Wolf Mountain Results Define High Priority Targets

RNS Number : 9827C

Beowulf Mining PLC

23 October 2020

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations ("MAR") (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

23 October 2020

Beowulf Mining plc

("Beowulf" or the "Company")

Wolf Mountain Geophysics Results Define High Priority Drill Targets

Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), the mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce results from an Induced Polarisation ("IP") and resistivity survey undertaken by Vardar Minerals ("Vardar") at its Wolf Mountain lead-zinc-silver ("Pb-Zn-Ag") target, situated within the Mitrovica licence, located in northern Kosovo.  Beowulf owns 46.1 per cent of Vardar.

Highlights

· Highly anomalous IP chargeability zones, considered high priority targets for drill testing, have been defined beneath areas of laterally extensive Pb-Zn gossans and hydrothermal alteration.

· The IP anomalies are located below, often straddling, the contact between younger Oligo-Miocene ("O-M") volcanoclastic rocks and ultramafic ("UM") basement, in agreement with mapped and drill tested mineralisation, adding further support for a source of the observed mineralisation.

· Importantly, anomalies follow established regional structural trends suggesting they may be representative of high-grade Pb-Zn-Ag feeder structures, often a characteristic of the deposit type.

· Resistivity results correlate very well with geological mapping, drilling and trenching, delineating the lateral and vertical extent of the low resistivity volcanoclastic units over the higher resistivity UM basement.

· Vardar is now planning a follow-up drilling programme to test the main anomalies for high-grade mineralisation.

Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer of Beowulf, commented:

"It's excellent to see the picture building at Wolf Mountain, that ties in with previous work and points the way to what we hope are high-grade lead-zinc feeder structures.

"With IP and resistivity data, and more data to come from a 'state-of-the-art' high-resolution airborne magnetic drone survey, which is being used as a remote mapping tool to provide information on underlying geology, alteration and structures which may control mineralisation, the Vardar team is delivering 'big company' geoscience on a junior's budget.

"With each phase of work, there is growing potential for a discovery at Mitrovica. We are not there yet, but with targets at Wolf Mountain, Majdan Peak and Mitrovica South there is a real opportunity.

"I look forward to providing further updates on progress in Kosovo."

Wolf Mountain Overview

The Wolf Mountain target is located in the central part of Vardar's Mitrovica licence.  It represents one of several targets, which could be mineralised satellite deposits to the world-class Stan Terg mine, which dates back to the 1930s and is estimated to have produced 34 million tonnes ("Mt") at 3.45 per cent Pb, 2.3 per cent Zn and 80 g/t Ag.

In addition to the Wolf Mountain target, potential also exists at Mitrovica for the discovery of high-level epithermal gold deposits at Majdan Peak and further base metal deposits in the southern part of the licence area.

Mineralisation at Wolf Mountain appears to be intrinsically related to the contact between Jurassic UMs and overlying O-M volcanoclastic rocks, where relatively flat-lying hydrothermal breccias are enriched in Pb, Zn and Ag. Below this contact several high-grade feeder structures have been anticipated and the results of the IP survey tend to confirm this hypothesis.

A total of 278.5 metres ("m") of trenching and 1,609m of drilling have been completed at Wolf Mountain. Drilling and trenching results have confirmed extensive lead-zinc-silver mineralisation over an area of 800m in length and 400m in width.

The highlights of these activities include:

• Trench WM-T01: 18 grammes/tonne ("g/t") Ag, 2.01 per cent Pb and 3.17 per cent Zn over 12.5m, within a longer 51m in length cross-section returning 11 g/t Ag, 1.43 per cent Pb and 1.87 per cent Zn;

• Trench WM-T02: 14 g/t Ag, 3.6 per cent Pb and 0.64 per cent Zn over 8m;

• Drillhole WM004: 8 g/t Ag, 1.27 per cent Pb and 0.91 per cent Zn over 6.6m (estimated true thickness); and

• Drillhole WM007: 16 g/t Ag, 2.69 per cent Pb and 0.4 per cent Zn over 4.3m (estimated true thickness).

The results suggest a mineralisation model analogous to the nearby Zijaca deposit, located 3 kilometres south-east of Wolf Mountain (non-JORC compliant 5.2 Mt containing 2.83 per cent Pb, 2.83 per cent Zn and 16 g/t Ag), and Crnac, (non-JORC compliant 3.5 Mt containing 8.1 per cent Pb, 3.2 per cent Zn, 120 g/t Ag) in northern Kosovo.

IP Survey

The survey was completed as a full 3D programme using a combination of conventional 2D IP-DC lines using electrode spacings of 50m and 100m with additional Iris Instruments FullWaver units positioned on adjacent lines. All the receiver electrodes were measured simultaneously for each current injection point (with up to 70 dipoles measured per current injection) which allowed for the construction of detailed 3D chargeability and resistivity volumes.

The resistivity results correlate very well with the completed drilling, mapping out the extent of the low resistivity volcanoclastic units over higher resistivity UM basement. Importantly the IP anomalies occur below this contact often straddling the lower contact and extending towards the surface where outcropping mineralised gossans have been mapped, providing  support for a mineralised source to the anomalies. The correlation of the IP anomalies with regional structural trends is supportive of these representing high-grade feeder structures.

