REG - Phoenix Copper Ltd - Preliminary Results of Metallurgical Testing

Phoenix CopperAnnouncement

06/06/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 7213B  Phoenix Copper Limited  06 June 2023

Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: PXC / Sector: Mining

6 June 2023

Phoenix Copper Limited

('Phoenix' or the 'Company')

 

Preliminary Results of Metallurgical Testing of ATS at the Empire Mine
Project, Idaho

 

Phoenix Copper Ltd (AIM: PXC, OTCQX: PXCLY), the AIM-quoted USA-focused base
and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company is pleased to
report that preliminary metallurgical testing of the Empire Mine open pit
oxide material using ammonium thiosulfate ("ATS") as a reagent, has been
completed by Resource Development Inc of Wheat Ridge, Colorado ("RDI"), and
has resulted in robust metallurgical recoveries of copper, gold and silver.

ATS is considered an environmentally friendly reagent, intended to replace the
use of sulphuric acid and cyanide in the recovery and processing of copper and
precious metals respectively. ATS is produced and sold in bulk in Idaho, and
is commonly used as a fertilizer for the agricultural sector.

Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am pleased to report that
RDI's laboratories in Colorado have independently produced robust metal
recoveries using representative bulk ore samples from metallurgical drilling
at the Empire Mine open pit oxide deposit. These are similar to those earlier
produced at AuRIC Laboratories in Salt Lake City, Utah ("AuRIC") using smaller
samples taken from surface trenching. This increases the Company's confidence
that not only does ATS technology work for material sourced on the surface,
but more importantly ATS works with material representative of the Empire open
pit resource as a whole. We will now focus on optimizing metal recovery
balanced with reagent consumption, and applying appropriate capital and
operating costs to the proposed process design. Assuming the process is
commercially viable, we would then plan to formally incorporate it into our
Plan of Operations for final submission to the regulatory authorities.

"In addition to positive environmental impacts, this technology would enable
us to recover and process copper, gold and silver in one process, thus
bringing forward the production of precious metals from the Empire Mine open
pit.

"I would also like to confirm that Phoenix has purchased all of the assets
from AuRIC following its closure, including the analytical equipment and
supplies necessary for the onsite laboratory that will service the Empire Mine
once it is in operation.  The purchase of these laboratory assets will prove
most cost effective, saving up to three times as much as the purchase of new
equipment, which is significant in light of the current market.

"I look forward to reporting further on the results of the ATS metallurgical
program as soon as possible."

Background

In 2020, AuRIC was retained by the Company to evaluate alternative
metallurgical processes, other than conventional sulphuric acid heap leach
SX/EW to recover not only copper, but also the gold and silver that occurs at
the Empire Mine open pit. Tests by AuRIC, utilising ATS technology, resulted
in recoverable metals, including copper, gold, and silver from test material
sourced through surface trenching at Empire.

Encouraged by these results, the Company's Idaho registered operating
subsidiary, Konnex Resources, performed a metallurgical core drilling
programme in 2022. The goal of this programme was to produce sufficient
material meeting copper, gold, and silver grade ranges, as well as being
3-dimensionally representative of the resource, to continue metallurgical
testing utilising ATS. The results of this metallurgical drilling programme
were reported on 10 November 2022, 4 January 2023, 12 January 2023 and 16
March 2023, and confirmed the continuity of the open pit mineralisation,
including intercepts of up to 12.8% copper, 269.10 grammes per tonne ("g/t")
silver and 0.75 g/t gold.

In late 2022, the principals of AuRIC elected to retire and close their
business. As a result of this RDI was chosen as a successor to continue
metallurgical testing utilising ATS and to determine its commercial viability
at Empire. Once the final assays from the 2022 drilling programme were
received in mid-March 2023, a representative bulk sample from the 2022 core
was compiled and transported to the RDI facility for preparation and
testing.  The preliminary results of the first trial resulted in robust
multi-metal recoveries, similar to the recoveries that were produced at AuRIC,
and all of which were performed without using cyanide as a reagent.

The next phase of required testing is the finalisation of the preliminary
results and assessment of metal recovery balanced with reagent usage.  The
results of this work will then be applied to a proposed process design, and
the capital and operating costs of the design, which will ultimately determine
the commercial viability of the process.

