TIDMPXC
RNS Number : 9882H
Phoenix Copper Limited
09 December 2020
Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: PXC / Sector: Mining
9 December 2020
Phoenix Copper Limited
("Phoenix" or the "Company")
NI 43-101 Compliant Resource Report, Empire Mine Operational
Update, New Corporate Presentation
Phoenix Copper Ltd (AIM: PXC, OTCQX: PXCLF), the AIM quoted
North American focused base and precious metals company, is pleased
to announce that the complete NI 43-101 "Updated Mineral Resource
Estimate for the Empire Mine Project Custer County, Idaho USA" is
now available on the Company's website at
www.phoenixcopperlimited.com . The Company is also pleased to
provide an operational update for the Empire Mine, and announces
that an updated Corporate Presentation is now available on the
website.
Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am
pleased to announce that the completed NI 43-101 Resource Update
Report is now available on the Company's website. The updated
resource shows a 19% increase in Measured and Indicated resource
and a US$122 million increase in contained metal at a $3.00/lb
($6,612/tonne) copper price following a 32-hole drilling programme
earlier this year. Including the Inferred resources, we now have
129,641 tonnes of copper, 58,440 tonnes of zinc, 10,133,772 ounces
of silver and 355,523 ounces of gold.
"I would also like to provide an operational update for our
Empire Mine open pit project. Laboratory and bench scale
metallurgical test work began on the Empire Mine magnetite ore this
past summer as a follow-up to high-grade gold values encountered in
drilling and channel sampling. Leach testing using sodium cyanide
and ammonium thiosulfate ("ATS") was conducted and specifically
targeted gold and silver recovery. It was concluded that the
environmentally friendly ATS worked as well as sodium cyanide in
the bench-scale tests, showing gold recoveries as high as 97.8%.
This test work was reported by the Company on 29 June 2020.
"In the time since the metallurgical testing was initiated, the
price of copper has reached $3.50/lb ($7,714/tonne), the highest
since February 2013. The copper at the Empire Mine open pit now
represents approximately 60% of the contained metal value within
the deposit. As a result we are extending the metallurgical test
work to focus on maximising the recovery of copper, alongside the
optimal recovery of gold, silver and zinc. Noting that Goldman
Sachs, JP Morgan and Jefferies all confirm that copper and gold are
entering a commodities' bull market, further comprehensive
metallurgical testing of all metals will therefore continue for a
while longer in order to take full advantage of rising metal prices
and to optimise the economics of the open pit project.
"The Company has shipped approximately 12 metric tonnes of ore
material, a mix of multiple ore types, to the metallurgical lab for
bench-scale and bulk pilot testing. When the initial testing is
completed, the results will be used to estimate capital and
operating costs for use in a Preliminary Economic Assessment
("PEA"), and ultimately be used to develop a full process design
for the Empire Mine open pit deposit. While the bulk metallurgical
test work will continue well into the ongoing feasibility study
process, with continued refinement of the process design, I
anticipate that the initial metallurgical test work on all metals
necessary to complete the PEA level studies will be completed in
the next few weeks, allowing us to complete and publish an updated
PEA shortly thereafter.
"The Phoenix team remains fully engaged in metallurgical testing
and metal recovery optimisation. The results of this work are
critical in the short and long term planning of the Empire Mine
and, as always, I look forward to sharing the results as they
become available.
"We are also pleased to announce the publication of our new
Corporate Presentation on the Company website. This Presentation
will be further updated when the PEA is completed."
