TIDMEEE
RNS Number : 9699U
Empire Metals Limited
29 November 2023
Empire Metals Limited / LON : EEE / Sector: Natural
Resources
29 November 2023
Empire Metals Limited
('Empire' or the 'Company')
Highest Grade Drilling Results Reported to Date:
Extensive, High-Grade Titanium Mineralisation Confirmed from
Surface to over 350m Deep, Extending Across 30km of the Giant
Mineral System
Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the
analytical lab results from the second and third diamond core
drillholes completed at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia (
'Pitfield' or the 'Project' ), which confirms high-grade TiO(2)
mineralisation zones across thick bedded intervals to a vertical
depth of circa 350m, confirming Pitfield as a world class,
district-scale titanium mineral system.
Highlights
-- Highest grade drilling results reported to date with second
and third completed diamond drillholes both intersecting thick,
bedded intervals of high-grade titanium mineralisation.
-- Drillhole DD23TOM001, the second of the three diamond drillholes, intersected:
o 297.1m @ 6.10% TiO(2) from 111.4m
o including 51.6m @ 7.12% TiO(2) from 326.0m.
-- Drillhole DD23COS001, the third diamond drillhole completed, intersected:
o 173.2m @ 5.76% TiO(2) from 18.6m
o including 58.7m @ 6.32% TiO(2) from 24.0m.
-- Latest drill results complement the previously reported,
thick high-grade interval ( 276.5m @ 4.57% TiO(2) from 80.5m) from
the first diamond drillhole DD23MTS001 (announced 20 November
2023).
-- All three diamond drillholes completed to date have
intersected strong, sediment-hosted titanium mineralisation
throughout the length of each hole, including thick, higher grade,
bedded intervals, with the bottom of each hole stopped in
mineralisation.
-- Each of these two drill intersections of high-grade titanium
mineralisation is located close to a high-grade TiO(2) surface
target area (one covering 6km(2) and the other covering 3km(2) )
identified from recently completed rock chip sampling.
-- An extensive Reverse Circulation ('RC') programme of the
high-grade target areas is underway , with approximately 18 RC
drill holes completed to date out of the total of 40 RC holes
planned.
-- The Company is advancing investigations into the petrology
and mineralogy of the titanium mineralisation to better understand
potential ore processing options.
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "These exceptional results
provide further evidence that we have a high-grade titanium
enriched mineralised system of global strategic significance at
Pitfield.
"The results clearly point to strong and extensive titanium
mineralisation with thick, high-grade bedded intervals, close to
surface, the grades of which are particularly impressive. We are
now seeing TiO(2) values in excess of 7% over greater than 50m
thick, bedded intervals within a host sedimentary succession that
has been entirely altered and mineralised. The easterly dipping
sedimentary beds that carry the higher grades come to surface to
the west of our diamond drill collars, and it is these shallower,
higher-grade targets that are the focus of our planned RC drill
campaigns.
"The next phase of RC drilling has commenced and is running
smoothly. Comprising 40 RC drillholes, for a total drilled length
of 6,000m, this programme doubles that drilled in our maiden RC
campaign. The plan is to carry out an additional, similarly sized
RC drilling programme in early 2024, targeting the shallower areas
of high-grade TiO(2) beds which have been identified up-dip of the
deeper diamond drillhole intercepts, and in additional higher grade
target areas that we expect to be identified from the RC drilling
currently underway."
The Pitfield Project
Empire holds a 70% interest in Pitfield which is comprised of
four granted Exploration Licences (E70/5465, E70/5876, E70/6320 and
E70/6323) covering 1,042km(2) . Pitfield is located near Three
Springs, a town 313km north of Perth, Western Australia on the
Midlands Road, which until the opening of the Brand Highway in 1975
was the main road route from Perth to the state's north (refer
Figure 1).
Figure 1. Pitfield Project Location showing the scale of the
magnetics anomaly and coincident alteration footprint.
Summary of Diamond Drill Results
Analytical results have now been received for the second and
third diamond drill holes, which were located 12km apart, being
positioned towards the southern end and central portion of the
giant 40km long by 8km wide by 5km deep Pitfield mineral system.
Both drillholes intersected thick, bedded zones of significantly
higher grade TiO 2 mineralisation than that encountered by previous
drilling. The broad nature of the mineralised intercepts,
highlights being 297.1m @ 6.10% TiO 2 (DD23TOM001) and 173.2m @
5.76% TiO 2 (DD23COS001), are globally significant and highlight
the world class nature of this giant titanium mineral system.
Drillhole DD23TOM001 (second completed diamond drill hole)
This hole was drilled to test the depth extent of the titanium
mineralisation intersected in RC drillhole RC23TOM001, which was
drilled in April 2023. The RC drillhole intersected Beaconsfield
Conglomerate formation consisting of interbedded conglomerate and
sandstone. The top 58m was mud rotary drilled as the bedrock is
highly weathered and so no core was recovered over this initial
interval. Notwithstanding, the top 60m of the nearby RC hole
RC23TOM001 graded 4.8% TiO(2) . The diamond drilling also
intersected Beaconsfield Conglomerate and, importantly, thick
intervals of strongly altered sandstones with lesser siltstone but
containing minor conglomerate interbeds. The sandstone-siltstone
intervals are most common, being up to 90m thick in parts. The
strong hematite-epidote-carbonate alteration from the previously
reported first diamond drillhole DD23MTS001 is pervasive across all
rock types, but appears stronger within the sandstones.