 

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance

Phoenix is committed to meeting and exceeding the environmental standards
required by law as a core value of the Company. The baseline environmental
data collected to date will be used to further the permitting process, but as
importantly, will be used as the building blocks for the Company's ongoing
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) platform, overseen by
the Company's ESG & Sustainability Committee. The Company has recently
published its inaugural Sustainability Report, which can be viewed on the
Company's website.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The Company deems the information contained within this announcement to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014, which has been incorporated into UK law by the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via
the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered
to be in the public domain.

Contacts

For further information please visit https://phoenixcopperlimited.com
(https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/)  or contact:

 Phoenix Copper Limited                       Ryan McDermott                                Tel: +1 208 954 7039

                                              Brittany Lock                                 Tel: +1 208 794 8033

                                              Richard Wilkins                               Tel: +44 7590 216 657
 SP Angel (Nominated Adviser)                 David Hignell / Kasia Brzozowska              Tel: +44 20 3470 0470
 Tavira Financial Limited (Joint Broker)      Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield            Tel: +44 20 7100 5100

 WH Ireland (Joint Broker)                    Harry Ansell / Katy Mitchell                  Tel: +44 20 7220 1666
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker)   John Prior / Hugh Rich / Ailsa Macmaster      Tel: +44 20 7886 2500
 EAS Advisors (US Corporate Adviser)          Matt Bonner / Rogier de la Rambelje           Tel: +1 (646) 495-2225
 BlytheRay                                    Tim Blythe / Megan Ray                        Tel: +44 20 7138 3204

(Financial PR)

Notes

Phoenix Copper Limited is a USA focused, base and precious metals emerging
producer and exploration company, initially targeting copper and zinc
production from an open pit mine.

Phoenix's primary operations are focused near Mackay, Idaho in the Alder
Creek mining district, at the 80% owned Empire Mine property, which
historically produced copper at grades of up to 8%, as well as gold, silver,
zinc and tungsten, from an underground mine.

Since 2017, Phoenix has carried out extensive drill programmes which have
defined a NI 43-101 completed PEA (preliminary economic assessment) for an
open pit heap leach solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine,
which was updated in October 2020. From the 2020 PEA, the measured and
indicated resource is: 22,909,059 tonnes at an average grade of 0.38% copper,
0.324 g/t gold, 10.3 g/t silver, and 0.19% zinc. The contained metal for the
measured and indicated resource is 87,543 tonnes of copper, 238,406 ounces of
gold, 7,595,198 ounces of silver and 43,871 tonnes of zinc. Phoenix updated
its economic model in February 2021 to include the processing of all
contained metals through a two phased approach.

In addition to Empire, the district includes the historic Horseshoe, White
Knob and Blue Bird Mines, past producers of copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead
and tungsten from underground mines. A new discovery at Red Star, 330 metres
northwest of the Empire Mine proposed open pit, has revealed high grade
silver / lead sulphide ore, and from three shallow exploration drill holes a
maiden inferred resource of 103,000 tonnes containing 173.4 g/tonne silver,
0.85 g/tonne gold and 3.85% lead (1.6 million ounces silver equivalent) was
reported in an NI 43-101 technical report published in May 2019.
Additionally, the district includes Navarre Creek, a volcanic hosted precious
metals target in a 14.48 sq km area. The Company's total land package at
Empire comprises 8,034 acres (32.51 sq kms).

At Empire, it is estimated that less than 1% of the potential ore system has
been explored to date and, accordingly, there is significant opportunity to
increase the resource through phased exploration. The stated aim of the
Company is to fund this phased exploration through free cashflow generated by
its initial mine. A Plan of Operations in respect of the initial open pit mine
was filed with the relevant regulatory authorities in June 2021.

Phoenix also has two wholly owned cobalt properties on the Idaho Cobalt Belt
to the north of Empire. An Earn-In Agreement has been signed with Electra
Battery Materials, Toronto, in respect of one of those properties.

Phoenix is listed on London's AIM (PXC), and trades on New York's OTCQX
Market (PXCLF and PXCLY (ADRs)). More details on the Company, its assets and
its objectives can be found on PXC's website
at    https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/
(https://phoenixcopperlimited.com/)

 

 

 

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