DRC Copper and Cobalt Exploration Update

RNS Number : 9715D

Red Rock Resources plc

25 February 2020

 

Red Rock Resources PLC

("Red Rock" or the "Company")

DRC Copper & Cobalt Exploration Update

25 February 2020

Red Rock Resources Plc (LON:RRR), the natural resource development company with interests in gold, manganese and minerals, announces a second phase of exploration on license PR13513 in the Copperbelt in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") 65 km SE of Lubumbashi and near the Zambian border.

HIGHLIGHTS:

· The license is prospective for copper and cobalt mineralisation, and an initial programme, the results of which were announced on 21 December 2018, identified two open-ended areas strongly anomalous for copper and cobalt

· Based on these results, Mineral Exploration Associates SARL Consultants (Minex Consulting) has recommended a second phase of exploration

· Pitting will be undertaken in the areas C and A in Figure 1 below, on north-south lines spaced at 100m intervals with pits 40m apart

· Follow up trenching will be undertaken between pits where mineralisation is encountered or further lithostratigraphical information can be obtained

· Geophysics will be undertaken over the north-west sector west of 589000 E and north of 866600 S , to be followed by pitting in area B once geophysical results have been interpreted

Red Rock Chairman Andrew Bell comments : "We obtained verypromising results from the initial exploration in a favourable geological setting, suggesting the presence of copper and cobalt mineralisation at depth.

As the wet season ends, we want to take the opportunity to follow up these earlier results and find out more about the mineralisation and the lithological units in which it is contained.

A controlled and modular programme will enable us to test hypotheses and step up activity quickly if justified.

We are in one of the world's most prospective environments for the minerals we seek, working with skilled and experienced local partners, and approach this new phase of our activity in the DRC with considerable excitement. "

Figure 1: Proposed areas for pitting and trenching

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9715D_1-2020-2-24.pdf

Background information :

The Luanshimba Project is a permis de recherches PR13513 held 80% by Red Rock and 20% by a local partner.

The tenement is situated along a disrupted anticline with highly prospective undifferentiated Roan sediments draping off a nearby basement dome, similar to some other productive Cu-deposits in the immediate area. 

A comprehensive termite mound sampling programme combined with reconnaissance geological mapping was conducted in late 2018 over an area underlain by prospective Roan Group sediments. 452 samples were collected on a 100x100m grid, and then split, with one batch sent to ALS Laboratories in Johannesburg while the other was retained for XRF analysis.

Building on a recent regional aeromagnetic and soil sampling survey by a former ground holder, Red Rock has now identified as a result of the programme 2 strongly anomalous areas that are open-ended:

· In the southern part of the licence, a 2km by 500m anomaly striking ENE, (Trend A), following carbonaceous shale and silicified dolomite into the nose of a disrupted anticline underlain by known Upper Roan silicified dolomite and carbonaceous shale adjacent oxidised sandstone.

· Anomalous metal assays with peak values of 519ppm Cu and 425ppm Co corroborate and exceed the XRF values and are partly coincident with above average contents of pathfinder elements Bi and V. Given the regionally low background, these results are considered indicative of likely Cu-Co mineralisation at depth.

· Occasional outcrops reveal limonitic coatings and tiny cavities after sulphides along with occasional malachite that also explain the occurrence of copper-tolerant flora.

· The northern anomaly, (Trend B), a SE- striking copper-cobalt anomaly some 1,400m by 300m wide, while more subdued, is still significant as it clearly mimics the regional metalliferous stratigraphic and structural trend.

Figure 2: Copper anomaly map overlaid on the RTP magnetic image

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2720L_2-2018-12-21.pdf

Given the risk of artisanal intrusion in the event of significant copper mineralisation being encountered in pits, Red Rock will also seek quotes for an immediate move to a third phase of exploration in the case of exploration success. This would be likely to be RC drilling, and provisional planning for such drilling assumes 4 fences at 200m intervals in area C, with 2-4 100m inclined holes, and 2 lines in each of areas A and B, for a total of 2,500m drilled.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Bell 0207 747 9990  Chairman Red Rock Resources Plc

Scott Kaintz 0207 747 9990  Director Red Rock Resources Plc

Roland Cornish/ Rosalind Hill Abrahams 0207 628 3396   NOMAD Beaumont Cornish Limited

Tim Sohal 0203 700 2500     Broker Pello Capital Limited

 

END

 

 

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