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 (8th
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, 6th
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: +44 7506 43 41
07 / Graham.Atthill-Beck@kbrl.co.uk /
blackpearladvisers@gmail.com
Brinsley Holman: +44 20 7464 4098
/ Brinsley.Holman@kbrl.co.uk
IMC Exploration Group plc
Kathryn Byrne: +353 85 233 6033