Update on Concordia Copper Project

RNS Number : 2524B

Galileo Resources PLC

15 June 2016

 

For immediate release

15 June 2016

Galileo Resources Plc

("Galileo" or "the Company")

Update on Concordia Copper Project

Galileo (AIM: GLR), the exploration and development mining company, is pleased to announce significant positive progress with its initial independent study (as prepared by Minxcon Consulting) on the Concordia Copper project (the "Project" or "Concordia") in the OKiep Copper District in the Namaqualand Complex in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.

Highlights

·     Raw data review confirms prognosis for large-scale copper targets at Concordia

·     Four areas confirmed previous estimates and have been announced

·     In total eleven areas have been identified, at least five of which demonstrate considerable near-surface potential

·     Data package available allowed detailed modelling techniques not available in the early 1970s

·     Low-cost ground investigation comprising detailed mapping, induced polarisation (IP) geophysics and geochemistry planned for next exploration stage

·     The review has identified tungsten potential in historical mining areas.

Colin Bird, Chairman and CEO said: "When we embarked on this exercise we were optimistic that our current view would be confirmed independently. This view has now been confirmed and extended to other areas in Concordia with five areas showing significant potential for meeting our target criteria. We expect to complete phase 1 (desktop study) in early July and immediately progress to ground-truthing and possibly resource modelling with current available data. A bonus of this exercise has been the discovery of wolframite   trends on the property; wolframite being a primary ore mineral of tungsten, the current 180-day ore price of which is up by some 10% to date."  (source http://www.asianmetal.com/TungstenPrice/Tungsten.html)

Galileo is currently nearing the end of a desktop study of their Concordia Copper Project aimed at confirming historical prospective areas and identifying additional targets for assessment. Eleven promising high priority target areas have been identified based upon modern re-interpretation of existing historical data and include the four areas, on which previously announced high-level non-compliant resource estimation work has been conducted. These areas all represent known copper deposits or occurrences and, based upon existing data, have the potential for strike and or dip extensions. At least five of these areas are targeted for potential shallow, near surface, open-pittable copper ores. The Company's immediate exploration strategies for each target, include historical data assimilation, possible resampling of previous core, data ground-truthing comprising mapping, IP geophysics, confirmation drilling and additional extension drilling with the aim of generating compliant Mineral Resource estimates for the Project. In addition, the Concordia area is also known for its wolframite deposits. Galileo have noted the existence of numerous shallow wolframite deposits on its property, most of which were also historically mined at surface or at shallow depth. Galileo intends to conduct an assessment of these in due course as well.

Concordia Project   

The Project is located in the Okiep Copper District (OCD), within the Bushmanland mobile belt in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The OCD is approximately 600 kilometres (km) (370 miles) from Cape Town and the town of Concordia is within 30 km of the town of Springbok.

The Project area and prospecting license covers a little more than 36 000 hectares (360 km²) on the farm Concordia (ERF 1251) some 15 km north east of the closed O'Kiep copper mine, which at one time was the  2^nd largest copper producer in southern Africa after the  Phalaborwa copper mine (still in production)  in the Limpopo Province.

The OCD has been subjected to intense geological and geophysical exploration over the past 55 years to 1998. While this exploration included 1300 km, of which 133 000 metres (m) were in the Project area, the focus of this historic drilling targeted high grade underground deposits that were emplaced at depth within steeply dipping structures comprising basic rocks of anorthosite, diorite and norite of the major Koperberg (Old Dutch - copper mountain) Geological  Suite (KS) .  

Excellent outcropping of the KS and associated sympathetic geophysical anomalies made locating these copper bearing deposits relatively easy. These easily located deposits are now all but depleted

Total production and known reserves from these deposits as at 1985 was 2 Mt (million tons) of Cu from/within 27 separate localities over an area of around 3000 km².

The total production plus reserves for the period 1940 to 1979 is 95 Mt @ 1.75% Cu with individual mines including Okiep, Spektakel, Carolusberg, Nababeep and Concordia, ranging in production from 0.2 Mt to 37 Mt. 
 

The mined and known copper deposits are confined to the Koperberg Suite, the youngest major group of intrusives in the district, which occurs as swarms of generally irregular, easterly trending, steep north dipping, dyke like bodies, usually 60 to 100 m wide, and seldom exceeding 1 km in continuous strike length. The Koperberg suite bodies are found within narrow linear antiformal structures (locally called 'steep structures') along which the continuity of the adjoining 'intruded' Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex rocks has been interrupted by piercement folding and faulting. In places pipe-like bodies of 'mega-breccia' that generally lie along these structures are hosts to the Koperberg Suite. Steep structures, 'mega-breccias' and the Koperberg Suite all post date the major fold events. 

 
The Koperberg Suite comprises mainly basic rock types of diorite, anorthosite and norite in order of decreasing abundance. Many of the Koperberg Suite bodies are entirely uniform, while others are composite. There is some evidence for initial anorthosite, followed by progressively more basic types. The copper is associated with the more basic lithologies.

The copper sulphides, mainly chalcopyrite (CuFeS₂) and bornite (Cu₅FeS₄) with subsidiary chalcocite (Cu₂S), range from fine disseminations, to coarse granular, to vein aggregates, to local massive concentrations. Pyrite (FeS₂) is widespread but in small amounts, sometimes containing traces of cobalt. Pyrrhotite (~FeS) is present in some orebodies, with associated pentlandite (NIFeS) , while minor galena (PbS)  and sphalerite (ZnFeS) is found in others.

The sulphides post-date silicate and oxide minerals and are present in a number of forms including, interstitially between silicate grains; as granular aggregates with silicates; along cleavage planes of hypersthene and mica; and replacing Fe-Ti-oxides. Localised hydrothermal alteration of hypersthene around sulphide grains is a conspicuous feature in little altered host rock.  

General

Galileo has the right to earn-in a 51% beneficial interest in the Concordia copper project, by way of 51% beneficial shareholding in Shirley Hayes IPK (Pty) Ltd ("SHIP") on expenditure of ZAR10million (approximately GBP500 000) over 14 months on exploration and development. SHIP holds the copper prospecting rights to the 36,373-hectare (364 km²) Project Area in the OKiep Copper District in the Namaqualand Complex in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Galileo continues to review the Data Base, which comprises extensive geological exploration data including mapping sampling, geophysics, and some 1 300km of drilling from previous exploration by others including OCC in the Okiep Copper district and the Project Area.

Technical Sign-Off

Andrew Sarosi, Director of Galileo, who holds a B.Sc. Metallurgy and M.Sc. Engineering, University of Witwatersrand and is a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, is a "qualified person" as defined under the AIM Rules for Companies and a competent person under the reporting standards. The technical parts of this announcement have been prepared under Andrew's supervision and he has approved the release of this announcement.

 Further details are available from the Company's website which details the company's project portfolio as well as a copy of this announcement: www.galileoresources.com

ENDS

You can also follow Galileo on Twitter: @GalileoResource

For further information, please contact:

Galileo Resources PLC Colin Bird, Chairman	Tel [phone]
Andrew Sarosi, Executive Director	Tel [phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited  - Nomad   Roland Cornish/James  Biddle	Tel [phone]
Beaufort Securities Limited - Broker Jon Belliss	Tel [phone]

 

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