TIDMGSCU
RNS Number : 2962G
Great Southern Copper PLC
18 July 2023
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED
UNDER THE UK VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014
WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL)
ACT 2018, AS AMED. ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A
REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO
BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
18 July 2023
Great Southern Copper plc
("GSC" or the "Company")
High-Grade Cu in Rock Chip Samples up to 3.39% Cu from Abundante
Mine Prospect
Copper-rich tourmaline breccia target identified at
Especularita
Great Southern Copper plc (LSE: GSCU), the company focused on
copper-gold exploration in Chile, is pleased to announce high-grade
copper assay results from rock chip samples of its Abundante
prospect located within the Especularita Project.
Highlights:
-- Results for 33 rock chip and channel chip samples give assay results up to 3.39% Cu
-- 60% of samples report anomalous grades over 0.5% Cu with 39% of samples over 1% Cu
-- Copper sulphide mineralisation visible in outcropping tourmaline breccia
-- Miarolitic cavities infilled with copper sulphides suggests
potential for intrusive-related copper mineralisation at depth
below the breccia system
-- Artisinal mine workings located in close proximity to the Teresita Au-Cu vein-breccia swarm
-- Detailed drone magnetics in progress to define drill targets
High-grade copper mineralisation has been identified and sampled
in historical mine workings of a tz-tourmaline breccia-pipe located
in close proximity to the Teresita vein-breccia swarm(1) . A total
of 33 rock chip samples from mine wall and dump material of the
Abundante mine have been returned with assay results reaching up to
3.39% Cu and 0.15 ppm Au (Figure 1).
Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer of Great Southern Copper,
said: "We are very pleased to receive our first set of exploration
results for the new Abundante prospect at Especularita. The
acquisition of this project is the result of many years of patient
and diligent work by our concession management team and I would
like to thank them for their continued efforts.
"The geology of the prospect displays characteristic evidence of
being a tourmaline breccia pipe, many of which are known to host
high-grade copper deposits. Furthermore, tourmaline breccia pipes
are often known to occur in clusters. Therefore, the Company will
fast track its exploration efforts at Abundante, including a
detailed in-fill drone magnetics survey now in progress, to advance
this prospect for scout drilling.
"We are rapidly achieving our goal at Especularita of generating
a pipeline of high-grade copper prospects - Teresita, Victoria,
Aurelia and now Abundante - that will become targets for
reconnaissance drilling programmes. It is exciting to see that the
four prospects identified to date all represent different styles of
mineralisation, further highlighting the significant potential of
the Especularita Project."
Tourmaline breccia-pipe copper deposits:
Copper mineralisation at the Abundante mine occurs as coarse
chalcopyrite and tourmaline in the matrix of clast-supported
breccia intruding diorite host rock. Geological mapping of the mine
workings suggests that the breccia body has a broadly elliptical
shape in plan-view and is exposed over a 20 x 15 m area. The mine
walls and dump material exhibit classic decompressive shock
textures, such as shingle-breccia and chalcopyrite-filled
miarolitic cavities, characteristic of intrusive-related tourmaline
breccia pipes (Figure 2). The "shingles" (fragments of stacked host
rock) are typically flat-lying suggesting that the mine working is
currently exposing the upper part of the breccia system which has
potential to increase in both size and grade at depth.
Intrusive-related tourmaline breccia pipes are a known source of
high-grade copper. Examples of these deposits currently being
explored for copper include the Chanape Cu-Au-Ag project in Peru
(Turmalina Metals TSX:TBX) and the Soledad Cu project also in Peru
(Chakana Copper TSXV:PERU).
Abundante Cu Mine:
The historical Abundante copper mine was acquired earlier this
year(2) as one of a suite of 27 concessions (4,804 ha) that the
Company won via an auction of defaulted and/or abandoned third
party concessions. The mine was developed on an artisanal scale by
local miners for oxide copper and was presumably terminated once
mining encountered the water table or sulphide mineralisation.
Historical production records for the mine are not available and it
is assumed that ore from the mine was delivered to the ENAMI
government plant located at either Ovalle or Illapel. Records of
historical exploration are similarly not available, however, it is
evident that at least one drill-hole targeted the shallow
copper-oxide mineralisation.
