Further investment in Vardar Minerals

RNS Number : 4510M

Beowulf Mining PLC

12 January 2023

 

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") (EU) No. 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

12 January 2023

Beowulf Mining plc

("Beowulf" or the " Company ")

Further investment in Vardar Minerals ahead of 2023 Exploration Programme

Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight : BEO), the mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that the Company has invested £250,000 in Vardar Minerals Ltd ("Vardar"). The investment increases the Company's ownership in Vardar from 59.5 per cent to 61.1 per cent approximately. This funding will be used to start preparations for the 2023 exploration programme.

Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer of Beowulf, commented:

"Vardar achieved fantastic exploration success in 2022, which saw the Company identify an extensive mineralised epithermal system with numerous gold, silver and base metal exploration targets.

"The next phase of work will build on last year's results and this investment is funding preparations for drilling, with holes designed to test the best portions of each of the exploration targets, and cost-effective mapping and sampling programmes which will continue across our new licences, which have already identified several base metal anomalies.

"We are particularly excited by the highly prospective Red Lead Target, which displays all the key geological markers of the neighbouring Stan Terg deposit and mine and is now a priority target for drilling in Spring 2023.

"As stated in our December announcements on Vardar, the district being explored in northern Kosovo is highly prospective, with abundant evidence of widespread lead-zinc-silver mineralisation, and the addition of new licences to Vardar's portfolio is a further exciting development. The Vardar team continues to use state-of-the-art exploration methodologies in the process of identifying new opportunities and is maintaining a competitive first-mover advantage in the region.

"Vardar's expanded licence position has established a dominant land holding in the highly prospective areas surrounding the Stan Terg lead-zinc-silver mine."

Overview of 2023 Exploration Programme

A drill focussed exploration programme is being planned, building on the exploration success delivered in 2022, with holes designed to test the best portions of each of the exploration targets and identify potential economic mineralisation.

Primary objectives for the drill programme include:

1.  Drill testing the Red Lead Target to identify potential lead-zinc-silver mineralisation associated with mineralised hydrothermal breccias in contact with marble units;

2.  Deeper drilling at Majdan Peak ("MP") targeting high-grade feeder structures at the base of the high-sulphidation epithermal system;

3.  Drill testing along strike of base and precious metal mineralisation intersected at Majdan Peak South ("MPS"); and

4.  Drilling of the Gold Ridge Target to the south of MPS.

Other exploration activities will include:

1.  Continuation of soil sampling, rock grab sampling, mapping and high-resolution drone magnetics on the Shala licences in order to delineate new drill ready targets; and

2.  In addition, three drill holes targeting porphyry and lithium targets are planned at the Viti licence in Southeast Kosovo.

Previous Announcements:

16 December 2022 - Highly Prospective Vardar Lead-Zinc-Silver Trend - New Licences

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/xo1yz9r

New licences, Shala East and West, have been awarded and extend Vardar's first mover advantage in the highly prospective area surrounding the Stan Terg lead-zinc-silver mine district.

The world-class Stan Terg deposit is a neighbour to Vardar's Mitrovica licence (63 million tonnes at 3.5 per cent lead, 2.3 per cent zinc and 80 grammes per tonne silver - based on past production and estimated remaining reserves at the same grade).

14 December 2022 - Red Lead - Highly prospective Lead-Zinc-Silver Exploration Target Identified

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/rg9qm3x

Field mapping at the Red Lead Target, which is defined by a multi-element soil sampling anomaly with associated Induced Polarisation ("IP") anomalies, has identified several mineralised trachyte bodies, hydrothermal breccias, gossans and marble units in the basement rocks providing a promising target which is analogue to the World-class Stan Terg mine located just two kilometres East Northeast.

21  November 2022 - Start of Drilling into Majdan Peak Polymetallic Targets in Kosovo

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/w13416r

8 September 2022 - Majdan Peak analysis generates additional compelling exploration targets and increase the significant 'district' potential

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/xl81vpw

Three diamond drill holes, totalling 644 metres ("m"), into MPS intersected noteworthy silver, gold and base metal intersections highlighting the potential for this 600m strike-length target to host economic mineralisation.

22 August 2022 - Exploration Drilling in Kosovo Discovers Large Polymetallic Epithermal System

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/beowulf_mining_plc/news/rns/story/wvj8epw

Diamond drilling, consisting of 11 holes totalling 2,497m, into MP, identified a large polymetallic epithermal system with anomalous gold, silver and base metal intersections. This significant metal-rich system has likely introduced the lead-zinc-silver mineralisation into the neighbouring Stan Terg deposit and surrounding Vardar targets.

Beowulf's Investment in Vardar

Since Beowulf's first investment in Vardar in November 2018, the Company has invested approximately £3.35 million and owns 61.1 per cent of Vardar. Vardar gives Beowulf exposure to the highly prospective exploration potential of the Tethyan Belt, a major orogenic metallogenic province for gold and base metals. 

Throughout the last four years the Vardar team has delivered exciting results for both the Mitrovica licence which has several exploration targets, including lead, zinc, copper and gold, and also the Viti licence which is showing potential for copper-gold porphyry mineralisation and lithium.

Glossary

Hydrothermal Alteration - also referred to as wallrock alteration, is a general term that encompasses many processes by which rock-forming minerals are altered due to reactions accompanying the flow of heated aqueous fluids along fractures and grain boundaries.

Induced Polarisation (IP) - Variations in chargeability can be diagnostic, for example, when aiming to characterise a mineral deposit, where the chargeability of the mineralised zone is often higher than the host rock. Often an Induced Polarisation (IP) experiment is performed with the Direct Current Resistivity (DCR) hence they are often called IP-DC survey. Both conductivity and chargeability distribution can be recovered from an IP-DC survey.

Qualified Person Review

The information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Chris Davies, a Qualified Person ("QP"), who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.  Mr. Davies has conducted a desktop review of source documents and data which underpin the technical statements disclosed herein and approves the disclosure of technical information in the form and context in which it appears in this announcement, in his capacity as a QP as required under the AIM rules.  Mr. Davies has visited Vardar's Mitrovica and Viti projects in Kosovo.

Mr. Davies has sufficient experience, that is relevant to the content of this announcement, to qualify as a Competent Person ("CP") as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code of Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves".

Mr. Davies BSc (Hons) Geology, MSc DIC Mineral Exploration, FAusIMM, is a Non-executive Director of Beowulf and is an exploration/economic geologist with more than 35 years' experience in the mining sector.

Enquiries:

Beowulf Mining plc
Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel (Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Stuart Gledhill / Adam Cowl	Tel: [phone]
BlytheRay
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray	Tel: [phone]

Cautionary Statement

Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to the Company's current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as "may", "might", "seeks", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "believes", "projects", "plans", strategy", "forecast" and similar expressions. These statements reflect management's expectations and assumptions in light of currently available information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to , (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf's continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from those presented and forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecasts.

 

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