Adeline Project to More than Double in Size

RNS Number : 0655C

Chesterfield Resources PLC

16 June 2021

 

Chesterfield Resources / EPIC: CHF / Market: LSE / Sector: Mining

16 June 2021

Chesterfield to more than double the size of Adeline project

Chesterfield Resources is pleased to announce that it is has exercised the right to acquire a considerable number of new mineral licenses to more than double the size of its Adeline copper exploration project, in Labrador, Canada. The licences will be acquired when the company completes the acquisition of the project, expected in coming weeks. The total licence area of the Adeline project will now be extended to nearly 300 KM², in one continuous block. The company also announces the commencement of exploration programmes on the project.

Said Executive Chairman, Martin French, "Since we announced the acquisition of the large-scale Adeline project four weeks ago, the company has wasted no time in getting to work. Not only will we now be acquiring claims to more than double the licence area, we have also embarked on a large-scale data analytics programme, and have commissioned a detailed field survey to start within weeks. The process of developing targets is already well-advanced. The technical initiative is being led by our Director of Exploration, Dr Neil O'Brien who is based near Toronto, who has assembled a team of industry specialists and local experts. The vendor of the project, royalty company Altius Minerals, is assisting with the planning and organisation of the field team from its base at St John's, Newfoundland.

The market should not under-estimate the size of this project. We have now built a district-scale licence package that covers an entire sedimentary basin known to host extensive copper mineralization. Not only is such scale unusual, the project is also located in a very low risk jurisdiction, Labrador, which was recently ranked the 8^th best mining location in the world by the Fraser Institute. With these new licences, the size of our project is now equivalent to more than five times that of Manhattan and contains approximately 250 known copper prospects. We have acquired this project at a time of intense global competition for such assets. The mining industry is scrambling for good quality exploration ground as it has become clear that there will not be enough copper to meet soaring global demand. We believe our company has secured one of the best new copper explorations plays in the world."

Since Chesterfield announced the acquisition of the Adeline project (19 May 2021), it has acquired a further 672 claims from the provincial authorities. The project, already large at 129 KM² , has now been extended to 297 KM² (29,725 Ha), with a total of 1,189 claims. All claims can be renewed after five years, and thereafter at intervals lasting up to a maximum of 30 years.

An updated presentation has been posted today on the company website which includes graphics of the expanded land bank.

Extensive data re-modelling programme commenced

The company has also commenced an extensive programme to analyse and re-model a large volume of exploration work and results on the Adeline project, dating back to the 1950s. There is a rich database of prospecting, mapping, trenching, geochemistry and geophysics work conducted over the decades by various different exploration companies. This includes high quality aerial surveys, such as helicopter-borne magnetics, electromagnetics and radiometric work, and extensive ground geophysical surveys, including IP (induced polarization) and resistivity surveys.  Many anomalies identified from these historic surveys were never followed up with any detailed field evaluation, nor drilling.

The company has engaged leading industry specialists to commence the re-appraisal of all historic data, including re-logging of historic core and data re-modelling using the latest visualisation software tools.  The company has also engaged expert consultants with decades of experience in this belt. This evaluation programme is expected to generate a significant pipeline of quality drill targets to test for extents of high-grade copper-silver mineralized grey beds. The company's technical team is also studying geological structures from sediment-hosted copper deposits elsewhere in the world to help identify similar targets at Adeline.

Encouraging shows of copper and silver mineralisation

Some of the historic trenching results have been particularly encouraging, as they demonstrate continuity of resource-quality thicknesses and grades of rich copper sulphide mineralization along exposed strike lengths. They also indicate the potential for unusually strong silver credits.  Channel samples were taken across the mineralized grey bed section at regular intervals along the lengths of each trench.

• At target Whisky Lake the channel samples averaged 7.5m thickness grading 1.25% Cu along a trench-exposed 60m strike length, including one channel sample of 1.5m @ 7.1% Cu, 90.8 g/t Ag

• At target Ellis an average of 4.2m of thickness was encountered with an average grade of 1.35% Cu, 49.8 g/t Ag along a trench-exposed 60m strike length, including one channel sample of 4.5m @ 2.5% Cu, 94.3 g/t Ag

• Further, a drill hole tested the downdip extension of the Ellis trench mineralisation and assayed core at 7.9m @ 1.76% Cu, 56.2 g/t Ag

If such grades and thicknesses near surface can be demonstrated at scale, then there is a good potential for commercial discovery.

Field programme planned for early July

The objective of the desktop analytics workstream is to create a priority list of areas for examination using geologists on the ground. The initial exploration field programme is in advanced planning and is due to commence in the first week of July.

