Under the amended agreement, Empire has secured a redefinition of
rights at the Pitfield Project, to 70% of all minerals present regardless of
their physical or chemical nature, for a consideration of A$250,000
(approximately £129,000). This investment is aimed at continuing to create
value for all shareholders.

 

·    The consideration will be funded from existing cash reserves and will
not impact the Company's strong financial position and fully funded work
programmes.

 

Ed Baltis, Century Director and Major Shareholder, said: "We always held the
view that Pitfield had the potential of becoming a world class mining project
and we are delighted with the progress that is being made towards that goal
under the stewardship of Empire Metals. The fact that the titanium-rich
mineral system discovered at Pitfield is not a mineral sands deposit was never
in question, and both Empire and Century have worked together to first explore
the extent of this extraordinary mineral system and then to identify
geological controls that define the higher grades.  The consolidation of all
minerals under the JV was a logical and strategically important next step, one
that supports Empire and allows them to focus on unlocking the inherent value
of this huge titanium-rich mineral system."

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "I am extremely pleased that, in
collaboration with Century, all minerals discovered at Pitfield will be owned
by the JV in which Empire, as the 70% majority owner, acts as manager and
operator. This not only simplifies the ownership structure it also removes any
perceived ambiguity in relation to distinguishing the difference between
bedrock hosted titanium minerals and surface mineral sands. We have a great
working relationship with Century, whose principals have personally assisted
our exploration team in planning and executing the field work to date."

 

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).

 

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

 

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.

 

Pitfield lies in a unique geological setting along the western boundary of the
Yilgarn Craton, within the Yandanooka Basin which consists mainly of
interbedded siliciclastic sedimentary rocks (refer Figure 2).  Importantly,
the Yandanooka Basin lies near the junction of two major structures, the
Darling Fault and Yandanooka-Cape Riche Lineament, the likely plumbing system
for the hydrothermal fluids that have strongly altered the sedimentary rocks
within the Basin and were responsible for the titanite mineralisation event.

 

Figure 2: Simplified geological section of the Yandanooka Basin. Note the
sandstone-rich beds which are host to higher grade TiO2 mineralisation.
West-East section looking North.

 

The drilling to date has confirmed that there is extensive, higher-grade
TiO(2) mineralisation in the thick sandstone-rich beds, which are returning
consistently higher-grade TiO(2) mineralisation than the adjacent conglomerate
or siltstone-rich beds. Two, near-surface, km-scale zones of higher grade
bedded sandstone-rich TiO(2) mineralisation have been identified and are the
focus of delineation for initial resource development and to provide necessary
metallurgical samples.

 

About Century Minerals:

Century Minerals Pty Ltd, a company registered in Australia, is a private
exploration company established by two well known and respected Exploration
Geologists, Mr Ed Baltis (former WMC Resources and Gold Fields exploration
manager), and Mr Steve Hart (former Plutonic and Basin Minerals exploration
geologist).

In April 2022 Empire acquired a 70% interest in three highly prospective
Australian-based exploration projects from Century Minerals. Two of the
projects, the Pitfield Project and the Walton Project are in Western Australia
whilst the Stavely Project lies within the Stavely Arc region of Victoria.

 

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 / Arabella Burwell                                            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 / Charlotte Page

 

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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