REG - Empire Metals Ltd - Results from Pitfield Diamond Drilling Programme

Empire MetalsAnnouncement

28/05/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9590P  Empire Metals Limited  28 May 2024

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

 

28 May 2024

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

 

Results from Diamond Drilling Programme at Pitfield

 

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and
development company, is pleased to announce the results from the four Diamond
Core drillholes recently completed at the Pitfield Project in Western
Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'). These drillholes were completed at
the Cosgrove and Thomas targets and provide important geological information
ahead of finalising the Company's JORC Exploration Target.

 

Highlights

·    800 metres of diamond core drilling (four drillholes) tested two
known zones of extensive, thick, shallow sandstone-rich beds that host higher
grade TiO(2) mineralisation.

·    Analytical lab results, along with the core logging, for these
drillholes has confirmed extensive, strong weathering of the uppermost 40m of
mineralised bedded sandstones, coincident with high TiO(2) grades, which
extend the entire length of the drillholes.

·    Excellent core recovery was achieved from all four diamond core
drillholes, with every drillhole returning significant intercepts:

§ DD24COS002 intersected 201.8m @ 6.32% TiO(2) from 0m to end of hole;

§ DD24COS003 intersected 201.8m @ 6.14% TiO(2) from 0m to end of hole;

§ DD24TOM002 intersected 201.8m @ 4.95% TiO(2) from 0m to end of hole; and

§ DD24TOM003 intersected 181.9m @ 6.83% TiO(2) from 19.9m to end of hole, the
top 19.9m being sand cover.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:  "The excellent core recovery achieved
from the near surface, strongly weathered mineralised bedded sandstones has
provided invaluable samples and geological data, and additional quantitative
and qualitative mineralogical and metallurgical studies have now been
instigated to provide a clearer picture of the mineral assemblage in the
uppermost 40m zone. In parallel with this work, preparation of the Company's
JORC Exploration Target for the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospects,
announced as part of Empire's Development Plan on 27 March 2024, continues
under the guidance of mineral resource consultants Snowden Optiro, and we
expect to release these results shortly."

 

The Pitfield Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern
wheatbelt town of Three Springs, Pitfield lies 313km north of Perth and 156km
south 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 1).

 

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

 

Results from Diamond Core Drilling Programme: February - March 2024.

The diamond core drilling programme at Pitfield was completed in late March
(announced 18 April 2024) and consisted of four diamond core drillholes
totalling 807m. The diamond core holes were each drilled to a final downhole
depth of 202m. Excellent core recovery was achieved from the diamond drilling,
commencing from surface to the end of the hole.

The diamond drill core, particularly the near-surface core, provided important
samples for ongoing metallurgical and mineralogical studies, and sections of
core have been submitted for Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyzer ('TIMA')
analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope ('SEM') microprobe work to determine
the mineral assemblage within the strongly weathered zone.

The Company has previously reported on the results from the 40 Reverse
Circulation ("RC") drillholes drilled in February-March 2024 which were
focused on proving up the extent and grade of the mineralisation at two key
mineral prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having
thick, high-grade, near-surface, bedded TiO(2) mineralisation, each being over
7km in strike length (refer Figure 2). Whilst these two prospects combined
cover barely one fifth of the total mineralised system area they are currently
the most advanced explored prospects and remain the focus of the Company's
mineral resource development work going forward in the near term.

 

 

Figure 2.  Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity survey results with the location of the 2023 and 2024 RC and Diamond Core drillholes, with Cosgrove and Thomas target areas shown.

Since commencing its maiden drill campaign in March 2023 the Company has
completed a total of 107 drillholes for 17,003m (including seven diamond core
holes for 2,025m), of which 67 RC drillholes and six diamond core drillholes
were drilled within the Cosgrove and Thomas prospects (Figures 3 and 4). The
drilling shows a high-grade (>5% TiO(2)), more than 1km wide central core
running on a N-S trend through both mineral prospects, which could join
between the two prospects thereby representing a potential total strike length
of more than 20km. Significantly, the RC drillhole results clearly indicated
elevated TiO(2) grades are present within the top 40m (announced 15 May 2024).
No near-surface samples were collected from the original diamond core holes
drilled in Q4 2023 (announced 29 November 2023) due to the drilling technique,
however the four recent diamond core drillholes were far more successful in
recovering core from the weathered zone (refer Table 1).