The main aim of the field work will be to design a diamond drill programme due to commence in the winter, when frozen lakes can help with the creation of drill pads. There has been little targeted diamond drilling on the Adeline project to date because of the lack of road access. A drill has to be airlifted to the project in components and assembled on site. Priority drill targets will include previously trenched and drilled prospects, and targets that have been developed by a combination of data modelling and field investigations but have not seen previous drilling.

The detailed objectives of the field programme will be to:

• Identify and delineate the main structures that were responsible for channeling copper-bearing fluids into the target grey shale beds

• Map and sample the intersection zones between key structures and grey beds to identify priority drill targets

• Re-map and re-interpret the geology of the known key prospects, especially those previously trenched and drilled with favourable results

• Create a prioritized list of drill locations with optimized drill directions and depths

The field programme will be helicopter supported from the services centre of Goose Bay, which is approximately 20-25 minutes flight time away. The programme is expected to last seven weeks, including a one week break in the middle, to allow field information to be evaluated and interpreted. The work is expected to result in the detailed design for a campaign of diamond drilling. 

More detailed information of the field programme will be announced in due course.

Follow us on Twitter at @ChesterfieldPlc  

About Chesterfield Resources  

Chesterfield Resources is a copper-focussed exploration company with a project in   Cyprus and the proposed new Adeline copper project in Labrador Canada, contingent, among other things, upon the publication of a prospectus. Upon completion of the acquisition of the project in Labrador, Altius will become a strategic partner, with a 10% holding in the Chesterfield, and a 20p warrant over a further 10% of the company.

The exploration team is led by two highly experienced industry geologists   Neil O'Brien, formally SVP Exploration & New Business Development, Lundin Mining,  and Dave Cliff, previously Head of Exploration Europe, Rio Tinto.

The Adeline copper project is located within the western half of the Central Mineral Belt, a 260 km long metal-rich belt located in Central Labrador, eastern Canada.  The Adeline property is comprised of five contiguous mineral licenses totalling 29,725 ha (297.3 km2), covering the full extent of the Seal Lake basin, an approximate 40km long by 10 km wide geological structure which contains some 250 copper prospects.  The project is close to the regional service hub of Goose Bay. The province is well-served by infrastructure and is considered low risk for the mining industry with good ESG credentials.

The Seal Lake basin has seen extensive regional exploration over the years resulting in a rich exploration database. Trenching and channel sampling has established the presence of laterally continuous high-grade copper beds. However there has been relatively little drill testing, largely due to the lack of road access. Where sulphide mineralization becomes massive the grades are extremely high, commonly 10-30% Cu due to the high tenor of chalcocite-bornite. 

In Cyprus the company holds the largest mineral exploration licence area of any operator on the island.

Cyprus   is regarded as a high-quality exploration location. It is a member of the EU, and its legal system is based on English common law. An opportunity exists because there has been minimal exploration activity on the island in the last 46 years since the invasion by   Turkey   in 1974 put a halt to what had been a very active mining industry.  

The current focus of exploration is in the Troodos West group of licences belonging to the company, with around 30 defined targets in an area measuring 10km by 10km. The objective is to discover several VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) deposits in close proximity to each other to create a mining project with a centralised processing unit.  

While copper is the main exploration target, it is noteworthy that gold was not historically exploited in   Cyprus . Gold has been encountered in several locations in the exploration target area and is an important part of the exploration objective.  

In December 2020, Polymetal International, the   FTSE100 mining group, made a 23% investment in Chesterfield via a placing of new shares, as strategic backing for the company's project in Cyprus.

The company announced high grade polymetallic results from its late season 2020 drilling campaign and is now engaged in an enlarged integrated 2021 geophysics, percussion and diamond drilling exploration campaign. The company will commence its diamond drill programme in one month.

Chesterfield Resources is committed to world-class environmental standards in all of its operations to mine copper, which is essential to developing clean technology projects worldwide. The company hopes to develop industry and opportunities for the benefit of Canada and the   Republic of Cyprus.  

Chesterfield has embarked on a strategy of acquisition to take advantage of mega-trend of electrification and copper demand. Further acquisitions are expected to significantly enlarge its exploration footprint.

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 until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

 For further information, please visit  www.chesterfieldresourcesplc.com  or contact:

Chesterfield Resources plc: Martin French, Executive Chairman	Tel: [phone]
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker): John Prior & Hugh Rich	Tel:  [phone]
Fox-Davies Capital Limited (Broker): Daniel Fox-Davies	Tel: +44 ( 0)20 3884 8450

 

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