Identification of new Twin Shafts Lode at Eclipse

RNS Number : 6245G
Empire Metals Limited
28 July 2021
 

To view the announcement with the illustrative images please use the following link:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6245G_1-2021-7-27.pdf

 

Empire Metals Limited / AIM: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

28 July 2021

Empire Metals Limited ('Empire' or the 'Company')

Identification of new 'Twin Shafts' Lode at Eclipse Gold Project

 

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the results of t he third phase of reverse circulation ('RC') and infill diamond drilling at the Eclipse Gold Project, located 55km north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia ('Eclipse' or the 'Project')

 

Highlights:

· Third phase of RC drilling at the Eclipse Gold Project has delivered encouraging results and supports the scaling of the Project's mineralised footprint.

· The drilling campaign was conducted over a 10 day period from 20 April 2021 to 29 April 2021 during which time 19 RC holes were drilled for a total of 1,893 metres, and three PQ core diameter drill holes were drilled for a total of 201.1 metres.

· The RC drilling has confirmed the existence of several parallel veins in addition to the main Eclipse vein and the diamond drilling has replicated intercepts from previous RC drilling as well as providing an invaluable insight into the nature of the mineralisation and the alteration zones.

· Targeted RC drilling with respect to a twin set of historical workings located SW of Eclipse has proved favourable and has identified a mineralised lode running sub-parallel to the Eclipse vein, referred to as 'Twin Shafts'. 

· The drilling has confirmed the different stockwork style of near-surface mineralisation in the vicinity of the Jack's Dream old workings, which is breccia in style and has a different orientation to Eclipse/Twin Shafts.  This indicates both increased complexity and possibly an increased duration of the gold system. 

· Significant RC drilling intercepts include:

5m @ 3.54 g/t Au from 126m downhole at Jack's Dream

6m @ 2.39 g/t Au from 50m downhole at Jack's Dream

4m @ 4.78 g/t Au from 66m downhole at Twin Shaft

2m @ 3.65 g/t Au from 53m downhole at Eclipse

1m @ 4.08 g/t Au from surface at Eclipse

The RC drill intercepts above 1.3 g/t Au from the current phase of drilling are summarised in Table 4 below.

· The consequence of the extensional RC and infill diamond drill campaigns is that the gold camp at Eclipse is starting to present characteristics that underscore the exploration potential.

 

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "The results from the most recent drilling campaign at Eclipse are most encouraging, confirming the presence of additional mineralised zones.  A new lode, referred to as the Twin Shafts, has also been identified. The lodes at Eclipse and Twin Shafts are sub-parallel veins spanning a lateral distance of 120m.  The mineralisation at Jack's Dream has now been intercepted at depth, 126m downhole, and continues to remain open at depth and to the south-east, towards the Eclipse orebody. The exploration work to date continues to bear fruit and the footprint of mineralisation at Eclipse is starting to gain scale. Work at Eclipse will continue to evaluate and extend the mineralisation at Twin Shafts and Jack's Dream, and we are also now looking forwards to the first results for our initial soils programme at Central Menzies. "

 

The Eclipse Gold Project

Empire Metals has a 75% interest in the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project comprising a mining licence located 55km north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, together with an option to acquire the remaining 25%.

The project lies within the highly concentrated gold mining region of Western Australia, north-west of famous gold operations such as Kanowna Belle and Paddington (Figure 1).

 

RC and Diamond drill programmes at Eclipse

The primary purpose of the Eclipse RC drill programme of April 2021 was to test if the mineralised system continues along strike towards Jack's Dream and to establish how the mineralisation exposed by shafts proximal to Eclipse link with the Eclipse gold system.  Infill drilling also added confidence to the mineralisation model and the previous RC drilling around the Eclipse shaft were supported by the addition of three diamond drill holes.  The diamond drill holes targeted the Eclipse mineralisation at various depths from surface.  They had a dual purpose of both characterising the vein-system hosting the gold mineralisation and to also enable geotechnical assessments ahead of mine design.

BM Geological Services was commissioned by Empire Metals to assist with the supervision of drilling of the drill campaign at the Eclipse Gold Project.  iDrilling was engaged for 10 days from Tuesday 20 April 2021 to Thursday 29 April 2021 and drilled a total of 19 RC holes for 1,893 metres.  During this period Terra Drilling commenced a programme of three PQ core diameter drill holes for a total of 201.1 metres.

Results for the RC drill programme at Eclipse

The RC drilling resulted in several significant intercepts (Table 1).  Due to an inundation of samples at the assay laboratories, it has taken 7-8 weeks for gold assays to be reported.  This update presents the results of 1m resplits where available.  However in some instances only 4 metre composites samples can be reported.

The mineralisation of Jack's Dream workings was targeted by a few RC holes.  Previously ECRC21_020 encountered significant quartz-breccia hosted gold mineralisation.  Recent drill holes ECRC21_045 and ECRC21_046 confirmed that the down dip extent of the primary vein set exceeds 60 metres and has a horizontal strike of 40 metres (Figures 2 and 3). 