Figure 3.  Cosgrove Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding
for drill holes based on TiO(2) assay grade.

 

Figure 4.  Thomas Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding for
drill holes based on TiO(2) assay grade.

 

 Hole ID     Depth From (m)  Depth To (m)  EOH (m)  Interval (m)  Grade (TiO(2) %)
 DD24COS002  0.0             201.8         201.8    201.8         6.32
 DD24COS003  0.0             201.8         201.8    201.8         6.14
 DD24TOM002  0.0             201.8         201.8    201.8         4.95
 DD24TOM003  19.9            201.8         201.8    181.9         6.83

Table 1.                Significant Intercepts from 2024
Diamond Core Drilling

Logging of the recent diamond core has confirmed the substantial alteration
from surficial weathering of the top 40m of bedded sandstones, and provided
invaluable core sections for mineralogical analysis, for both TIMA and SEM
microprobe work. The strong, deep weathering has clearly altered the
assemblage of primary ore and gangue minerals to a secondary assemblage of
minerals. Titanium is known to be very stable in surficial weathering
processes, showing little mobility and so can concentrate in zones of
weathering. The elevated TiO(2) grades consistently noted in the near-surface
zone are therefore believed to be due to the weathering process concentrating
titanium in place into a secondary mineral assemblage. Precise, detailed
mineralogical investigations have been initiated, and are being expedited, to
determine the mineralogical residence of titanium in this zone of weathering.

The photos taken from diamond core drillhole DD24COS002 are presented in
Figures 5 to 7 below. The difference between the strongly weathered
sandstones, transitional sandstones and fresh bedded sandstones zones are
clearly indicated and provide further evidence of the impact of weathering and
its effect on the mineral assemblage.

Figure 5.  Core trays #1 to #4 for DD24COS002 showing strongly weathered
sandstone to circa 10 meters with interval from 0.8m to 8.75m averaging 7.07%
TiO(2).

Figure 6.  Core trays #7 and #8 for DD24COS002 showing highly oxidised
transitional sandstone, with the interval from 14.75m to 20.6m averaging 6.79%
TiO(2).

Figure 7.  Core trays #24 & #25 for DD24COS002 showing fresh bedded
sandstone, with the interval from 58m to 64m averaging 6.58% TiO(2).

 

Work in Progress - Near Term

The Company's exploration team, under the guidance of Snowden Optiro, are
completing the QA/QC and geological modelling required in the development of
the JORC Exploration Target for the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospects.

Snowden Optiro's scope of work includes:

·    Undertaking a QA/QC review of all three drill programmes completed
since March 2023, including a review of standards and duplicates;

·    Creating a geological model in Leapfrog Geo 3D ('Leapfrog') to
primarily include the mineralised bedded sandstone units;

·    Creating a weathering model in Leapfrog;

·    Creating mineralisation grade shells within the bedded sandstone
units at different TiO(2) % cut offs;

·    Creating a topographic profile using drill collars and local survey
data;

·    Generating Exploration Targets for Cosgrove and Thomas, using domain
volumes and volume weighted average grade; and

·    Compilation of a JORC Table (sections 1 and 2).

Mineralogical and metallurgical studies are underway on the initial bulk
metallurgical sample, collected from the diamond core recovered from
DD23TOM001. The bulk sample is representative of the fresh bedded sandstone
and was taken from a continuous 267m interval, between 126m and 393m downhole,
below the zone of weathering. This testwork programme will include ore
characterisation as well as testing of various unit processes for mineral
separation and titanium extraction from the minerals.

Specific testwork includes:

·    Mineralogical composition and size distribution;

·    Comminution characteristics;

·    Gravity and magnetic separation;

·    Flotation; and

·    General leach characteristics.

 

A second bulk metallurgical sample has also been collected from the most
recent diamond drilling programme (core from DD24COS002). This sample is
representative of the near-surface, strongly weathered zone, being taken from
an 8m interval, between 2.7m and 10.7m downhole. This sample is currently
undergoing sample preparation ahead of running it through a similar
metallurgical testwork programme to the one mentioned above.

 

 

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 / 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 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.

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