TIDMEUZ
RNS Number : 9420A
Europa Metals Ltd
07 June 2021
7 June 2021
Europa Metals Ltd
("Europa Metals", the "Company" or the "Group") (AIM, AltX:
EUZ)
Pb, Zn, Ag & Cu PFS Drilling Results - Toral Project,
Spain
Europa Metals, the European focused lead-zinc and silver
developer, is pleased to announce initial assay results from its
Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") diamond drilling programme being
conducted by Sondeos y Perforaciones Industriales de Bierzo SA
("SPI Drilling") at the Company's 100% owned Toral Pb, Zn & Ag
project ("Toral" or the "Toral Project").
The current infill drilling campaign is seeking to improve the
Company's understanding of the deposit to assess the potential for
increasing future production in the early years of the planned mine
life thereby enhancing the project's pay-back period and
profitability.
Highlights
Results :
-- Significant intersections from drillholes TOD-028, 029, 030 & 031, including:
o TOD-028: 2.4m @ 10.58% ZnEq(PbAg)*;
o TOD-029: 20.45m @ 2.68% ZnEq(PbAg)* including:
-- 3.8m @ 8.87% ZnEq(PbAg); and
o TOD-029: significant widths over 20m suitable for
metallurgical ore sorting testwork.
-- Drilling campaign's objectives are being achieved in the
upper zone of the deposit with regards to both drillhole spacing
and metallurgical sample collection.
-- The campaign area is providing results that could support the
ore sorting processing route identified in the 2020 independent
preliminary economic study, with significant widths of <4%
cut-off grade being intersected.
-- Both siliceous and carbonate styles of mineralisation intersected as expected.
-- Detailed geotechnical data captured to contribute to the PFS-level mine design.
-- As previously reported, four daughter holes were drilled from
TOD-029 (designated TOD-029 a-d) following pre-assay inspection of
the intersections. The assay results support the decision to target
a meaningful mineralised sample from the TOD-029 daughter holes to
undertake further ore-sorting testwork for the PFS.
-- Drilling is ongoing and further updates will be provided once
additional results are received - a resource update will be
commissioned at the appropriate time for input into the planned
PFS.
-- Hydrogeological campaign is on schedule with completion of
the main bore hole work to test water levels/conditions within the
proposed mining area being the next key component. Piezometer work
to monitor local water conditions ongoing.
Current drilling campaign objectives :
-- Focused on the 100 - 800m horizon, with initial drilling on
the upper siliceous material zone that would potentially host the
early years of future production.
-- Targeting gaps within the current JORC (2012) resource model
to enhance understanding of the block model, retrieve geotechnical
information for mine design, and identify opportunities to gather
further metallurgical samples from within substantive intersections
encountered.
-- Collation of data to inform development of the early years of
potential future production at Toral and refine the pay-back period
in the current economic model.
-- Drilling data being utilised to progress the Company's
innovation partnership with the University of Salamanca facilitated
by the grant of EUR466,801 received by way of a loan from Spain's
Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology .
Commenting today, Laurence Read, CEO of Europa Metals said :
"Today's assay results are excellent and we look forward to
incorporating a new resource zone into the early years of potential
future production at Toral. This will clearly be dependent on the
results of an independent JORC (2012) resource update to be
commissioned in due course, however the campaign's findings to date
are supportive of us meeting this objective.
"It is particularly pleasing to see the team's decision to
initiate daughter holes off TOD-029, pre assay, being supported by
today's results. By securing meaningful metallurgical samples for
PFS level work, Europa Metals can build on its existing
metallurgical testwork findings as well as further assessing the
implementation of ore sorting within the upper siliceous zone of
the project. Further enhancement of the early pay-back and
economics for the Toral Project at a PFS level remains one of our
key objectives.
"I would like to thank the team for their hard work in
delivering these results as well as progressing our other
workstreams in 2021 to date. Operationally, worker safety,
particularly during the coronavirus crisis, remains our priority
and with an experienced and well established team we have achieved
a significant amount without any lost-time injuries or incidents
."
Commenting today, Myles Campion, Executive Chairman of Europa
Metals said :
"The thick widths intersected in the upper siliceous zone are
significant and the campaign is proving up areas that were
previously considered sub-economic. Today's results, combined with
our ongoing drilling/metallurgical programme, should ultimately
enable us to update the pre-existing resource estimate and further
enhance the economics for Toral as we advance towards a PFS."
