Drilling Update

RNS Number : 4847C

Chesterfield Resources PLC

23 February 2022

 

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

23 February 2022

Chesterfield Resources drills further significant gold-rich and polymetallic mineralisation in Cyprus on three targets. Key 12km long mineralised trend identified at Troodos West

Chesterfield Resources is pleased to report further assay results from its 2021 diamond drilling at its Troodos West project in Cyprus. Not only has the drilling significantly enhanced the prospectivity at three target areas, Orchard, Evlim and Evlim South, but it has also established a 12km geological trend that is now considered key to controlling several mineralised systems, with the potential for further discoveries along the structure. The "Westline Trend" will now be the focus of the company's 2022 exploration campaign that is to commence very shortly.

· Significant zone of gold-rich polymetallic semi-massive sulphide mineralisation within a broader zone of gold-silver-copper-zinc mineralisation discovered at the Orchard target.

· Highlights of assay results from Orchard include:

-  21OR01: 5.70m @ 2.27g/t Au, 6.32g/t Ag 0.42% Cu, 5.99% Zn and 4.05% CuEq¹ within a zone of 24.05m @ 1.69g/t Au, 5.85g/t Ag, 0.11% Cu, 1.48% Zn and 1.73% CuEq¹

· Highlights of assay results from Evlim include:

-  21EV08: 21.90m @ 1.60g/t Au, incl. 2.40m @ 5.41g/t Au

· Highlights of Assay Results from Evlim South:

-  21EV07: 14.00m @ 1.12g/t Au & 10.35g/t Ag

-  21EV10: 12.85m @ 0.84g/t Au & 5.07g/t Ag

· The drilling at Orchard was testing coincident geophysical and geochemical anomalies located on a prospective regional mineralising trend. Mineralisation remains open in all directions.

· The drilling at the Evlim and Evlim South was targeting an extension to the gold mineralisation intercepted in the 2018 and 2020 drilling. The results indicate that the near surface gold mineralisation continues out to the west, south and southwest at depth.

· There is strong evidence that the Orchard, Evlim and Evlim South systems form a gold-rich polymetallic mineralised trend extending over 12km that links these encounters with the Westline system announced in December. This has been named the "Westline Trend".

· A work programme of detailed fieldwork and further step-out drilling is planned with the focus on testing for an extension to the polymetallic and gold mineralisation intercepted and the identification of further targets on the Westline Trend.

· Graphics of the systems and drilling and the 12km Westline Trend will be posted on the company website today

Said Executive Chairman Martin French "We now have final assays and an excellent suite of results from our 2,078m diamond drill programme of late 2021. In December we announced a highly encouraging strike on a gold/silver system at target area called Westline. Now we have strong sets of results from three additional targets, with a Polymetallic zone at target Orchard, while further extensions of gold systems were successfully drilled at Evlim and Evlim South.

What is particularly exciting is that there is now strong evidence that these strikes are all on the same mineralised trend that extends down to the Westline system discovery, some 10km further south. The trend, which has been named the Westline Trend, is some 12km long overall and links our five most prospective target areas. Our operations team will be arriving back in Cyprus in two week's time and there will now be a major exploration focus along the Westline Trend to identify more targets further linking the five identified by the 2021 campaign. More information and graphics of this will be uploaded onto our website later today in a new "Westline Trend" section.

The Westline Trend also comprises strong intercepts drilled in 2018 at target area Evloimeni. Below we have tabulated the best holes from each of the five target areas along the Westline Trend. Gold equivalent grades range from 1.63g/t to 8.04g/t, while when expressed in copper equivalent grade, these range from 1.00% to 4.94%."

Table 1. Summary of the best intercepts in each of the five target areas along the Westline Trend (the holes at Orchard, Evlim and Evlim South are those newly assayed, while the hole at Westline was announced in December). Depths are reported as downhole values.

