28 February 2024
East Star Resources
Plc
("East Star" or the
"Company")
Award of Copper Porphyry
Exploration Licence
East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan focused copper exploration and
resource development company, is pleased to announce the award of
the first copper porphyry exploration licence under the new copper
porphyry exploration strategy initially funded through a US$500,000
grant from the BHP Xplor programme.
Highlights:
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79 km2 tenement (Ayagoz)
is prospective for a copper porphyry deposit
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3km long silica lithocap located ~80km
north of the large Aktogay open pit copper mine (~2.5Bt @
0.39% Cu)
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BHP Xplor grant to cover the cost of all
licence fees and the initial work programme
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Together with BHP, East Star is
developing a strategy of regional target generation for copper
porphyry deposits, principally focussed on the Balkash-Ili magmatic
arc, host to the Kounrad deposit (~650Mt @ 0.59% Cu) and
Aktogai-Aidarly (~2.5Bt @ 0.39% Cu). By applying modern mineral
systems concepts with advanced desktop analytical techniques and
on-the-ground geological confirmation, East Star intends to secure
several further exploration licences within the area of interest
for further field work. The BHP Xplor grant will be directed
towards licence costs, field programmes, desktop evaluation work,
and staff and administrative costs in the execution of the work
plan. The programme will be managed by East Star with guidance from
BHP and a wider team of experts.
Alex Walker, East Star CEO, commented:
"We're happy to have our first licence under the new copper
porphyry strategy which has already undergone an initial site visit
in June 2023 by Non-Executive Director, Chris van Wijk. The site
visit confirmed easy site access and hydrothermal alteration
associated with a silica lithocap which was identified from
satellite imagery. We're looking forward to
getting on the ground for
geological mapping and soil sampling to advance this prospect
and continuing our high-level desktop work for other prospects in
this huge and underexplored mineral belt by using the foundational frameworks
shared by BHP as part of the Xplor
programme."
Regional
Setting
The licence is located on the eastern end of the
paleozoic Balkash-Ili volcanic arc. The Balkash-Ili arc is known to
host multiple copper and gold rich porphyry and skarn deposits with
the best-known examples including Kounrad (5Mt contained copper)
and Aktogai-Aidarly which is located some 80km to the south of the
licence.
The Aktogai cluster of deposits consists of the
Aktogay, Aidarly and Kyzilkia orebodies which were emplaced into
the large Late Carboniferous Koldar Pluton and its associated
volcanic rocks around 327Ma. Aktogai contains approximately 10Mt of
contained copper and 60t of gold (Seltmann, R. & Porter, M.
2005).
The work history of the licence is still being
compiled from archive data; however, the prospect was identified
during soviet era mapping which shows a large 'secondary quartzite'
and anomalous gold in several areas around the licence. 'Secondary
quartzites' were a soviet term used to refer to the residual,
leached silica lithocaps which are commonly associated with
porphyry intrusions. This lithocap has also been identified through
analysis of ASTER multispectral data collected and processed by the
USGS and has been classified as Argillic alteration which has been
confirmed by a field visit carried out in 2023 (see Photo 1
below).
Photo 1: Silica lithocap
in central Ayagoz licence, with argillic alteration immediately
behind the field vehicle. View looking south.
The licence is well served by existing infrastructure
including a railway used to transport concentrate from the Aktogai
mining complex, which runs through the south-east of the licence,
and a well-maintained gravel road running from Aktogai in the south
to Ayagoz (town) in the north alongside the railway.
Figure 1: Ayogaz Licence map showing the silica lithocap and areas or
argillic alteration and associated infrastructure
Work
Programme
Initial work on the licence shall consist of
confirmatory geological mapping and broadly spaced soil samples
combined with Terraspec analysis. The results of these works will
enable the Company to confirm or negate the prospectivity of the
system through analysis of the metal zonation patterns and the clay
species within the soils.
About BHP Xplor
BHP Xplor is a cohort-based world-first
accelerator programme, dedicated to unearthing new critical mineral
deposits by uniting BHP experts, thought leaders and innovative
mineral explorers to offer participants with the opportunity to
accelerate their exploration concepts and the potential to
establish a long-term partnership with BHP. The programme offers
participants funding, mentorship and coaching, and connection into
BHP's network of suppliers and service providers.
BHP Xplor merges concepts from both
venture-capital and early-stage accelerators, to establish a
fit-for-purpose exploration portfolio of innovative, early-stage
mineral exploration companies and helps drive their exploration
campaigns. The programme provides candidates with a one-off,
non-dilutive grant of up to US$500,000, together with in-kind
services, mentorship, networking opportunities with industry and
investors and connections. The grant is a once off opportunity and
there are no obligations or commitments on East Star beyond the
conclusion of the Xplor programme; however, East Star has committed
to grant BHP certain pre-emption rights with respect to investments
in East Star or its projects within the programme.
The Xplor programme is designed to create
disruptive results in mineral exploration by identifying new
concepts, leveraging new data and testing opportunities at a much
faster pace than discoveries to date.
East Star
Resources Plc
Alex Walker, Chief Executive
Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234 (via Vigo
Consulting)
SI
Capital (Corporate Broker)
Nick Emerson
Tel: +44 (0)1483 413 500
Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate
Broker)
Peter Greensmith
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0930
Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)
Ben Simons / Peter Jacob
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234
About East
Star Resources Plc
East Star Resources is focused on the discovery
and development of strategic minerals required for the energy
revolution. With eight licences covering 1,190.3 km² in three
mineral rich districts of Kazakhstan, East Star is undertaking
an intensive exploration programme, applying modern geophysics to
discover minerals in levels that were not previously explored. East
Star's most advanced project is a copper deposit on the world-class
Rudny Altai VMS Belt where the Company is working towards the
delivery of a JORC compliant open pit copper resource close to
infrastructure, within trucking distance of third-party mills with
excess capacity. East Star's management are based permanently on
the ground, supported by local expertise, a joint venture with the
state mining company on certain projects, and grant funding from
BHP through the BHP Xplor programme for copper porphyry
exploration.
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This
announcement contains inside information.
The person who
arranged for the release of this announcement was Alex Walker, CEO
of the Company.