Empire Mine open pit - 2020 Resource Update and Report
In compliance with NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Properties, Section 4.2 (5) (iii), a completed technical report for
the 26 October 2020 resource disclosure has been filed and is
available on the Company's website at
www.phoenixcopperlimited.com/reports . The updated resource
estimate shows the following:
-- A 19% increase in the Measured & Indicated resource and a
US$122 million increase in contained metal value as compared with
the previous resource statement
-- A Measured and Indicated resource of 22.9 million tonnes comprised of -
o Copper - 87,543 tonnes
o Gold - 238,406 ounces
o Silver - 7.59 million ounces
o Zinc - 43,871 tonnes
Hardrock Consulting ("HRC") estimated this updated NI 43-101
compliant resource using the value of all gold, silver, copper and
zinc in the deposit using a cut-off grade of 0.292% copper
equivalent oxide, and 0.497% copper equivalent sulphide, and is
tabulated as follows:
Mineral Resource Statement for Empire Mine, after Hard
Rock Consulting October 2020
CLASS Tonnes Cu Equiv Average Grade Metal Content
%
---------------------------
Cu Zn Ag Au Cu Zn Ag Au Cu Equiv
% % g/t g/t tonnes tonnes ozs ozs Tonnes
Measured 8,289,719 0.81 0.42 0.22 11.4 0.327 34,655 18,160 3,031,791 87,036 67,013
----------- ----- ----- -------- ----------
Indicated 14,619,340 0.72 0.36 0.18 9.7 0.322 52,888 25,711 4,563,407 151,370 105,899
M+I 22,909,059 0.75 0.38 0.19 10.3 0.324 87,543 43,871 7,595,198 238,406 172,912
------------ ----- ----- -------- ----------
Inferred 10,612,556 0.75 0.40 0.14 7.4 0.343 42,098 14,569 2,538,574 117,117 79,296
----------- ------------ ----- ----- -------- ---------- ---------
The mineral resources for the Project have been estimated in a
manner consistent with the NI 43-101 Committee of Mineral Reserves
International Reporting Standards ("CRIRSCO") of which both the
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") and
Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves (the "JORC Code") are members.
Pilot-Scale Metallurgical Testing
As part of the Company's ongoing Empire Mine work programme, a
bulk sample was collected from outcrops near the location of
channel samples analysed in 2018. The head-grade of the initial
bulk sample assayed at 12.8 grammes per ton gold. The sample was
submitted to AuRIC Metallurgical Laboratories in Salt Lake City,
Utah for cyanide-alternative laboratory and bench scale
agitated-tank leach testing.
AuRIC performed four laboratory scale amenability tests and two
bench scale extraction tests using sodium cyanide lixiviant, and
four laboratory scale amenability tests and two bench scale
extraction tests using the non-toxic ammonium thiosulfate
lixiviant, on splits from the primary sample. The results of this
test work indicate that ATS works equally as well as sodium cyanide
on both the laboratory scale samples (30 grammes to 250 grammes)
and the bench scale samples (3,000 grammes). Gold recovery using
ATS on the two bench samples resulted in 97.8% and 97.7%, and
silver recovery was 69.8% and 78.2% after six hours of leaching.
ATS reagent consumption for both tests was 4.32% and 4.42%,
respectively.
By comparison, the sodium cyanide gold recoveries on splits of
the same sample were 97.8% and 97.7%, and silver recoveries of
68.1% and 65.5% following six hours of leach time. The sodium
cyanide reagent consumption for both tests was 6.00%. A detailed
laboratory report titled "Laboratory and Bench Scale Metallurgical
Extraction Tests Performed Using Sodium Cyanide and Ammonium
Thiosulfate Leaches on a Composite Sample of Magnetite Ore from the
Empire Mine, Custer CO, ID" was reported by the Company on 29 June
2020 and can be viewed on the Company's website at
www.phoenixcopperlimited.com/research .
Following the 29 June 2020 reporting, the Company has shipped
approximately 12 metric tonnes of samples representing various ore
types from the Empire Mine open pit deposit. Bulk pilot testing and
the development of metal recovery and process design elements have
been ongoing.
An updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Empire Mine
Open Pit Project based on this updated resource and metallurgical
testing results is anticipated in early Q1 2021.
Qualified Person
The information in this announcement has been reviewed by Roger
Turner A.C.S.M., M.Sc., M.I.M.M.M., C.Eng., Chief Technical Officer
and Director of the Company. Mr Turner is a graduate mining
engineer from the Camborne School of Mines with an MSc in Economic
Geology from Leicester University with more than 40 years'
experience in mine development, construction and operation and is a
qualified person under the AIM Rules. Mr Turner consents to the
inclusion of the information in the form and context in which they
appear.
