REG - Great Southrn.Copper - Float Sampling at Victoria Prospect Completed

Great Southern CopperAnnouncement

27/03/2023 07:45

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RNS Number : 2868U  Great Southern Copper PLC  27 March 2023

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK
VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH
LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.  ON
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS
INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

27 March 2023

 

Great Southern Copper plc

("GSC" or the "Company")

 

 

Float Sampling at Victoria Prospect Completed with Grades up to 2.1% Cu and
4.29g/t Au

 

Multiple vein-breccia targets identified

 

Great Southern Copper plc (LSE: GSCU), the company focused on copper-gold
exploration in Chile, is pleased to announce final assay results from its
trial rock float sampling programme at its Victoria prospect, one of several
prospects currently under evaluation at the Especularita Project.

 

Highlights:

·    Vein-breccia style mineralisation with assay results up to 2.1% Cu
and 4.29g/t Au,

·    39% of rock float samples assay over 1% Cu, and 67% of samples assay
over 0.5% Cu,

·    Multiple outcropping vein-breccia structures identified with evidence
of high-grade copper,

·    Prospect exploration on-going with results from mapping and outcrop
sampling expected,

·    No previous drilling in the prospect area.

 

The Victoria prospect is one of several areas currently under investigation
within GSC's Especularita Project. Victoria comprises a gently sloping field
covered by soil and copper-mineralised float (surface boulders) located
adjacent to the southern margin of the Colorada advanced argillic lithocap.
The mineralised float is characteristic of high-grade, structurally-controlled
vein breccias.

 

A programme of float sampling was trialed on an approximate 200 x 200m grid
across the boulder field with samples collected on approximately 25m
intervals. The programme was designed to characterise the mineralisation style
and grade and identify potential outcropping source rocks.

 

Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer of Great Southern Copper, said: "We are
very pleased with the results of our float sampling programme at Victoria
which demonstrate the potential for high-grade Cu-Au deposits in the area.

 

"The prospect is rapidly developing into a potentially high-grade Cu-Au target
for the company and we are eagerly awaiting the results of our Phase 2 work
which has identified multiple outcropping structures with evidence of the
style of copper mineralisation that is observed in the float samples.

 

"The results continue to highlight that the Especularita Project is an
extensively mineralised district exhibiting evidence of a broad range of
mineralisation styles characteristic of both porphyry and intrusion-related
Cu-Au systems."

 

Victoria prospect results

The Victoria prospect was discovered as a "boulder field" comprising abundant
blocky float of quartz-specularite ± sulphide breccia and hornfelsed
volcanics. Float of carbonate (siderite) and quartz-carbonate breccia is also
common. The mineralized breccia float is observed over an approximate 200 x
500m area within a larger west-sloping scree slope that obscures the
underlying geology. To the north the scree slope is apparently fault-bound
against the Colorada advanced argillic lithocap (Figure 1) and to the west and
south the shallow gravel overlaps the dominant granodiorite intrusive. To the
east the slope rises into hornfelsed volcanics. Both the granite and volcanics
exhibit evidence of overprinting quartz-carbonate+sulphide-filled structures.

 

Mineralised float boulders typically comprise clasts (or fragments) of
andesitic volcanics hosted in a matrix of massive to crustiform silica with
variable amounts of coarse disseminated chalcopyrite-pyrite-specularite
(Figure 2). Early observations suggest that the silica alteration-brecciation
event is multi-phased. Late carbonate is commonly seen to infill the
open-space quartz veins.

 

Systematic selective sampling of the breccia float material was completed on a
25 x 25m grid to gauge the tenor and variability of the copper grades (Figure
3). Out of a total of 49 grid samples (including 23 samples released in a
previous update)(1), 48 samples were anomalous in copper (>0.1% Cu) with
39% of samples returning grades over 1.0% Cu, and 67% samples assayed over
0.5% Cu. Thirty seven percent of samples were anomalous in gold (>0.1g/t
Au) with 8% of samples over 1g/t Au. The highest assay grades were 2.1% Cu and
4.29 g/t Au. The breccia samples were also weakly anomalous in Zn and Pb.

