Drilling Update; West Avoca, Co. Wicklow

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF 16 APRIL 2014 ON MARKET ABUSE AS IT FORMS PART OF RETAINED EU LAW AS DEFINED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 (THE "MARKET ABUSE REGULATION"). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT THE INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

IMC EXPLORATION GROUP PLC

(“IMC” or the “Company”)

Drilling Update; West Avoca, Co. Wicklow

IMC Intersects Zinc, Lead and Copper Mineralisation in First Drillhole at West Avoca

• The initial drillhole, 21-3850-01, has encountered four zones of massive and semi-massive sulphide.  Over 75m of drill core is being split for assay.

• Three further drill holes are planned to assess the extent and continuity of Cu, Au, Zn, Pb mineralisation along strike from the historic Avoca mine.

• Historical mineralised intercepts in the West Avoca area include 10m grading 1.1% Cu and 9m grading 10.3% Zn and 4.8% Pb.
• IMC plans that the drill programme will allow an independent resource calculation to be undertaken. in addition to that already in place for the spoils’ and tailings’ project.

IMC Exploration Group plc (IMC), the London-listed exploration company based in Ireland, is pleased to announce the completion of its first drillhole in a 1,000m drilling programme at its West Avoca property on PL 3850, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

Drill hole 21-3850-01 has extended the down dip extent of mineralisation and has encountered zinc-lead and copper-gold mineralization as interpreted. 

A total of four massive and semi-massive sulphide zones were encountered between depths of 159m and 226m representing individual heavily mineralised intervals of 1.85, 5.3, 5.0 and 4.9m respectively.  The upper three zones are zinc dominant and the lower zone copper dominant.  Over 75m of drill core has been split and sent to ALS Laboratories in Co. Galway for analyses.

Drill hole 21-3850-01 represents a down dip step out of 40m from the nearest historical drillhole which assayed 9m grading 10.3% Zn and 4.8% Pb.  The (upper) zinc-lead mineralized horizon now has an extrapolated minimum dip extent of 75m (supported by three drillholes) and remains open both up and down dip and along strike to the southwest.

Many previous drillholes in this part of West Avoca had not drilled deep enough to test presence of a copper-gold zone underlying the zinc-lead zone.  The 4.9m (lower) copper zone intersected in 21-3850-01 confirms the copper potential of the West Avoca area.

Background

The Avoca Mine is estimated to have contained 16 million tonnes of 0.6% copper which was exported as a concentrate that contained ‘payable grades of gold and silver’ (Williams et al., 1986).  In addition, in situ zinc and lead mineralisation is present at West Avoca over a minimum strike length of c. 300m. 

When the Avoca mine ceased operation in 1982 (owing mainly to the low price of copper prevailing at that time) significant amounts of ore were left in place.  With the copper price recently at an all-time high, IMC has reassessed historical records along strike to the southwest from the Avoca mine, and interprets there to be a 1.2 km minimum strike length that has either been only partially tested or else has specific targets remaining to be drill tested. 

At the north-eastern end of the 1.2 km strike length outlined by IMC, historical drilling encountered 13.3m grading 3.7% Zn 1.8% Pb and 5.3m grading 1.9% Cu.  At the southwestern end, historical assays include 5.8m grading 0.5% Cu with 0.9m grading 0.5 g/t Au.  Widely-spaced drillholes within the 1.2km strike extent have assayed 10m grading 1.1% Cu and 9.0m grading 10.25% Zn and 4.78% Pb.  Gold grades of up to 0.4 g/t Au over 4.5m have been recorded and represent a highly positive ‘credit’ when taken in consideration with the high copper and zinc grades.

In the West Avoca area, zinc-lead mineralisation overlies copper-gold mineralisation.  Much of the historical drilling has not tested the deeper (c. 200m depth) copper-gold mineralisation.  This programme is planned to test the down dip extent of the zinc-lead mineralisation and assess the mostly untested underlying copper-gold mineralisation.

IMC has reported JORC-compliant figures of c. 20,000 ozs of gold, 2.6k tonnes of copper and 7.8k tonnes of lead from mine spoils and tailings to the northeast of the planned drilling (8^th September 2020).

Eamon O’Brien, Chairman, commented:

‘The first drill hole in the 1,000m drill programme has validated and extended zones of mineralisation encountered in historical exploration which tested part of the unmined zones of mineralisation.  It has confirmed the geological interpretation and I look forward to reporting grades in the near future.

The substantive historical intercepts and strike length identified, allied with this planned drilling, will allow IMC to move towards a bedrock resource calculation to complement existing JORC-compliant spoils’ and tailings’ calculations.  With copper prices recently reaching an all-time high, climate change initiatives to the fore and copper a vital component to drive the green economy, IMC will be part of this new green future with its copper project in Avoca.’

This release has been approved by EurGeol Professor Garth Earls PGeo, FSEG, who is an independent consulting geologist and a Competent Person as described in the JORC 2012 reporting code.

Eamon P. O’Brien,
Executive Chairman,
Dublin, 6^th October 2021

The Directors of IMC, after due and careful enquiry, accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENT ENDS.

Contact Details:

Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co. Limited
Graham Atthill-Beck: [phone] / [e-mail] / [e-mail]   
Brinsley Holman: [phone] / [e-mail]

IMC Exploration Group plc
Kathryn Byrne: [phone]