REG - Great Western Mining - Operations Update

Great Western MiningAnnouncement

05/01/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 7140L  Great Western Mining Corp. plc  05 January 2023

GREAT WESTERN MINING CORPORATION PLC

("Great Western", "GWM" or the "Company")

 

Operations Update

 

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM - GWMO, Euronext Growth - 8GW),
which is exploring and developing gold, silver and copper targets in Mineral
County, Nevada, is pleased to provide the following update on its operations
and outlines its plans for 2023.

 

 ·    PRODUCTION MILL                               Construction and commissioning in first half
 ·    TRAFALGAR HILL                                Assay results from 2022 drilling confirm potential
 ·    MINERAL JACKPOT & OMCO                        Follow-up drilling planned
 ·    COPPER POTENTIAL                              Positive leads from geological desktop work in Q3 2022
 ·    RARE EARTH ELEMENTS                           Review of data indicates potential at M2

 

Great Western Chairman Brian Hall commented:  "The Company has made great
strides over the last year and we look forward to building on this momentum in
2023.  We expect to commission the processing mill in the first half of 2023
and we have an ambitious programme of exploration to follow up on successful
drilling results achieved over the last two years.

 

"The transition into a revenue generating precious metals producing entity,
underpinned by an exceptional portfolio of assets, will be a significant
milestone for the Company. We have a targeted work programme in place for the
coming year, on which we expect to deliver, pending developments, during the
period.

 

"We believe that the Company provides a well-balanced blend of production and
exploration across a variety of metals at the same time as a number of
catalysts for a potential rerating."

 

PRECIOUS METALS PRODUCTION JOINT VENTURE

The Western Milling LLC joint venture is making good progress and a meeting is
scheduled with the regulatory authority NDEP (Nevada Department of
Environmental Protection) in mid-January to review plans and incorporate any
modifications required by the NDEP to facilitate consent for precious metals
production start-up.  Production can only commence after receipt of a NDEP
permit but construction can begin prior to consent.  The aim of the review
meeting with NDEP is to give the joint venture the confidence to start
construction.  Subject to weather conditions, groundwork will begin with
first concrete poured at the end of February.

 

The first phase of the project will consist of gravity-separating spoil
material, initially from the Mineral Jackpot area where the Company
constructed an access road in 2022, to produce gold and silver concentrates
for on-sale to a refinery.  Residues from gravity separation will be stored
for further processing via a leaching plant, to be constructed as a second
phase.  The leaching project will also process tailings material, initially
from the OMCO Mine area on the Olympic Gold project where a JORC-compliant
resource report was successfully commissioned late last year.  Great Western
aims to produce first precious metals concentrates this year, starting on a
small scale and building up volumes as rapidly as possible.  Numerous further
piles of material are available for processing on the Company's claims and
will be assessed as the project evolves.  The joint venture will also acquire
material for processing from third parties once the mill is up and running.
The mill will be capable of handling shallow-mined ore as well as pre-mined
material.

 

 

 

TRAFALGAR HILL (Olympic Gold Project)

 

Three holes were drilled at Trafalgar Hill in summer 2022 and the results are
now available after laboratory delays beyond the Company's control. The best
result was in hole OMRC013, which contains the longest intercept of anomalous
gold yet identified at Trafalgar Hill (21.34 m at 0.107 g/t Au from 83.82 m,
Table 1). This intercept occurred at the anticipated position in the hole,
approximately 10 m below the contact of the host rhyolite with the overlying
mafic unit. No high grades were achieved from these holes but, along with a
shorter intercept in OMRC012, they show that the Trafalgar Hill system remains
open to the south and it will be further explored.

 

Table 1. Results summary from 2022 drilling at Trafalgar Hill, Olympic Claim
Group.

 Hole ID  Collar Easting  Collar             Collar Elevation  Azimuth  Dip     Hole                    From (metres)  To         Interval (metres)  Gold        Silver

          (NAD83)         Northing (NAD83)   (metres)                           length (metres)                        (metres)                      (Au; g/t)   (Ag; g/t)

 OMRC012  421,297         4,273,511          1,796             270      -60     170.69                  150.88         156.97     6.09               0.099       1.9
 OMRC013  421,156         4,273,414          1,795             270      -60     115.82                  83.82          105.16     21.34              0.107       2.25
          including                          83.82                      88.39                     4.57                 0.116                         2.66
          and                                94.49                      103.16                    8.67                 0.127                         2.58
 OMRC014  421,254         4,273,412          1,799             270      -60     143.26                  No significant intercepts

 

 

MINERAL JACKPOT

 

In 2022 Great Western carried out the first ever drilling at the high-altitude
Mineral Jackpot group of five historic gold and silver mines, which were
worked by hand in the decades around 1900 and where the Company believes there
are considerable volumes of gold and silver ore yet to be recovered.