ECRC21_054 targeted an un-named shaft situated approximately 120 metres south-west of Eclipse and reported 4 metres @ 4.78 g/t Au (Figure 4).  It aligns with the locations of a twin set of shafts and represents a new lode, highlighting the potential for multiple subparallel gold-bearing quartz vein arrays within this gold camp.  ECRC21_055 also intersected the Twin Shaft mineralisation with 1m @ 1.26 g/t Au. 

ECRC21_053 extended the defined Eclipse mineralisation another 30 metres to the north-west.  This drill intercept demonstrates that along the Eclipse corridor, the mineralised vein sets will pinch-out but then swell again yielding strong gold mineralisation.

ECRC21_059; ECRC21_060 & ECRC21_062 targeted the Eclipse workings, improving confidence within an area at the southern margin of the Eclipse mineralisation that has strongly relied upon the results of historical drilling.

 

Hole_id

Depth From

(m)

Depth To

(m)

Interval

(m)

Au (g/t)

Target

ECRC21_045

126

131

5

3.54

Jack's Dream

ECRC21_046

50

56

6

2.39

Jack's Dream

ECRC21_053

40

42

2

1.68

Eclipse - NW extension

ECRC21_053

51

54

3

2.08

Eclipse - NW extension

ECRC21_054

66

70

4

4.78

Twin Shaft

ECRC21_055

33

34

1

1.26

Twin Shaft

ECRC21_059

75

77

2

1.75

Eclipse

ECRC21_060

53

55

2

3.65

Eclipse

ECRC21_062

0

1

1

4.08

Eclipse

Table 1 . Significant intercepts of the RC drill programme

Figure 2. The location of the recent RC and diamond drill holes in the context of mineralisation (red lines).

Figure 3. Cross-Section at Jack's Dream, showing the down dip extension of the Jack's Dream mineralisation.

Figure 4. Cross-Section at the new Twin Shaft workings showing the attitude and parallel mineralisation that aligns with the position of the shafts at surface.  The mineralisation is subparallel to the main Eclipse veins.

 

 

 

Results for the diamond drill programme at Eclipse

Each of the three diamond drill holes intersected mineralisation with gold metal concentrations that matched expectations (Table 2).  Gold was not present in the larger bucky-white veins but rather it was associated with thin ladder veins proximal to patchy sericite and albite alteration that also comprised disseminated pyrite ± arsenopyrite (Figure 5).

The host rock was largely homogenous and non-descript.  However, occasional bands of fine-grained siltstone indicated that the lithology is dominantly a sandstone with minor siltstone occurrences.  Mixed sand/silt provenance may have led to the intermediate composition of this material.

Hole_id

Depth_from

(m)

Depth_to

(m)

Interval

(m)

Au_ppm

ECDD21_001

42.35

47.75

5.4

1.99

ECDD21_002

16.2

21

4.8

1.93

ECDD21_002

25.80

26.4

0.6

3.52

ECDD21_003

19.8

20.3

0.5

4.22

ECDD21_003

101.9

110

8.1

2.35

Incl

101.9

104.3

2.4

5.86

ECDD21_003

114.8

115.7

0.9

1.12

Table 2. Significant intercepts of the diamond drill programme.

 

Figure 5. Core photo collage with gold values assigned to the sampled intervals with elevated gold concentrations.

Programme's Drill Collar

Hole_id

MGA_E

MGA_N

MGA_RL

Hole_type

Max_depth

(m)

Dip

Azimuth

ECRC21_045

379511

6644191

408

RC

200

-60

45

ECRC21_046

379595

6644219

407

RC

150

-60

225

ECRC21_047

379595

6644241

407

RC

85

-55

45

ECRC21_048

379437

6644184

409

RC

102

-55

45

ECRC21_049

379475

6644220

408

RC

96

-55

45

ECRC21_050

379610

6644360

406

RC

96

-55

225

ECRC21_051

379388

6644242

409

RC

96

-55

45

ECRC21_052

379413

6644269

408

RC

102

-55

45

ECRC21_053

379666

6644144

407

RC

90

-60

45

ECRC21_054

379583

6644064

408

RC

102

-55

45

ECRC21_055

379589

6644096

408

RC

90

-55

45

ECRC21_056

379574

6644078

408

RC

90

-55

45

ECRC21_057

379621

6644062

408

RC

84

-55

45

ECRC21_058

379646

6644088

408

RC

78

-55

45

ECRC21_059

379793

6644032

406

RC

96

-60

45

ECRC21_060

379810

6644041

406

RC

78

-60

45

ECRC21_061

379908

6644004

405

RC

72

-60

45

ECRC21_062

379795

6644082

406

RC

36

-60

45

ECRC21_063

379586

6644275

407

RC

150

-60

225

ECDD21_001

379731

6644124

407

D

55.2

-60

45

ECDD21_002

379797

6644086

407

D

30.2

-60

45

ECDD21_003

379722

6644091

407

D

115.7

-60

45

Table 3. Drill hole information (collar and downhole survey).