Target	Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)	CuEq1 (%)	AuEq1 (g/t)
Orchard	21OR01	172.35	196.40	24.05	1.69	5.85	0.11	1.48	1.73	2.82
	Including	185.50	191.20	5.70	2.27	6.32	0.42	5.99	4.05	6.58
Westline	21WL03	98.70	120.10	21.40	1.75	19.97	0.08	0.40	1.46	2.37
	Including	100.20	103.50	3.30	6.55	90.35	0.11	0.28	4.94	8.04
Evlim	20EV03	147.90	159.50	11.60	2.53	8.94	0.65	0.97	2.63	4.28
Evloimeni	18EV02	8.75	38.55	29.80	1.10	2.75	0.28	0.07	1.00	1.63
Evlim South	21EV07	59.00	73.00	14.00	1.12	10.35	0.08	0.78	1.13	1.84

(1)  Assumptions used in USD for the copper and gold equivalent calculations were metal prices of Au @ $1897/oz, Ag @ $23.97/oz, Cu @ $4.50/lb, Zn @ $1.64/lb and recovery is assumed to be 100% as no metallurgical test data is available.

It is noteworthy that the two other main explorers on the island, Caerus Resources and Venus Minerals have also had surprisingly gold-rich encounters, with Venus (our neighbour with whom we shared our drill) announcing results just last week. On the Westline Trend, it is quite possible that the gold zones are indicating that there are proximal copper rich deposits nearby. Copper rich zones in Cyprus VMS systems tend to be smaller and more highly concentrated, while the gold zones have a much broader footprint, and so encountered more readily. The zone discovered at Orchard, for example, was polymetallic, with particularly strong shows of gold and zinc, but copper and silver were also present. However, the gold and silver encounters are highly promising in their own right.

The drilling at Orchard was testing coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies, obtained from the 2021 gravity and AMT surveys, adjacent to a large, regional structure. A single diamond drill hole, in 2018, had targeted the same structure and intercepted encouraging alteration (18AS01 - 1.10m @ 3.06g/t Au, 29.20g/t Ag, 0.11% Cu, 1.14% Zn & Pb 1.84% from 78.40m) but with additional geophysics it was determined that this drill hole may have stopped short of testing a deeper zone of mineralisation. With increased targeting confidence coming from the 2021 geophysical campaigns, drill hole 21OR01 was designed to test deeper and intercepted three separate gold-rich polymetallic mineralised zones, including from 185.50m depth a 5.70m thick zone of semi-massive sulphides grading 2.27g/t Au, 6.32g/t Ag 0.42% Cu, 5.99% Zn within a broader 24.05m thick mineralised interval.

The mineralisation in 21OR01 consists of semi-massive sulphides (sphalerite-pyrite-chalcopyrite) hosted by an intensely quartz-carbonate-clay altered pillow basalt breccia and is interpreted to be a stratabound zone of mineralisation with potential for significant extensions. Follow-up work on the many collected data sets is currently being undertaken to identify potential extensions of this gold-rich polymetallic mineralisation.

Drilling at the Evlim South and Evlim target followed on from the encouraging gold results in the 2020 and 2018 diamond drilling. A significant focus was placed on targeting extensions to this known gold mineralisation. The drilling stepped out to the west, south and southwest and identified that the historic near surface gold mineralisation from previous programmes continued at depth in these directions. Mineralisation is associated with polymetallic quartz veining and zones of silica clay alteration within pillow basalts.

The addition of these latest encouraging drill results provides further strong evidence of a significant gold-rich polymetallic mineralised trend of over 12km extending from the historic Limni mine in the northwest, through the Evlim and Orchard target areas, to the Westline target area in the southeast.  An extensive 2022 field work programme is being designed to further test this underexplored mineralised trend in addition to further drill-testing of the gold-rich polymetallic mineralised zones at Orchard and Westline.

These results coupled with the encouraging results from the Westline target have provided several exciting targets for follow up field work and diamond drilling in 2022. In particular, it is believed that these thick gold-rich polymetallic sulphide zones intercepted at Westline and now Orchard are lateral gold-rich zones that can transition into copper-zinc-gold-silver rich cores of VMS-style sulphide deposits such as found at the Skouriotissa and Mavrovouni mines in Cyprus.  The 2022 exploration programme will be focused on defining and drill-testing the most prospective massive sulphide targets in the vicinity of these gold-rich polymetallic zones at Westline and Orchard.   

Table 2: Significant intersections from the 2021 diamond drilling at Orchard, Evlim and Evlim South. Depths are reported as downhole values.