 

As previously reported, a shallow intercept of 3.04 m grading 418.00
grams/tonne silver and 0.554 grams/tonne gold was encountered from 4.57 metres
in hole MJRC004 and follow-up drilling is planned for this year.  Depending
on the results, and subsequent successful estimation of resources and
reserves, small-scale mining would be relatively straightforward at these
depths and material recovered could be processed through the milling joint
venture.

 

Mineral Jackpot was mined in the past through extensive underground workings,
many of which are still accessible and offer the opportunity for direct
observation of mineralisation in situ, which could be a more effective
exploration tool than RC drilling.  Accessing these legacy workings is a
potentially hazardous activity, so the Company is investigating a process with
a contractor which specialises in carrying out such work safely.

 

OMCO (Olympic Gold Project)

 

In 2022, drilling intersected the main OMCO vein for the first time, in an
area mapped as containing unmined portions of this structure. This previously
reported intercept contained 6.10 m at 2.682 g/t gold from 38.10 m, including
1.52 m at 8.110 g/t gold and 1.52 m at 1.74 g/t gold. The discovery can be
expanded on in the near term by drilling angled holes from the same permitted
pad position, which will be a priority for early in 2023. If successful,
additional holes could subsequently be drilled at similar locations on the
edge of the mined workings along the full 180 m southwestern perimeter,
seeking further extensions to the vein.

 

COPPER PROSPECTS

 

Great Western has already made a significant investment in copper exploration
and an independent report compliant with JORC, commissioned by the Company,
yielded a partly inferred/partly indicated copper resource of 4.3 million
tonnes at an average grade of 0.44 % copper from the area known as M2, located
in the Black Mountains group of claims.

 

Over the past few months, the in-house geological team has worked extensively
on Great Western's copper potential, including a review of all the Company's
copper prospects and, where available, soil and rock-chip samples.  As well
as M2, the team has studied the M4 area, the Eastside Mine group, where an IP
geophysical survey was carried out in late 2021 by independent contractors,
and the Huntoon Valley (HUN Group) claims, where, in 2018, the Company drilled
the first ever hole, identifying a number of copper intercepts (table 2).

 

Table 2. Summary of copper results from CPGW_1 as previously reported in 2018.
Note this is the only hole drilled within the Company's Huntoon claims, and
that hole was collared on patented ground held by the company's joint venture
partner in the Western Milling operation, but the lower portions of the hole
crossed into GWM ground.

 

 Hole ID  Collar Easting  Collar             Collar Elevation  Azimuth  Dip    Hole                    From (metres)  To         Interval (metres)  Copper

          (NAD83)         Northing (NAD83)   (metres)                          length (metres)                        (metres)                      (Cu; %)
 CPGW_1   362,817         4,225,649          1,966             185      -60    222.50                  3.1            7.6        4.5                0.12
                                             10.7                       13.7                     3                    0.12
                                             35.1                       62.5                     27.4                 0.33
          including                          36.6                       44.2                     7.6                  0.70
                                             68.6                       80.8                     12.2                 0.23
                                             114.3                      117.4                    3.1                  0.17
                                             137.2                      149.4                    12.2                 0.22

 

This review has highlighted the HUN group as a significant copper opportunity,
with existing soil survey data showing a 1700 m E-W and 900 m N‑S
copper-in-soils anomaly which remains open to the north, east and west.
Critically, there is nothing to suggest that the anomaly ends where the host
rocks are obscured under thin surface lavas or sediments, so establishing the
continuation of the anomalous copper zone could lead to a considerably
enlarged target. The quality and number of anomalous copper intercepts in the
single drill hole is also highly encouraging, with a best intercept of 27.6 m
at 0.33% Cu from 35.1 m (see Table 2 above).  From this hole the prospect is
open in all directions and there are strong indications that abundant further
potential exists in the Huntoon valley.

 

The HUN Group claims are approximately 7 km from the Company's existing
resource at M2 and both are within striking distance of the Company's M4
copper project.  Great Western will also be exploring the potential for
linkage between copper prospects on either side of the Huntoon valley under
the valley sediments.

 

For some time now, Great Western has been seeking a larger industry partner
with appropriate resources and capability to help develop a potentially major
copper project  and the recent in-house work, still ongoing, should make for
a much more interesting farm-out package.

 

RARE EARTH MINERALS

 

Great Western is primarily focused on exploring for and exploiting the
precious metals potential of its claims in the Walker-Lane trend of Nevada,
while copper remains a significant component of the Company's portfolio of
prospects which it is keen to exploit.  During the detailed analysis of
copper samples carried out over the past few months, it has become clear that,
at the established M2 copper resource, an elevated and measurable level of
rare earth minerals is present in some samples.  It is too early to assess
the commercial viability, if any, of these indications, but rare earth
elements can be highly valuable and of great industrial interest, so the
Company will be pursuing this avenue of exploration.  It should be noted that
the Company is aware of relevant ongoing activity in this area by the US
Geological Survey, an arm of the federal government.