 

Mapping and sampling is ongoing at Victoria with the aim of better
understanding the geology of the area and defining the styles, grades and
extent of mineralisation. We look forward to sharing these results as they
arise.

 

Figure 1: Victoria prospect with boulder field of high-grade Cu-Au float in
foreground and the Colorada advanced argillic lithocap in background.

 

 

Figure 2: Float samples of Victoria quartz matrix breccia hosting coarse
disseminated chalcopyrite-pyrite mineralisation.

 

Figure 3: Plot of geochemical assay results of Victoria rock float samples for
Cu (left) and Au (right). For reference, 10,000ppm Cu = 1% Cu. Elevation
contours increase to the east. Note that artisanal Cu-Au workings (indicated
by black crosses) occur down-slope of the float anomaly further supporting
evidence for additional mineralised structures located uphill to the east.

 

Especularita Project Exploration Programme

 

Also within the Especularita Project, exploration is ongoing at the Teresita
prospect, where Au-Cu mineralisation associated with anastomosing
quartz-carbonate vein swarms has now been mapped over a 2km strike length and
is open both along and across strike. GSC's recently expanded concession area
has increased the mineralisation target footprint at Teresita with evidence of
further veins as well as breccia-hosted Cu-Au mineralisation.

 

The regional stream sediment sampling programme is also continuing at
Especularita with over 400 stream samples collected from a total of over 500
planned sample locations. The programme is designed to test the entire
Especularita project area (approx. 18,200 ha) for anomalous Cu-Au targets for
follow-up exploration.

 

Prospect scale work has also now commenced at the Aurelia prospect where
recent reconnaissance exploration identified high-grade Cu-Au mineralisation
associated with skarn alteration of volcanic and carbonate rocks in contact
with the granodiorite batholith. The alteration system is mapped over an
extensive area and is similar to that of the El Espino Cu-Au skarn deposit
located approximately 10 km to the southeast.

 

References

1.    Exploration Update at Expecularita and San Lorenzo - 20/02/23

Enquiries:

 

 Great Southern Copper plc
 Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer      +44 20 7618 9100

 SI Capital Limited
 Nick Emerson                              +44 (0)14 8341 3500

 Gracechurch Group
 Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore, Henry Gamble  +44 (0)20 4582 3500

 

Notes for Editors:

 

About Great Southern Copper

 

Great Southern Copper is a mineral exploration company focused on copper-gold
deposits in Chile. The Company has the option to acquire rights to 100% of two
projects that are prospective for large scale porphyry copper-gold and
intrusive-related copper-gold deposits in the underexplored coastal belt of
Chile, a globally significant mining jurisdiction and the world's largest
copper producer.

 

The two projects comprise the San Lorenzo Project, northeast of the coastal
town of La Serena in northern Chile, and the Especularita Project located
approximately 170km to the south of the San Lorenzo project. The two
early-stage Cu-Au exploration projects are within the same coastal
metallogenic belt as other major deposits including Teck's Andacollo copper
and gold mine. Significant historical small-scale and artisanal workings for
both copper and gold are readily evident in both exploration project areas.

 

Great Southern Copper is strategically positioned to support the global market
for copper, a key metal in the clean energy transition around the world. The
Company is actively engaged in a two-year exploration and evaluation work
programme targeting principally large tonnage, low to medium grade porphyry
style Cu-Au deposits.

 

Further information on the Company is available on the Company's website:
https://gscplc.com (https://gscplc.com)

 

Competent Person Statement

 

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is
based on and fairly represents information reviewed or compiled by Mr Sam
Garrett, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of
Geoscientists and a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists. Mr Garrett
is the CEO of Great Southern Copper PLC. Mr Garrett has sufficient experience
that is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types 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 Garrett has
provided his prior written consent to the inclusion in this announcement of
the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

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