The analytical lab results clearly indicate that higher TiO(2)
grades coincide with the more strongly altered, thick
sandstone-rich intervals, suggesting that the greater permeability
of the sandstone beds was important in focusing the mineralising
hydrothermal fluids.
DD23TOM001 intersected titanium-mineralised beds throughout the
hole, beginning from surface, in addition to cutting thick, bedded
intervals of higher grade titanium mineralisation, including the
following:
-- 297.1m @ 6.10% TiO(2) from 111.4m including:
o 51.6m @ 7.12% TiO(2) from 326.0m
Drillhole DD23COS001 (third completed diamond drillhole)
This hole was drilled to test a strong magnetic anomaly within
the central part of the giant Pitfield mineral system. The
drillhole intersected Beaconsfield Conglomerate formation
throughout the length of the hole. The top 260m is predominantly
hematite-epidote-carbonate altered sandstones with thin interbeds
of siltstone and minor conglomerate beds. The remainder of the
drillhole is dominated by conglomerate with minor sandstone and
siltstone interbeds. The conglomerate is altered but not to the
same intensity as the sandstones. The sandy conglomerate matrix
towards the bottom of the hole has been silica-carbonate altered,
differing in appearance to the commonly epidote-altered sandy
matrix higher up in the hole.
Similarly to the second diamond drill hole, the analytical lab
results clearly indicate a correlation between strength of titanium
mineralisation and host rock type with the upper,
sandstone-dominated intervals returning higher TiO(2) grades,
especially within thicker bedded sandstone intervals whereas the
more conglomerate-dominated intervals lower in the hole generally
contain less intense mineralisation and consequently returned lower
TiO(2) grades than the sandstone.
DD23COS001 intersected titanium mineralised beds throughout the
hole, beginning from near surface, in addition to cutting thick,
bedded intervals of higher grade titanium mineralisation, including
the following :
-- 173.2m @ 5.76% TiO(2) from 18.6m
o Inc. 58.7m @ 6.32% TiO(2) from 24.0m
It is important to note that the mineralised intervals reported
above are hosted by sedimentary beds which continue up dip to
surface to the west and are open below the hole down dip to the
east.
The results continue to confirm that Pitfield hosts a
district-scale titanium mineral system with multiple, broad,
high-grade titanium-mineralised zones that the current exploration
work is identifying within the larger mineral system. The diamond
drilling results clearly demonstrate the continuity of thick,
bedded zones of higher grade titanium mineralisation to a vertical
depth of 350m, still with elevated TiO(2) values at the bottom of
the drillholes indicating that the bedded mineralisation extends
deeper.
The high-grade mineralised zones intersected by these two
diamond drillholes, DD23TOM001 and DD23COS001, correlate well with
the two new high-grade TiO(2) drill targets, covering 6km(2) and
3km(2) respectively, which were recently identified from the rock
chip sampling and geological mapping programme that was previously
reported.
Refer to Table 1 and Table 2 below respectively for analytical
results for each interval from diamond drillholes DD23TOM001 and
DD23COS001. The analytical lab procedures involve a multi-acid
digestion with ICP-MS instrumentation finish. The lab reports Ti
values whilst industry standard is to report TiO(2) equivalent
values. The conversion factor is: Ti value x 1.668 = TiO(2)
value.
Figure 2. Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity
survey results with location of maiden RC drillholes, diamond
drillholes and planned RC drillholes.
RC Drill Programme
The current phase of drilling, an extensive RC drill programme,
targeting higher grade mineralisation, is well underway and is
expected to run for two more weeks, with approximately 18 RC
drillholes completed to date. The programme consists of 40
drillholes totalling 6,000 metres along the length of the
high-density gravity core coincident within the regional magnetics
anomaly (see Figure 2), with particular focus on the high-grade
areas identified through the recent surface rock chip sampling and
mapping programme in addition to the diamond drill results. The RC
drill programme will also include drillholes to test up-dip bedded
high-grade zones to the west of those intersected within the second
diamond drillhole, DD23TOM001, reported herein.
The objective of this drill programme is to further define the
scale of this giant, titanium-enriched mineral system but to also
identify near-surface, higher grade zones which will be the focus
of future resource development and mining studies, inclusive of
mineralogical and metallurgical characterisation.
Future Work
Subject to the outcomes of the current RC drill programme, the
Company expects to carry out a further 6,000m RC drill programme in
Q1 2024, targeting near-surface, higher grade zones, and providing
some initial in-fill drilling which represents the beginning of a
mineral resource development phase of work.
The Company is continuing its investigations into the petrology
and mineralogy of the titanium mineralisation to better understand
potential ore processing options.
Table 1. Diamond drillhole #3 (DD23TOM001) geochemical analysis
lab results for TiO(2) *
(*Conversion factor for Ti to TiO2 is 1.668.)
Table 2. Diamond drillhole #3 (DD23COS001) geochemical analysis
lab results for TiO(2) *
(*Conversion factor for Ti to TiO2 is 1.668.)
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 Tel: 020 4583 1440
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP Tel: 020 3470 0470
(Nomad & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl
---------------------
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Tel: 020 7186 9950
Broker)
Damon Heath
---------------------
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial Tel: 020 7236 1177
PR)
Susie Geliher / Ana Ribeiro
---------------------
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 mineral system that hosts a
globally significant titanium discovery. The Company is also
advancing the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project in Western Australia, which
is prospective for high-grade gold and also kaolin used to produce
high-purity alumina, an essential component in lithium-ion
batteries.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in
Australia; the Walton Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely
Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria, in addition to three
precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold
producing region of Austria.
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