Results from Pitfield Diamond Drilling Programme

Empire Metals Limited

28 May 2024

 

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

28 May 2024

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

Results from Diamond Drilling Programme at Pitfield

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the results from the four Diamond Core drillholes recently completed at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'). These drillholes were completed at the Cosgrove and Thomas targets and provide important geological information ahead of finalising the Company's JORC Exploration Target.

Highlights

·    800 metres of diamond core drilling (four drillholes) tested two known zones of extensive, thick, shallow sandstone-rich beds that host higher grade TiO₂ mineralisation.

·    Analytical lab results, along with the core logging, for these drillholes has confirmed extensive, strong weathering of the uppermost 40m of mineralised bedded sandstones, coincident with high TiO₂ grades, which extend the entire length of the drillholes.

·    Excellent core recovery was achieved from all four diamond core drillholes, with every drillhole returning significant intercepts:

§ DD24COS002 intersected 201.8m @ 6.32% TiO₂ from 0m to end of hole;

§ DD24COS003 intersected 201.8m @ 6.14% TiO₂ from 0m to end of hole;

§ DD24TOM002 intersected 201.8m @ 4.95% TiO₂ from 0m to end of hole; and

§ DD24TOM003 intersected 181.9m @ 6.83% TiO₂ from 19.9m to end of hole, the top 19.9m being sand cover.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:  "The excellent core recovery achieved from the near surface, strongly weathered mineralised bedded sandstones has provided invaluable samples and geological data, and additional quantitative and qualitative mineralogical and metallurgical studies have now been instigated to provide a clearer picture of the mineral assemblage in the uppermost 40m zone. In parallel with this work, preparation of the Company's JORC Exploration Target for the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospects, announced as part of Empire's Development Plan on 27 March 2024, continues under the guidance of mineral resource consultants Snowden Optiro, and we expect to release these results shortly."

The Pitfield Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheatbelt town of Three Springs, Pitfield lies 313km north of Perth and 156km south of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world according to the Fraser Institute's Investment Attractiveness Index published in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning and development (refer Figure 1).

Figure 1. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure and Services.

Results from Diamond Core Drilling Programme: February - March 2024.

The diamond core drilling programme at Pitfield was completed in late March (announced 18 April 2024) and consisted of four diamond core drillholes totalling 807m. The diamond core holes were each drilled to a final downhole depth of 202m. Excellent core recovery was achieved from the diamond drilling, commencing from surface to the end of the hole.

The diamond drill core, particularly the near-surface core, provided important samples for ongoing metallurgical and mineralogical studies, and sections of core have been submitted for Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyzer ('TIMA') analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope ('SEM') microprobe work to determine the mineral assemblage within the strongly weathered zone.

The Company has previously reported on the results from the 40 Reverse Circulation ("RC") drillholes drilled in February-March 2024 which were focused on proving up the extent and grade of the mineralisation at two key mineral prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length (refer Figure 2). Whilst these two prospects combined cover barely one fifth of the total mineralised system area they are currently the most advanced explored prospects and remain the focus of the Company's mineral resource development work going forward in the near term.

Figure 2.  Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity survey results with the location of the 2023 and 2024 RC and Diamond Core drillholes, with Cosgrove and Thomas target areas shown.

Since commencing its maiden drill campaign in March 2023 the Company has completed a total of 107 drillholes for 17,003m (including seven diamond core holes for 2,025m), of which 67 RC drillholes and six diamond core drillholes were drilled within the Cosgrove and Thomas prospects (Figures 3 and 4). The drilling shows a high-grade (>5% TiO₂), more than 1km wide central core running on a N-S trend through both mineral prospects, which could join between the two prospects thereby representing a potential total strike length of more than 20km. Significantly, the RC drillhole results clearly indicated elevated TiO₂ grades are present within the top 40m (announced 15 May 2024). No near-surface samples were collected from the original diamond core holes drilled in Q4 2023 (announced 29 November 2023) due to the drilling technique, however the four recent diamond core drillholes were far more successful in recovering core from the weathered zone (refer Table 1).

Figure 3.  Cosgrove Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding for drill holes based on TiO₂ assay grade.

Figure 4.  Thomas Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding for drill holes based on TiO₂ assay grade.