The Europa Metals' team is delighted with today's initial
results and believes that the new data obtained will significantly
contribute to its understanding of the upper zones of the deposit
and earlier years of the production model and planned mine design,
bringing in a new mineable area. With a 4% cut-off grade for the
project, Toral typically demonstrates higher grades at depth; the
high-grade intersections reported below in the upper zones exceed
our internal expectations.
Drill Campaign's Objectives
The ongoing drilling campaign is seeking to infill known gaps in
the resource drilling pattern, around the current known Indicated
resource at Toral between the 100 - 800 metre horizon. The holes
have also been designed to retrieve a bulk sample for use in
further metallurgical testwork in order to confirm the suitability
of the siliceous ore type, found in the upper levels of the Toral
deposit, for X-Ray Transmission ore sorting. Geotechnical logging
is also routinely being carried out for each hole to aggregate
further data for our geotechnical database to facilitate further
design studies.
The target area for holes TOD-028, TOD-029, TOD-030 and TOD-031
is located above the current Indicated resource area, in a zone
containing a siliceous style of mineralisation (the lower, high
grade zones of Toral hosting a predominantly carbonate style
mineralisation) with the drilling being conducted using the biggest
core size possible (PQ) to enable the retrieval of a new bulk
sample for further metallurgical test work.
Drilling Results
Hole TOD-029 identified significant widths of the siliceous
style of mineralisation present in the upper parts of Toral. The
total length of the intersection was 20.45m @ 2.68% ZnEq(PbAg)
which included 3.8m @ 8.87% ZnEq(PbAg).
The team elected to drill four "daughter" holes or wedges from
the parent TOD-029 hole in order to acquire more sample to be
utilised in the PFS ore sorting metallurgical testwork
programme.
Hole TOD-028 intersected 2.4m @ 10.58% ZnEq(PbAg), hole TOD-030
intersected 2m @ 1.11% ZnEq(PbAg) and hole TOD-031 intersected
1.05m @ 4.39% ZnEq(PbAg).
Such heterogenous results were expected across this upper part
of Toral and by utilising the samples collated into a bulk sample,
Europa Metals will be able to further determine and refine the
economic viability of ore sorting as a component of the processing
route.
Figure 1 : Toral Life of Mine Development Plan (looking North)
with the current phase of the 2021 drilling campaign retrieving
resource, geotechnical and metallurgical data to develop the early
years of a potential future mining scenario.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9420A_1-2021-6-4.pdf
Drilling parameters for the assay results reported for the 2021
diamond drilling campaign to date are presented in the table
below:
HOLE_ID EASTING NORTHING ELEVATION LENGTH COOR_SYS
TOD-028 681651.16 4710061.60 570.84 531.70 ETRS89utm29
---------- ----------- ---------- ------- ------------
TOD-029 681408.63 4710017.25 542.91 370.00 ETRS89utm29
---------- ----------- ---------- ------- ------------
TOD-030 681195.26 4710029.10 531.92 261.60 ETRS89utm29
---------- ----------- ---------- ------- ------------
TOD-031 681194.48 4710029.68 531.78 374.00 ETRS89utm29
---------- ----------- ---------- ------- ------------
Figures 2 & 3 : East-West long sections locating completed
primary drill holes TOD-028, 029, 030 & 031 (2021 drilling
campaign), the blue circle indicates area of TOD-029 and its
daughter holes.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9420A_1-2021-6-4.pdf
Drill holes TOD-028, 029, 030 and 031 (shown in yellow in
figures 2 and 3) were drilled with a PQ diameter, with half of the
core being sent for independent analysis at ALS Laboratories. The
key selected assay results received to date are set out in the
table below:
Hole_ID From To Interval Zn_% Pb_% Ag_ppm Cu_% ZnEq(PbAg)%*
TOD-028 514.10 516.50 2.40 6.50 3.78 30.18 0.05 10.58
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-029 339.6 360.05 20.45 1.85 0.76 6.59 0.03 2.68
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-029
(included) 339.60 341.30 1.70 2.31 0.35 1.88 0.01 2.67
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-029
(included) 346.95 350.75 3.80 6.24 2.47 18.12 0.05 8.87
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-029
(included) 355.00 356.65 1.65 2.54 0.13 2.37 0.01 2.71
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-029
(included) 357.70 360.05 2.35 1.43 0.44 6.61 0.02 1.97
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-030 243.10 245.10 2.00 0.06 0.37 37.07 0.53 1.11
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
TOD-031 351.55 352.60 1.05 3.63 0.67 7.33 0.38 4.39
------- ------- --------- ----- ----- ------- ----- -------------
* - ZnEq (PbAg)% is the calculated Zn equivalent incorporating
lead and silver credits; (ZnEq (PbAg)% = Zn + Pb*0.926 + Ag*0.019).
