Update on Empire Open Pit & 2021 Drill Programme

RNS Number : 6704M

Phoenix Copper Limited

23 September 2021

 

Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: PXC / Sector: Mining

23 September 2021

Phoenix Copper Limited

('Phoenix' or the 'Company')

Update on the Empire Copper-Oxide Open Pit and 2021 Drilling Programme

Phoenix Copper Ltd (AIM: PXC, OTCQX: PXCLF), the AIM quoted USA focused base and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company, is pleased to provide an update on the Company's recent activities in Idaho, as it makes further progress towards bringing its assets into operation.

Highlights

· Empire Open Pit mine remains on target to start production

· Construction and acquisition of mine supporting infrastructure has commenced

· Core drilling on deeper underground copper sulphides continues

· Geophysical Ground Magnetic Surveys ("EM Survey") on Red Star, Horseshoe and Navarre Creek have been completed, final report imminent, following which drilling programmes will commence

Empire Copper-Oxide Open Pit Deposit

Further to the submission of the Plan of Operations in June 2021 the permitting process for the Empire Copper-Oxide Open Pit is ongoing as planned, with the hydrological drilling programme nearly completed.  The related feasibility study is also ongoing in accordance with the anticipated timetable, with final engineering and process designs on schedule.

The Company has contracted K-Squared Construction of Mackay, Idaho to construct the Idaho Mine Operations Office in Mackay, 4.5 miles east of the Empire Mine. The building will provide permanent facilities in Mackay and is a key step in the progress of the Company.

Despite many delays in the industry as a whole, Phoenix is pleased to confirm that as of the present time, it still anticipates bringing the Empire Open Pit mine into production on schedule.

Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, said, "The construction of a permanent office in Mackay is a significant milestone and demonstrates that our flagship Empire project has advanced to a level requiring long-term and wholly owned supporting infrastructure. The Company has also begun to purchase staff housing and warehouse facilities in and near Mackay as part of executing our plans for long-term metals production from our properties."

2021 Drilling and Geophysical Programmes

Empire Sulphides

Core drilling continues into the deep sulphide historically mined ore body, with six drill holes totalling 1,099 metres completed to date. Four of these holes targeted the zone intercepted in KXD21-02, which included 0.5 metres of 8.38% copper, 120 grammes per tonne silver, and 1.31 grammes per tonne gold.  Assay results are awaited for these four holes. Drilling continues on a further 3,650 metres.

Red Star/Horseshoe

The EM Survey on the high-grade Red Star/Horseshoe silver lead system has been completed and the report interpreting the results is expected very soon. The report will be used to define a 3,000-metre drilling programme expected to commence shortly.

Navarre Creek

The EM Survey on the Navarre Creek gold property has also been completed and the report interpreting the results is also expected very soon. The report will be used to define a 2,300-metre drilling programme, expected to commence as soon as the drill site permitting is approved.

Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am pleased to announce that we have completed six core holes in the deep sulphide exploration program and 12 monitoring wells in the area of the proposed heap leach pad for hydrological characterisation, as well as completed the magnetic surveys at Red Star, Horseshoe, and Navarre Creek, despite the delays resulting from Covid related supply chain and staff shortages. Although our exploration program drilling schedule is running later than originally anticipated due to these delays, we count ourselves fortunate for continuing to make progress. While these delays are frustrating, they are industry and country wide, and we remain confident that we will be able to conclude our planned drilling programs for this year."

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 for furthering the permitting process, but as importantly, will be used as the building blocks for the Company's future Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) platform.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company 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 Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Contacts

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

Phoenix Copper Limited	Ryan McDermott Dennis Thomas Richard Wilkins	Tel: [phone]  Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
SP Angel (Nominated Adviser)	David Hignell / Caroline Rowe	Tel: [phone]
Brandon Hill Capital (Joint Broker)	Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield	Tel: [phone]
WH Ireland (Joint Broker)	Harry Ansell / Adam Pollock / Katy Mitchell	Tel: [phone]
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker)	John Prior / Hugh Rich / Ailsa Macmaster	Tel: [phone]
EAS Advisors (US Corporate Adviser)	Matt Bonner / Rogier de la Rambelje	Tel: [phone]
Blytheweigh (Financial PR)	Tim Blythe / Megan Ray	Tel: [phone]

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 from late 2022.

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 our extensive drill programmes which have defined a NI 43-101 compliant PEA (preliminary economic assessment) for an open pit heap leach solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine, which was updated in October 2020. The contained metal in all NI 43-101 compliant categories of resources, measured, indicated and inferred, stand at 129,641 tonnes of copper, 355,523 ounces of gold, 10,133,772 ounces of silver and 58,440 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 north west of the Empire Mine proposed open pit, has revealed high grade silver / lead sulphide ore and from three shallow exploration drill holes a NI 43-101 compliant maiden resource of 1.6 million silver equivalent ounces was reported. Additionally, the district includes Navarre Creek, a volcanic hosted, Carlin-type gold discovery which hosts a 6.1 km gold strike length within a 14.48 km² 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 First Cobalt Corporation, Toronto, in respect of one of those properties.

More details on the Company, its assets and its objectives can be found on PXC's website at  https:// phoenixcopperlimited.com.

 

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