 

THE YEAR AHEAD

 

An ambitious provisional work programme for 2023 is divided into three phases
but may be varied.

 

Phase 1

 

·    Commence mill construction and prepare for milling operations

·    Commence offloading and processing spoil material from Mineral
Jackpot and tailings from OMCO

·    Drilling at OMCO and Mineral Jackpot to follow up successful 2022
results - drillholes designed to follow up on 2022 vein intercepts.

·    Fieldwork and sampling at several claim groups to generate new
targets and develop existing prospects.

 

Phase 2

 

·    Further develop copper potential through (1) IP and airborne magnetic
surveys (2) drilling selectively at M2, and (3) additional soil sampling at
Huntoon

·    IP geophysical survey over the Trafalgar Hill prospect

·    Further drilling at Mineral Jackpot over the undrilled western
portions of the prospect.

·    First drilling at the Rhyolite Dome prospect, Olympic Gold Project
and other targets arising from Phase 1 fieldwork.

 

Phase 3

 

·    Drill additional holes at the Huntoon claims to follow up on the long
copper intercepts identified in a single hole drilled by the Company in 2018.

·    Examine the potential link between the copper resource established at
M2, showings at M4, and the copper potential of the Huntoon claims which may
involve an IP survey, an airborne magnetic survey and staking new claims.

·    Pursue the potential for rare earth elements on the company's claims.

 

 

Qualified Person: The information in this announcement that relates to
exploration results is based on information reviewed by Dr James Blight MGeol
PhD MAusIMM (CP) who is Exploration Manager of Great Western Mining PLC. Dr
Blight has requisite experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and
type of deposit under consideration. Dr Blight is also a "Qualified Person" as
defined in the "Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies" which form part
of the AIM Rules for Companies. Dr Blight has reviewed and consented to the
inclusion in the announcement of the information in the form and context in
which it appears.

 

 

For further information:

 Great Western Mining Corporation PLC
 Brian Hall,                                                                                                              +44 207 933 8780
 Chairman
 Max Williams, Finance                                                                                                    +44 207 933 8780
 Director

 Davy (NOMAD, Euronext Growth Listing Sponsor & Joint Broker)

 Brian Garrahy                                                                                                            +353 1 679 6363

 Novum Securities (Joint Broker)

 Jon Belliss                                                                                                              +44 207 399 9400

 Walbrook PR (PR advisers)

 Nick Rome/Joe                                                                                                            +44 207 933 8783
 Walker

 

Notes to Editors

The Company has a large tract of acreage in Mineral County, Nevada. The area
consists partly of rugged, mountainous terrain, which means that large parts
of it remain under-explored. Mineral potential is hosted by the regional
Walker Lane Structural Belt, the largest structural and metallogenic belt in
Nevada, yet one of the least explored in recent times, with gold, silver and
copper currently produced in Mineral County.  Great Western has seven
distinct concession areas which offer the potential for exploiting (1) short
term gold and silver deposits and (2) long-term, world-class copper
deposits.

 

Six of the Company's properties are in the west of Mineral County and are 100%
owned and operated.  The Company has an option to acquire a seventh property,
the Olympic Gold Project, in the east of the county.  Great Western's small
exploration team is supported by locally based consultants and contractors.

 

The state of Nevada is generally considered to be one of the world's most
mining friendly jurisdictions.  While tightly regulated and environmentally
conscious, Nevada welcomes the mining industry.  Great Western takes care to
ensure that its claims are maintained in good standing and all regulations
observed.

 

There are numerous gold and silver prospects on the Company's acreage,
including extensive historic mine workings which offer the opportunity for
secondary recovery. The Company is party to a 50-50 joint venture known as
Western Milling LLC which is constructing a mill to process pre-mined material
for secondary recovery of gold and silver.

 

GWM has established an Inferred Resource Estimate of 31,000 tonnes grading 1.6
g/t gold and 3.0 g/t silver in tailings at the OMOC Mine at the Olympic Gold
Project.  It has also established Exploration targets.  In addition, the
Company has reported an Exploration Target as follows:

 

·    3,400 - 6,400 tonnes grading between 0.5 and 1.2 g/t Au and 1.2 and
2.1 g/t Ag in the substrate beneath the tailings volume at the Olympic Mine.

·    9,000 - 12,000 tonnes grading between 0.9 and 2.4 g/t Au and 2.0 and
5.1 g/t Ag in a coarse stockpile at Olympic Mine.

·    4,200 - 7,700 tonnes grading between 40 and 140 g/t Ag and 0.3 and
0.3 g/t Au in spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot.

 

Furthermore, through extensive drilling over a five-year period, GWM has
established a Mineral Resource on its first target area known as M2, of 4.3
million tonnes at 0.45% copper, for 19,000 tonnes of contained copper metal.
This resource has been independently reported in accordance with JORC
guidelines.

 

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