Target	Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)
Orchard	21OR01	122.50	129.20	6.70	0.73	52.50	0.01	0.55
	and	172.35	196.40	24.05	1.69	5.85	0.11	1.48
	Including	185.50	191.20	5.70	2.27	6.32	0.42	5.99
	and	207.75	220.10	12.35	0.75	3.45	0.11	0.76
Evlim	21EV08	134.00	155.90	21.90	1.60	3.47
	Including	138.80	148.30	9.50	2.50	4.56
	Including	145.90	148.30	2.40	5.41	2.41
Evlim South	21EV07	56.00	97.35	41.35	0.54	4.87
	Including	59.00	80.50	21.50	0.85	7.86
	Including	59.00	73.00	14.00	1.12	10.35
	21EV10	52.55	65.40	12.85	0.84	5.07

  Note: These mineralised intervals are interpreted to be approximate true thicknesses

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

Core samples are processed using industry standard practices at the ALS Rosia Montana and ALS Loughrea Laboratories, including a 30 g fire assay (Au-AA25) for gold and ME-MS41 for copper and other elements. ALS are an internationally accredited global analytical service provider. HQ and PQ size core samples were split longitudinally in half using a diamond saw. One half was retained in the core tray for reference and the other half sent for assay.

Each batch of samples sent to ALS began and ended with a blank and a certified reference material (CRM). The blank is used to check for backgrounds and interference and the CRM is used to check for data accuracy and precision. In addition to the above, a CRM is inserted approximately every 30th sample and a blank approximately every 50th sample. Duplicates are also submitted approximately every 50th sample with the half core section being split into two quarter core samples, both being submitted for assays to check for data reproducibility. Additional random quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) samples were also inserted during sampling. As a minimum, in any batch of samples sent to ALS for analysis, 10% are for QAQC purposes. Within the 2021 drilling campaign over 11% of samples were sent for QAQC purposes and all of these passed the internal thresholds set by the company.

Qualified Person  

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dave Cliff, who is a Member of   the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Chartered Engineer. He has reviewed this announcement and consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears being consistent with the adoption of the JORC reporting code

Placement  admission

The company is pleased to announce that 10,000,000 shares from the recent placement have now been admitted for trading, and 5,000,000  investor warrants and 73,714 broker warrants are to be issued

About Chesterfield Resources  

Chesterfield Resources is a copper focussed exploration company centred around a newly-acquired large exploration project in Labrador Canada, together with its existing project in   Cyprus.

The exploration technical 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 company has also acquired a major backer. 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.

In Canada, 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 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 mineralisation becomes more concentrated the grades are extremely high, commonly 10-30% Cu due to the high tenor of the principal copper minerals, chalcocite and bornite.

The company has recently completed the compilation and re-analysis of all historic regional exploration datasets with the latest geophysical modelling and visualisation software tools. It has assembled a team of expert consultants who have decades of experience in this belt.

An initial field season, which has just been completed, focussed on both previously identified, as well as new prospect areas. This is expected to generate a significant pipeline of quality drill targets to test for significant extents of bedded copper-silver mineralisation. The company is currently progressing project planning and permitting applications.

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

Cyprus   is regarded as a prospective copper-zinc-gold-silver exploration location. It is a member of the EU, and its legal system is based on English common law. Chesterfield identified a value-creative exploration opportunity due to minimal exploration activity on the island in the last 48 years since the invasion by   Turkey   in 1974 that put a halt to what had been a very active mining industry.  

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.  This also includes a waste dump opportunity that will be appraised, called Limni South Gold and an encouraging, potentially enlarged mineralised zone described above.

The company announced high grade polymetallic results from its 2020 drilling campaign and embarked in 2021 on an enlarged integrated geophysics, percussion and diamond drilling exploration campaign. The company has now completed its diamond drilling campaign for 2021 and has reported a significant gold mineralised system at its Westline target. In addition, the company has recently announced assays of new polymetallic mineralisation at Orchard and encouraging gold mineralisation at Evlim. This has established the identification of a significant 12k long geological trend which links a number of mineralised systems. The company's forthcoming 2022 exploration campaign will focus on this trend and the possibility of further discoveries along it.

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

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):         Tel:  [phone]

John Prior & Hugh Rich

First Equity Limited (joint Broker):

Jason Robertson        Tel: +44 ( 0) 207 330

 

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