Hole ID	Depth From (m)	Depth To (m)	EOH (m)	Interval (m)	Grade (TiO2 %)
DD24COS002	0.0	201.8	201.8	201.8	6.32
DD24COS003	0.0	201.8	201.8	201.8	6.14
DD24TOM002	0.0	201.8	201.8	201.8	4.95
DD24TOM003	19.9	201.8	201.8	181.9	6.83

Table 1.                Significant Intercepts from 2024 Diamond Core Drilling

Logging of the recent diamond core has confirmed the substantial alteration from surficial weathering of the top 40m of bedded sandstones, and provided invaluable core sections for mineralogical analysis, for both TIMA and SEM microprobe work. The strong, deep weathering has clearly altered the assemblage of primary ore and gangue minerals to a secondary assemblage of minerals. Titanium is known to be very stable in surficial weathering processes, showing little mobility and so can concentrate in zones of weathering. The elevated TiO₂ grades consistently noted in the near-surface zone are therefore believed to be due to the weathering process concentrating titanium in place into a secondary mineral assemblage. Precise, detailed mineralogical investigations have been initiated, and are being expedited, to determine the mineralogical residence of titanium in this zone of weathering.

The photos taken from diamond core drillhole DD24COS002 are presented in Figures 5 to 7 below. The difference between the strongly weathered sandstones, transitional sandstones and fresh bedded sandstones zones are clearly indicated and provide further evidence of the impact of weathering and its effect on the mineral assemblage.

Figure 5.  Core trays #1 to #4 for DD24COS002 showing strongly weathered sandstone to circa 10 meters with interval from 0.8m to 8.75m averaging 7.07% TiO₂.

Figure 6.  Core trays #7 and #8 for DD24COS002 showing highly oxidised transitional sandstone, with the interval from 14.75m to 20.6m averaging 6.79% TiO₂.

Figure 7.  Core trays #24 & #25 for DD24COS002 showing fresh bedded sandstone, with the interval from 58m to 64m averaging 6.58% TiO₂.

Work in Progress - Near Term

The Company's exploration team, under the guidance of Snowden Optiro, are completing the QA/QC and geological modelling required in the development of the JORC Exploration Target for the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospects.

Snowden Optiro's scope of work includes:

·    Undertaking a QA/QC review of all three drill programmes completed since March 2023, including a review of standards and duplicates;

·    Creating a geological model in Leapfrog Geo 3D ('Leapfrog') to primarily include the mineralised bedded sandstone units;

·    Creating a weathering model in Leapfrog;

·    Creating mineralisation grade shells within the bedded sandstone units at different TiO₂ % cut offs;

·    Creating a topographic profile using drill collars and local survey data;

·    Generating Exploration Targets for Cosgrove and Thomas, using domain volumes and volume weighted average grade; and

·    Compilation of a JORC Table (sections 1 and 2).

Mineralogical and metallurgical studies are underway on the initial bulk metallurgical sample, collected from the diamond core recovered from DD23TOM001. The bulk sample is representative of the fresh bedded sandstone and was taken from a continuous 267m interval, between 126m and 393m downhole, below the zone of weathering. This testwork programme will include ore characterisation as well as testing of various unit processes for mineral separation and titanium extraction from the minerals.

Specific testwork includes:

·    Mineralogical composition and size distribution;

·    Comminution characteristics;

·    Gravity and magnetic separation;

·    Flotation; and

·    General leach characteristics.

A second bulk metallurgical sample has also been collected from the most recent diamond drilling programme (core from DD24COS002). This sample is representative of the near-surface, strongly weathered zone, being taken from an 8m interval, between 2.7m and 10.7m downhole. This sample is currently undergoing sample preparation ahead of running it through a similar metallurgical testwork programme to the one mentioned above.

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Eclipse Exploration Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher 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 Faragher 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:

Empire Metals Ltd Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel / Arabella Burwell	Tel: [phone]
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker) Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl / Kasia Brzozowska	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker) Damon Heath	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR)                                          Susie Geliher / Charlotte Page	Tel: [phone]

About Empire Metals Limited

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

The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, which has demonstrated to contain a newly recognised giant titanium-rich mineral system that hosts a globally significant titanium discovery.

The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.

 

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