Zn equivalent calculations were based on 3-year trailing average
price statistics obtained from the London Metal Exchange and London
Bullion Market Association giving an average Zn price of
US$2,680/t, Pb price of US$2,100/t and Ag price of US$16.2/oz.
Metallurgical drilling
The assay results received for hole TOD-029 support the team's
decision to undertake four daughter holes from the main drillhole
in order to gather a meaningful mineralised sample for further
metallurgical testing. It is envisaged that as part of the PFS,
further metallurgical testwork will be undertaken to advance the
pre-existing recovery and high-grade concentrate results from the
carbonate material in addition to determining ore sorting routes
for the siliceous material present in the upper zones of the Toral
Project.
Copper results
The consistent presence of copper, up to 0.5% Cu, so far up in
the mineralisation is noteworthy but, as previously stated, the
Company will not presently seek to incorporate copper into the
resource. It is anticipated that a future exploration campaign,
post production being achieved, would focus on mineralisation below
the current 1,000m resource (and to the East) in order to determine
expansion possibilities to enhance the current, 12 year, mine life
and potentially seeking to identify a separate thermal event within
the system hosting copper feeders.
Outlook
Drilling operations are ongoing, in line with the objectives set
out above, and further assay results will be announced once
processed and received. It is anticipated that a resource update
(JORC 2012) will be commissioned, when appropriate, to form part of
the project's PFS. The Toral hydrogeological campaign remains on
schedule with the completion of the main bore hole work, to test
water levels/conditions within the proposed mining area, being the
next key component of this workstream. This is in addition to the
ongoing monitoring of local water conditions via our piezometer
programme. All other project related workstreams and potential
corporate initiatives are progressing well and further updates will
be made in due course as appropriate.
Competent Person's Statement
The exploration results and activity reported in this
announcement have been compiled and reviewed by Mr Luis J. Pérez
who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG)
and a European Geologist (EurGeol). Mr Pérez has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type
of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is
undertaking to be regarded as a qualified person under the AIM Note
for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009. Mr Pérez
consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based
on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
For further information on the Company, please visit
www.europametals.com or contact:
Europa Metals Ltd
Dan Smith, Non-Executive Director and Company Secretary
(Australia)
T: +61 417 978 955
Laurence Read, CEO (UK)
T: +44 (0)20 3289 9923
Linkedin: Europa Metals ltd
Twitter: @ltdeuropa
Vox: Europametals
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Rory Murphy/Matthew Chandler
T: +44 (0)20 7409 3494
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited (Broker)
Andy Thacker/James Pope
T: +44 (0)20 3657 0050
Sasfin Capital Proprietary Limited (a member of the Sasfin
group)
Sharon Owens
T (direct): +27 11 809 7762
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of
United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018.
Notes to Editors :
Appendix : Further information on the Toral Project
Mineral Resource Estimate
-- An Indicated resource of approximately 3.8Mt @ 8.3% Zn
Equivalent (including Pb credits), 4.7% Zn, 3.9% Pb and 30g/t Ag,
including:
o 180,000 tonnes of zinc, 150,000 tonnes of lead and 3.7 million
ounces of silver.
-- An Inferred resource of approximately 14Mt @ 6.5% Zn
Equivalent (including Pb credits), 4% Zn, 2.7% Pb and 23 g/t Ag,
including:
o 540,000 tonnes of zinc, 360,000 tonnes of lead and 10 million
ounces of silver.
-- A total resource of approximately 17Mt @ 6.9% Zn Equivalent
(including Pb credits), 4.1% Zn, 2.9% Pb and 24 g/t Ag,
including:
o 720,000 tonnes of zinc, 510,000 tonnes of lead and 14 million
ounces of silver.
Table 1 : Summary of Indicated and Inferred mineral resources
for the Toral property reported at a 4.0% Zn equivalent cut-off
grade (including Pb and Ag credits) and estimated grade and
tonnages at the various cut-off grades. Figures are rounded to
reflect the accuracy of the estimate and, as such, totals may not
cast.