References:

Stan Terg - Strmić Palinkaš S, Palinkaš LA, Renac C, Spangenberg JE, Lüders V, Molnar F, Maliqi G (2013) Metallogenic model of the Trepča Pb-Zn-Ag skarn deposit, Kosovo: evidence from fluid inclusions, rare earth elements, and stable isotope data. Economic Geology 108:135-162…"With current reserves of 29 Mt of ore at 3.45 per cent Pb, 2.30 per cent Zn, and 80 g/t Ag (ITT/UNMIK 2001 report), together with the past  production of approximately 34 Mt of ore, the deposit represents an important source of metals in the southeastern part of Europe."

Crnac - Resource estimate from the Mineral Deposits of Serbia - Ore deposit database… "In 1981, the Crnac mine produced 60,000 tonnes at 7 per cent Pb and 2 per cent Zn, by sub-level open stoping. Output should reach 150,000 tonnes/year by 1983. ITT/UNMIK Mission (12/2000): Past production (1967-2000): 2,060,000 tonnes at 4.3 per cent Pb, 2.2 per cent Zn and 53 g/t Ag. Resources: 1,415,000t at 8.1 per cent Pb, 3.2 per cent Zn and 120 g/t Ag."

Zijaca (or Zijaç or Zijača) - 1999 PhD thesis in Albanian translated as "Geological and Structural Setting in the Trepča Region".

Glossary:

Gossan - Gossan is intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein.

Hydrothermal Alteration - also referred to as wallrock alteration, is a general term that encompasses many processes by which rock-forming minerals are altered due to reactions accompanying the flow of heated aqueous fluids along fractures and grain boundaries.

Induced Polarisation  (IP) - Variations in chargeability can be diagnostic, for example, when aiming to characterize a mineral deposit, where the chargeability of the mineralised zone is often higher than the host rock. Often an induced polarization (IP) experiment is performed with the Direct Current Resistivity (DCR) hence they are often called DC-IP survey. Both conductivity and chargeability distribution can be recovered from a DC-IP survey.

Competent Person Review

The information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Chris Davies, a Competent Person ("CP"), who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Davies has conducted a desktop review of source documents and data which underpin the technical statements disclosed herein and approves the disclosure of technical information in the form and context in which it appears in this announcement, in his capacity as a CP as required under the AIM rules. Mr. Davies has visited Vardar's Mitrovica and Viti projects in Kosovo.

Mr. Davies has sufficient experience, that is relevant to the content of this announcement, to qualify as a CP as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code of Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves".

Mr. Davies BSc (Hons) Geology, MSc DIC Mineral Exploration, FAusIMM, is a Non-executive Director of Beowulf and is an exploration/economic geologist with more than 35 years' experience in the mining sector.

About Beowulf Mining plc

Beowulf's strategy is to build a sustainable and innovative mining company, which creates shareholder value by developing mining assets, delivering production and generating cash flow, and in so doing meets society's ongoing need for metals.

Beowulf is developing a high-quality asset base, which is diversified by geography and commodity, enabling it to simultaneously advance several projects up the mining value curve and create shareholder value.

Additionally, the Board of Directors continues to look beyond the Company for value creation opportunities.

The Company's first priority remains the award of the Exploitation Concession for Kallak North, and thereafter completing the Scoping Study.  The introduction of a strategic partner/investor who understands the value of Kallak as a high-quality asset, which could be in production within four to five years, is an ongoing consideration, but does not preclude the Company from continuing to add value to Kallak in the meantime.

Fennoscandian Resources ("Fennoscandian"), the Company's graphite business, is pursuing a strategy to develop a resource/production base of natural flake graphite that can provide 'security of supply' and enable Finland to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing.  The Company is a recipient of Business Finland funding, which is supporting Fennoscandian to move downstream, and develop its knowledge in processing and manufacturing value-added graphite products.

The Company owns 46.1 per cent of Vardar, a UK registered exploration company with a focus on the metal endowed Balkan region.  Vardar holds exploration licences for the Mitrovica and Viti projects in Kosovo.  Both projects are located within the Tethyan Belt, a major orogenic metallogenic province for gold and base metals which extends from the Alps (Carpathians/Balkans) to Turkey, Iran and Indochina, and contains several world class discoveries.  The Tethyan Belt of south-east Europe can be regarded as Europe's chief copper-gold (lead-zinc-silver) province.

Enquiries:

Beowulf Mining plc
Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer		Tel: [phone]
SP Angel (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Soltan Tagiev		Tel: [phone]
Blytheweigh
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray		Tel: [phone]

Cautionary Statement

Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to the Company's current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as "may", "might", "seeks", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "believes", "projects", "plans", strategy", "forecast" and similar expressions. These statements reflect management's expectations and assumptions in light of currently available information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to , (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf's continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from those presented and forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecasts.

 

END

 

 

DRLPPGQWUUPUPUP