Nickel, Copper and PGE defined at Elizabeth Hill
Trading Symbols
AIM: UFO
FWB: I3A1
18 November 2021
Alien Metals Ltd
("Alien" or "the Company")
Strong Nickel, Copper and PGE anomalies defined in initial trenching and rock chip sampling programme at Elizabeth Hill
Follow the link to view the announcement in full including all figures:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7547S_1-2021-11-17.pdf
Alien Metals Ltd (LSE AIM:UFO), a global minerals exploration and development company, is pleased to update the market on the results of its trenching and mapping programme at the Elizabeth Hill Project, host to the high-grade Elizabeth Hill Silver Mine in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.
This trenching and mapping programme was completed as part of some QA/QC work by Alien on the numerous targets in the project, and was also planned to complement the recently completed initial drilling programme.
Highlights
· Strong Copper ("Cu"), Nickel ("Ni") and Platinum Group Elements ("PGE") mainly Palladium ("Pd") assays from trenching and rock chip sampling programmes
· Trenching results include:
o 26m @ 0.25% Cu and 0.2% Ni, including 8m @ 0.6% Cu, 0.38% Ni and 0.20 g/t Pd from trench 15a, which remains open on strike at both ends
o 34m @ 0.1 % Cu, 0.17% Ni and 0.19 g/t Pd over the entire length of trench 12a, also open on strike at both ends
· Rock chip results include:
o 2.2% Cu, 0.51% Ni and 0.6 g/t Pd from a sample taken from historic trench 15
o 0.23% Cu from sample at Yannery Hill prospect in Munni Munni North
· Results further validate the Company's view that the Elizabeth Hill Project hosts the potential for a much larger mineralised (VMS-style) system along with the silver deposit
Bill Brodie Good, Chief Executive Officer & Technical Director of Alien Metals, commented:
"The maiden trenching programme has reinforced historical anomalous copper, nickel and PGE mineralisation, which are still open along strike and, given the width and grade of these zones, could indicate the presence of a much larger system as a source. This mineralisation appears to be associated with the ultramafic intrusion of the Munni Munni intrusion, the known J-Reef and the complex structural controls in the area. These results will contribute to planning a follow-up field programme to expand our knowledge of the potential of these targets.
"The more regional rock chip sample results from Munni Munni North are also giving us further target areas to pursue, especially the southern trend of the J-Reef and the area around the Conquest prospect in the east, and we will continue to test these areas when we go back into the field."
Following a detailed review of the historical exploration carried out on the project, including the advice and recommendations from senior geologists who have previously worked on the project at various stages over the last 25 years, Alien proposed a series of trenches. The goal of this was to identify a repeat silver orebody as well as to identify a more detailed surface expression of potential Cu/Ni and PGE orebodies already partially defined by historic work.
Alien therefore planned a series of initial trenches to further test both the southern extent of the silver deposit, and undertook in-fill and on strike testing of the J-Reef copper, nickel and PGE anomalies around the Natalie Hill Prospect south and east of the mine. Due to the very hard calcrete crust south of the orebody, this programme did not access the in-situ units below the surface cover with the excavator available, however more success was achieved along the J-Reef trend.
Figure 1: Location of Elizabeth Hill Project, Western Australia
All samples were assayed at ALS Perth by method ME ICP61 for the main elements such as copper, nickel and cobalt. Further selected samples with PGE potential from the J-Reef prospect area were further analysed by method PGM-ICP23 for gold, platinum and palladium. A total of 147 samples were analysed by the full suite with 97 of those being further tested for PGE mineralisation. QA/QC samples were inserted as standard practice every 20 samples including CRM standards, and blanks and on-site duplicates to ensure laboratory results were of an acceptable level of confidence.
Significant results from the trenching and sampling programme include Trench C3 (resampling of a historic trench), which returned 2m @ 0.27% Cu, 0.13% Ni, 0.32 g/t Pd, Trench C12A, a new trench just north east of the historic trench 12, which returned 24m @ 0.12 % Cu, 0.19% Ni and 0.21 g/t Pd including 4m @ 0.45 g/t Pd and Trench C15A, a new trench east south east of historic trench 15, which returned 14m @ 0.42% Cu, 0.28% Ni and 0.15 g/t Pd, including 8m @ 0.6% Cu, 0.38% Ni, 0.20 g/t Pd. Rock Chip FXA15989, taken from an old sample pile from the eastern end of the historic trench 15 returned 2.2% Cu, 0.51% Ni and 0.6 g/t Pd.