Cut-Off Tonnes Density Zn_Eq Zn Eq Zn % Pb % Ag g/t Contained Contained Ag Troy Oz
Zn Eq (Millions) (Pb)% (PbAg)% Zn Tonnes Pb Tonnes (Millions)
(PbAg)% (000s) (000s)
Indicated
6 2.8 2.9 9.5 10.0 5.3 4.5 34 150 130 3.1
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
5 3.3 2.9 8.9 9.5 5.0 4.2 32 170 140 3.4
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
4 3.8 2.9 8.3 8.9 4.7 3.9 30 180 150 3.7
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
3 4.1 2.9 7.9 8.5 4.4 3.7 29 180 150 3.8
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
Inferred
6 8 2.9 7.8 8.3 4.7 3.4 28 370 270 7.2
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
5 10 2.9 7.2 7.7 4.4 3.0 26 450 310 8.6
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
4 14 2.9 6.5 6.9 4.0 2.7 23 540 360 10
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
3 17 2.9 5.9 6.3 3.7 2.4 20 610 400 11
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
Total
6 11 2.9 8.2 8.8 4.8 3.7 30 520 390 10
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
5 14 2.9 7.6 8.1 4.5 3.3 27 620 450 12
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
4 17 2.9 6.9 7.3 4.1 2.9 24 720 510 14
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
3 21 2.9 6.3 6.7 3.8 2.7 22 790 560 15
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
Transitional Oxide Material
4 3 2.9 5.2 5.7 2.6 2.9 27 75 83 2.5
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
Unweathered Fresh Rock
4 14 2.9 7.2 7.7 4.5 3.0 24 650 430 11
----------- -------- ----------- ---------- ----- ----- ------- ---------- ---------- -----------
* - Zn Eq (Pb)% is the calculated Zn equivalent incorporating
lead credits; (Zn Eq (Pb)% = Zn + Pb*0.926). Zn Eq (PbAg)% is the
calculated Zn equivalent incorporating silver credits as well as
lead; (Zn Eq (PbAg)% = Zn + Pb*0.926 + Ag*0.019). Zn equivalent
calculations were based on 3-year trailing average price statistics
obtained from the London Metal Exchange and London Bullion Market
Association giving an average Zn price of US$2,680/t, Pb price of
US$2,100/t and Ag price of US$16.2/oz.
Notes:
1. No mineral reserve calculations have been undertaken. Mineral
resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability.
2. Numbers are rounded to reflect the fact that an Estimate of
Resources is being reported as stipulated by JORC 2012. Rounding of
numbers may result in differences in calculated totals and
averages. All tonnes are metric tonnes.
3. Zn equivalent calculations were based on 3 year trailing
average price statistics obtained from the London Metal Exchange
and London Bullion Market Association giving an average Zn price of
US$2,680/t, Pb price of US$2,100/t and Ag price of US$16.2/Oz.
Recovery and selling factors were incorporated into the calculation
of Zn Eq values. It is the Company's opinion that all the elements
included in the metal equivalents calculation (zinc, lead and
silver) have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.
4. Zn Eq (PbAg)% is the calculated Zn equivalent incorporating
silver credits as well as lead and is the parameter used to define
the cut-off grade used for reporting resources (Zn Eq (PbAg)% = Zn
+ Pb*0.926 + Ag*0.019).
5. Zn Eq is the calculated Zn equivalent using lead credits and
does not include silver credits (Zn Eq = Zn + Pb*0.926).
6. The Mineral Resource Estimate set out above for the zinc,
lead and silver mineralisation in the Toral Project area is based
on a 3D geologic model and wireframe restricted block model that
integrated the exploration work on the Toral project up to 21
January 2020. The block model used uniform cell size of 25x10x25m
to best suit the orientation of the mineralisation and sample
spacing. The block model was rotated by 20deg in plan view to best
match the trend of mineralisation. Sub cells were applied to better
fit the wireframe solid models and preserve accurate volume as much
as possible. Cells were interpolated at the parent block scale
using an Ordinary Kriging.
7. Following statistical analysis and assessment of the updated
assay composite database top cuts of 125g/t Ag were applied to the
data. No top cuts were applied for Zn or Pb.
8. The Indicated and Inferred mineral resource category for the
Toral zinc-lead-silver project set out in Table 1 (at cut-off
grades >4% Zn Equivalent) comply with the resource definitions
as described in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The JORC Code, 2012
Edition. Prepared by: The Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian
Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia
(JORC).
9. The tonnes and grades reported at a cut-off grade of 3% Zn
equivalent are below the economic cut-off grade of 4% and as such
should not be considered mineral resources, they are shown here for
comparison purposes only.
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