 

Programme's Drill Intercepts (Above 1.3 Au ppm)

Hole_id

Depth_from

(m)

Depth_to

(m)

Interval

(m)

Au_ppm

ECDD21_001

42.35

42.95

0.6

1.49

ECDD21_001

47.15

47.75

0.6

12.75

ECDD21_002

16.2

16.8

0.6

2.83

ECDD21_002

16.8

17.4

0.6

3.93

ECDD21_002

17.4

18

0.6

4.73

ECDD21_002

19.2

19.8

0.6

1.83

ECDD21_002

25.8

26.4

0.6

3.52

ECDD21_003

19.8

20.3

0.5

4.22

ECDD21_003

101.9

102.2

0.3

4.99

ECDD21_003

102.2

102.5

0.3

6.63

ECDD21_003

102.5

102.8

0.3

4.77

ECDD21_003

102.8

103.1

0.3

3.83

ECDD21_003

103.1

103.4

0.3

1.67

ECDD21_003

103.4

103.7

0.3

15.25

ECDD21_003

103.7

104

0.3

8.33

ECDD21_003

104

104.3

0.3

1.4

ECDD21_003

106.1

106.4

0.3

1.74

ECDD21_003

106.7

107

0.3

1.62

ECDD21_003

108.5

108.8

0.3

2.55

ECDD21_003

109.7

110

0.3

1.76

ECRC21_045

126

127

1

3.61

ECRC21_045

127

128

1

3.86

ECRC21_045

128

129

1

3.15

ECRC21_045

129

130

1

2.34

ECRC21_045

130

131

1

4.73

ECRC21_046

50

51

1

1.75

ECRC21_046

51

52

1

1.39

ECRC21_046

53

54

1

5.14

ECRC21_046

54

55

1

3.99

ECRC21_053

40

41

1

2.33

ECRC21_053

51

52

1

2.65

ECRC21_053

52

53

1

2.45

ECRC21_054

66

67

1

12.1

ECRC21_054

67

68

1

2.93

ECRC21_054

69

70

1

3.93

ECRC21_059

75

76

1

2.53

ECRC21_060

53

54

1

2.23

ECRC21_060

54

55

1

5.07

ECRC21_062

0

1

1

4.08

Table 4. Drill Intercepts above 1.3 Au ppm.

 

The Central Menzies Gold Project

The Company recently announced the signing of an Option Agreement to acquire a 75% interest in the Central Menzies Gold Project, located in the Menzies Shire, approximately 115km north of the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 10km south of the township of Menzies (Figure 1). The prospect is accessible from Kalgoorlie-Boulder via the sealed Goldfields Highway and then by a 2km unsealed road. 

Central Menzies is wholly located within a north-north-west trending greenstone belt, with basalts as the dominant hosts together with interbedded shales and magnetite-rich banded iron formations ("BIF"), with mineralisation hosted within the Menzies Shear Zone, or associated fault splays.  Gold-bearing quartz veins occur along the contact between basalts and sediments.  A series of structurally controlled high-grade gold deposits have been historically mined and display extensive exploration potential for high-grade extensions.

The Company continues to build up a comprehensive geological database for Central Menzies utilising historical exploration reports and data. The Company is currently conducting soil sampling for geochemical mapping ahead of a planned RC drilling campaign expected to commence in August. 

 

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Eclipse Gold Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Bewsher, a full-time employee of BM Geological Services. Mr Bewsher is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Bewsher has been engaged as a consultant by Empire Metals Limited. Mr Bewsher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type 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 Bewsher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

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, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk  or contact:

 

Shaun Bunn

Empire Metals Ltd

Company

Tel: 020 7907 9327

Mike Struthers

Empire Metals Ltd

Company

Tel: 020 7907 9327

Ewan Leggat

S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP

Nomad & Broker

Tel: 020 3470 0470

Adam Cowl

S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP

Nomad & Broker

Tel: 020 3470 0470

Damon Heath

Shard Capital Partners LLP

Joint Broker

Tel: 020 7186 9950

Susie Geliher

St Brides Partners Ltd   

PR 

Tel: 020 7236 1177

Cosima Akerman 

St Brides Partners Ltd                      

PR 

Tel: 020 7236 1177

   

 

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising gold interests in Australia and Austria.

The Company strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project and the Central Menzies Gold Project in Western Australia, with the goal to expand through the addition of further projects in the region to develop a viable and compelling portfolio of precious metals assets.

Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria. 

The Board continues to evaluate opportunities through which to realise the value of its wider portfolio and reviews further assets which meet the Company's investment criteria.

 

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