Heli EM Survey on Rudny Altai Licences
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25 May 2022
East Star Resources Plc
("East Star" or the "Company")
Commencement of EM Survey on Rudny Altai VMS Licences
East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan-focused gold, rare earths and copper explorer, is pleased to announce the commencement of a helicopter electromagnetic ("HEM") survey on the Company's Rudny Altai volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") licences in Eastern Kazakhstan.The survey is expected to take 40-50 days, with data processing and technical review and targeting to follow. The results from the survey are expected to provide East Star with some immediately drill-ready targets and/or provide targets requiring further field and geophysical work prior to drilling.
Highlights:
· 3,647-line kilometres are being flown on 200m line spacing with closer spaced lines expected on areas of high prospectivity
· East Star's licences contain more than 20 historical mineral occurrences and mines, which will greatly assist with target prioritisation after the HEM survey
· Xcalibur Multiphysics ("Xcalibur"), a world leader in airborne EM data acquisition and analysis, is conducting the survey, ensuring quality of data and execution. Xcalibur conducted the HEM programme which led to an extension of Chalice Mining's, Julimar PGE-Ni-Cu-Co discovery in Western Australia
Alex Walker, East Star CEO, commented:
"H EM surveying is highly effective in direct detection of conductive sulphide deposits in which large conductivity contrasts exist between the orebodies and host rocks. It is the same style survey that was used to discover Havieron, the Greatland Gold and Newcrest gold-copper discovery in Western Australia. To the best of our knowledge East Star is the first company ever to use this geophysical technology on the Rudny Altai VMS region and so we're very excited to begin work on this prolific but under explored area.
The infrastructure on the licences includes rail, road and power and the area boasts two potentially suitable mills - both carrying spare capacity - making the economic threshold to develop any discovery extremely low as well as strategically important for the two regional producers being KAZ Minerals and Kazzinc (owned by Glencore and Tau-Ken Samruk). East Star is working with the same Kazakh service providers used by Kazzinc for its regional geophysics and the data, when combined with historic data which are still undergoing analysis, will be provided to global VMS experts for analysis to assist with drill targeting."
Rudny Altai Region
Licences 847-EL and 914-EL (the "Licences") are located in the Rudny Altai region of Eastern Kazakhstan. Administratively, the Licences are within the Shemonaikha district and are extraordinarily well connected to infrastructure. The regional centre of Ust-Kamenogorsk is located 45km, and its international airport is located 35km, southeast of the Licences. The railway connecting Ridder and Tomsk cities crosses the Licences from the south to the northwest with two railway stations located on the territory of the Licences. There is a network of dirt roads within the Licences that are suitable for driving all year round. A hard-surfaced road from Ust-Kamenogorsk to Shemonaikha crosses the western part of the Licences.
The area is characterised by moderately hilly terrain with elevations ranging between 270m and 630m above the mean sea level.
The Rudny Altai region is one of the largest VMS provinces in the world, part of Central Asian Orogenic belt. According to a mineral map, published in the 1960s, the Licences contain more than 20 mineral occurrences (including Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, W) and a significant amount of soil and stream sediment anomalies.
HEM Survey
High electrical conductivity can indicate rock layers containing mineralisation. It is the principal technology used in the Paterson province of Western Australia which was used to discover Rio Tinto's 'Winu' deposit and Greatland Gold/Newcrest's 'Havieron' deposit. VMS deposits produce significant electromagnetic, gravimetric, and magnetic responses and thus provide great potential for detecting of ore bodies using airborne and ground geophysics (Ford et al., 2007). For VMS, deposits contrasting in magnetic, electromagnetic, and gravitational properties in comparison with host rocks, become direct exploration vectors
The targets for the helicopter time-domain electromagnetic ("HTEM") survey are Volcanogenic Massive Sulphides (VMS ores), represented in this region by occurrences of lead-zinc, copper-zinc, and copper-iron ore. Geologically, the area is composed of volcanic, volcanic-sedimentary, and sedimentary deposits of the Devonian. Extrusive-subvolcanic formations are generally represented by rocks of felsic, medium and mafic composition, with the predominance of felsic rock (albitophyres, potassium feldspar porphyry, rhyodacites, less often andesite and andesite-basalt porphyrites). Intrusive formations include mainly granites.
Aurora and Xcalibur
Xcalibur is the world's leading company in Multiphysics. It owns 20 specialised aircraft and 85 geophysical systems and has executed more than 1,000 projects globally. Throughout its over 40 years of experience, Xcalibur has established more than 50 million linear kilometers of collected data.
Aurora Minerals Group, a leading service provider in Kazakhstan, are leading the logistics and execution of the HEM programme. Aurora has conducted exploration programmes for Kazzinc, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group, Tau-Ken Samruk, and KAZ Minerals.
The contractor is using an AIRBUS AS350 B3e helicopter where the flight altitude on a line-by-line basis will not exceed 75m on average.
For further information visit the Company's website at www.eaststarplc.com , or contact:
East Star Resources Plc
Alex Walker, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234 (via Vigo Consulting)
Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Broker and Placing Agent)
Duncan Vasey / Lucy Williams
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0930
Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)
Ben Simons / Oliver Clark
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234
About East Star Resources Plc
East Star Resources is focused on the discovery and development of gold, copper, and rare earth deposits in Kazakhstan. With an initial five licences covering 1,442 km2 in three mineral rich districts, East Star is undertaking an intensive exploration programme, applying modern geophysics to discover minerals in levels that were not previously explored. The Company also intends to further expand its licence portfolio in Kazakhstan. East Star's management are based permanently on the ground, supported by local expertise, and a joint venture with the state mining company.
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The person who arranged for the release of this announcement was Alex Walker, CEO of the Company.
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