Sampling and results:
All rock chip samples collected are located using hand-held GPS
units (WGS84 zone 19S datum, UTM coordinate system) and allocated a
unique sample number using a ticket-book system. Channel chip
samples were taken on 2 metre intervals defined using a tape
measure - random chips of rock were collected from the mine face
using a rock-pick over a horizontal length of approximately two
meters and a vertical height of about 30 centimetres with each
sample placed in a single sample bag. The centre point of each
channel chip sample was located visually on a detailed geo-located
drone image that has an inherent GPS error of +/- 3 metres.
Although efforts were made to ensure representativity of the
channel samples, the chip method is not continuous and therefore
should be treated as indicative.
Samples are transported from the field and delivered by Company
employees to ALS Laboratories in Santiago where they are prepared
for analysis (weighed, dried, crushed and pulverised). A subsequent
200g split of each sample pulp is then forwarded to the ALS
geochemical laboratory in Lima, Peru, where samples are assayed for
gold (30g fire assay with ICP-AES finish, ALS code AU-ICP21) and
analysed for 48 major, base and trace elements by ICP-MS following
a four-acid digest (ALS code ME-MS61).
Of the 33 samples collected 60% of samples report a copper assay
grade above 0.5% Cu and 39% of samples report metal grades above
1.0% Cu. To date gold is not generally significant in samples from
this prospect with only one sample reporting assays grades above
0.1 ppm Au.
Figure 1: Drone topographic map of Abundante copper mine with
copper-in-rockchip geochemistry (Cu%) thematic map. The black
outline indicates the interpreted known surface expression of the
tourmaline breccia, which may extend further under mine workings
and waste dumps. UTM19S WGS84
Figure 2: Typical decompressive shock textures for tourmaline
breccias exposed at Abundante mine, (left) flat-lying shingle
breccia with oxide copper staining, and (right) copper
sulphide-filled miarolitic cavities.
References:
1. RNS 5675F (11 Jul 2023): High grade Cu-Au in rock chip
samples from Teresita up to 5.97% Cu and 13.7g/t Au.
2. RNS 3666Q (20 Feb 2023): Exploration Update at Especularita and San Lorenzo.
Enquiries:
Great Southern Copper plc
Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer +44 20 4582 3500
--------------------
SI Capital Limited
--------------------
Nick Emerson +44 (0)14 8341 3500
--------------------
Gracechurch Group
--------------------
Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore, Henry
Gamble +44 (0)20 4582 3500
--------------------
Notes for Editors:
About Great Southern Copper
Great Southern Copper is a mineral exploration company focused
on copper-gold deposits in Chile. The Company has the option to
acquire rights to 100% of two projects that are prospective for
large scale copper-gold deposits in the underexplored coastal belt
of Chile, a globally significant mining jurisdiction and the
world's largest copper producer.
The two projects comprise the San Lorenzo Project, northeast of
the coastal town of La Serena in northern Chile, and the
Especularita Project located approximately 170km to the south of
the San Lorenzo project. The two early-stage Cu-Au exploration
projects are within the same coastal metallogenic belt as other
major deposits including Teck's Andacollo copper and gold mine and
Pucobre's El Espino project. Significant historical small-scale and
artisanal workings for both copper and gold are readily evident in
both exploration project areas.
Great Southern Copper is strategically positioned to support the
global market for copper, a key metal in the clean energy
transition around the world. The Company is actively engaged in a
two-year exploration and evaluation work programme targeting both
large tonnage, low to medium grade Cu-Au deposits as well as low
tonnage high-grade Cu-Au deposits.
Further information on the Company is available on the Company's
website: https://gscplc.com
Competent Person Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to exploration
results is based on and fairly represents information reviewed or
compiled by Mr Sam Garrett, a Competent Person who is a Member of
the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a Fellow of the
Society of Economic Geologists. Mr Garrett is the CEO of Great
Southern Copper PLC. Mr Garrett has sufficient experience that is
relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types 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 Garrett has provided his prior
written consent to the inclusion in this announcement of the
matters based on information in the form and context in which it
appears.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
DRLGPUAUMUPWPPM
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 18, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Great Southern Copper (LSE:GSCU)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Apr 2024 bis Mai 2024
Great Southern Copper (LSE:GSCU)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Mai 2023 bis Mai 2024