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance
Phoenix is committed to meeting and exceeding the environmental
standards required by law as a core value of the Company. The
baseline environmental data collected to date will be used for
furthering the permitting process, but as importantly, will be used
as the building blocks for the Company's future Environmental,
Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) platform.
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have
been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this
announcement.
Contacts
For further information please visit
www.phoenixcopperlimited.com or contact:
Phoenix Copper Ryan McDermott Tel: +1 208 954
Limited Dennis Thomas 7039
Richard Wilkins Tel: +44 7827
290 849
Tel: +44 7590
216 657
SP Angel (Nominated David Hignell / Caroline Rowe Tel: +44 20 3470
Adviser) 0470
----------------------------------- -----------------
Brandon Hill Capital Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield Tel: +44 20 3463
(Joint Broker) 5000
----------------------------------- -----------------
WH Ireland (Joint Harry Ansell / Adam Pollock Tel: +44 207
Broker) / Katy Mitchell 2201666
----------------------------------- -----------------
EAS Advisors (US Matt Bonner / Rogier de la Tel: +1 (646)
Corporate Adviser) Rambelje 495-2225
----------------------------------- -----------------
Blytheweigh Tim Blythe / Megan Ray Tel: +44 20 7138
(Financial PR) 3204
----------------------------------- -----------------
Notes
Phoenix Copper Limited is a North American focused, base and
precious metal explorer and developer, which has carried out a
drilling programme and generated a copper, gold, silver and zinc
resource on which it is carrying out a feasibility study to bring
the historically producing Empire Mine in Idaho, USA, back into
production. It is also evaluating the silver and gold resources
around three other past producing mines within the 23 km (2) Empire
claims block as well as cobalt in two claims blocks north of Empire
in Idaho.
Phoenix's primary operations are focused near Mackay, Idaho in
the Alder Creek mining district. This district includes the
historical Empire, Horseshoe, White Knob and Blue Bird Mines, past
producers of copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead and tungsten from
underground mines in the first half of the twentieth century.
Additionally, the district includes Navarre Creek a Carlin-trend
gold discovery which hosts a 6.1 km gold strike length within a 9.8
km(2) area.
Phoenix acquired an 80% interest in the historical Empire Mine
property in 2017 and, based on a total of 320 drill holes, an oxide
resource was completed in late 2017. A NI 43-101 compliant PEA
(preliminary economic assessment) for an open pit heap leach
solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine was completed
in April 2018. In 2018 a further 8,600 metres in 93 holes was
completed to upgrade the oxide resources, provide samples for
ongoing metallurgical test work, geotechnical and hydrological
studies and condemnation drilling for the heap leach pad site,
waste dump and plant site. An updated NI 43-101 compliant resource
was completed in early May 2020 and October 2020 for all metals.
Present contained metal in all NI 43-101 compliant categories of
resources, measured, indicated and inferred, stand at 355,523
ounces of gold, 129,641 tonnes of copper, 10,133,772 ounces of
silver and 58,440 tonnes of zinc.
Since acquiring the Empire project, Phoenix has increased the
claim area from 818 acres to 5,717 acres, mainly to the northwest
and west, and in so doing has increased the potential for
additional oxide and sulphide copper resources, as well as the
potential for stand-alone gold and silver resources, along a strike
length of approximately 5.4 km towards the other brownfield mines
of the Horseshoe, White Knob and Blue Bird Mines now within the
property boundary. In particular, a new discovery at Red Star, 330
metres north west of the Empire Mine proposed open pit, has
revealed sulphide ore and from three shallow exploration drill
holes a NI 43-101 compliant maiden resource of 1.6 million silver
equivalent ounces was reported.
At Empire, it is estimated that less than 1% of the potential
ore system has been explored to date and, accordingly, there is
significant opportunity to increase the resource through phased
exploration.
More details on the Company, its assets and its objectives can
be found on PXC's website at www. phoenixcopperlimited.com .
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