These results confirm some of the historic sampling and add confidence to the theory of the presence of a larger mineralised polymetallic zone associated with the Munni Munni intrusion with mainly copper, nickel and PGEs. With both trenches 12A and 15A finishing at both ends in mineralisation, there is great potential for the mineralised zone to have a substantial width, which is up to 100m in some historic reports. As the figures show below, the north-south strike extent of this system has the potential to be several kilometres long, running into the Munni Munni North licence to the south (Figure 10). Historic trench 16 returned 8m @ 1.28% Ni, 1.3 % Cu and 150 g/t Pd, though has not been retested by Alien to date. With this recent work and the confirmation of the historic anomalies, the Company continues to understand and develop the potential of this larger system.
The Company is very encouraged by these early results and is planning the next stage of work to possibly infill with more sampling, and is considering RAB or Air Core drilling methods to cover more ground cost effectively, while getting more detail from sub surface sampling.
Figure 2: Location of trenches sampled, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 3: Copper sample results, trenches C1 - 3, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 4: Copper sample results, trenches C12A and C15A, with historic sample results, Natalie Hill Prospect, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 5: Nickel sample results, trenches C1 - 3, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 6: Palladium sample results, trenches C1 - 3, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 7: Palladium sample results, trenches C12A and C15A, with historic sample results, Natalie Hill Prospect, Elizabeth Hill Project, Nov 2021
Figure 8: Copper results of rock chip sampling, Elizabeth Hill & Munni Munni North, Nov 2021
Figure 9: Nickel rock chip sampling results, Elizabeth Hill Project, November 2021
Figure 10: J-Reef Prospect historic sample results, Elizabeth Hill Project, November 2021
- Ends -
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this report which relates to Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Mr Allen Maynard, who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geosciences ("AIG"), a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy ("AusIMM").. Mr Maynard is the Director and principal geologist of Al Maynard & Associates Pty Ltd and has over 40 years of exploration and mining experience in a variety of mineral deposit styles, including the Elizabeth Hill Silver project during the initial discovery stage. Mr Maynard has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for reporting of Exploration Results, Exploration Targets, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (JORC Code). Mr Maynard consents to inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
For further information please visit the Company's website at www.alienmetals.uk, or contact:
Alien Metals Limited
Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director
(via St-James' Corporate Services, Company Secretary)
Tel: +44 20 7796 8644
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
James Biddle / Roland Cornish
Tel: +44 (0) 207 628 3396
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited (Broker)
Andrew Thacker / James Pope
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3657 0050
WH Ireland Ltd (Joint Broker)
Harry Ansell / Katy Mitchell
Tel +44 (0) 207 220 1666
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR)
Sarah Hollins / Annabel Atkins / Matthew McHale
alienmetals@yellowjerseypr.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512
Notes to Editors
Alien Metals Ltd is a mining exploration and development company listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE: UFO). The Company's focus is on precious and base metal commodities, with its operations located in proven mining jurisdictions and it has embarked upon an acquisition-led strategy headed by a high-quality geological team to build a strong portfolio of diversified assets.
In 2019, the company acquired 51% of the Brockman and Hancock Ranges high-grade (Direct Shipping Ore) iron ore projects and has since entered into a conditional agreement to increase its interest to 90% while in 2020 acquired 100% of the Elizabeth Hill Silver Project, which consists of the Elizabeth Hill Historic Silver Mine Mining Lease and the surrounding Munni Munni North Exploration Tenement. The Australian projects are located in the world-renowned Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The Company also holds two silver projects, San Celso and Los Campos, located in Zacatecas State, Mexico's largest silver producing state, which produced over 190m oz of silver in 2018 alone, accounting for 45% of the total silver production of Mexico for that year. The Company holds a Copper Gold project in the same region, Donovan 2.
The company was also awarded an Exploration Licence in Greenland in late 2020, which surrounds the world class Citronen Zinc-Lead deposit.
In addition to progressing and developing its portfolio of assets and following its strategic review of its portfolio of silver and precious metals projects, Alien Metals has identified priority exploration targets within all of its projects which it is working to advance systematically.
Glossary:
Calcrete - a combination of surface material, soil, sand, pieces of rock, that are cemented together by calcareous material, formed in soils in semi-arid conditions
Calcareous - containing calcium carbonate; chalky
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