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 AMENDED. ON
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION
SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN.
5 February 2024
Great Southern Copper
plc
("GSC" or the
"Company")
Rock Chip Sampling at Victoria Prospect
Delivers Assay Results up to 4.04% Cu, 4.16g/t Au and 26.7g/t Ag
from Multiple Quartz-Sulphide Vein Breccias
Exciting pipeline of high-grade Cu-Au
targets continues to develop at Especularita
Great Southern Copper plc (LSE: GSCU), the
company focused on copper-gold and lithium exploration in Chile, is
pleased to announce results from the latest mapping and sampling
programme at its Victoria prospect, Especularita.
Highlights:
·
Assay results from 71 rock chip and rock float
samples with grades up to 4.04% Cu, 4.57g/t
Au and 26.7g/t Ag
·
91% of outcropping silica-sulphide vein-breccia
samples are anomalous in copper (>0.1% Cu) with 36% of these
samples assaying over 1% Cu
·
High grade Cu+Au-Ag hosted in multiple
sub-parallel quartz-sulphide+carbonate vein-breccias mapped and
sampled over a 1000 x 600m area
·
Similar to Teresita style Cu-Au vein-breccia
mineralisation currently being drill-tested
·
Exploration to prioritise locations for scout
drilling in H1 2024 is underway
Early reconnaissance and follow-up
prospect-scale exploration activities at Victoria prospect,
Especularita, has discovered new high-grade Cu-Au-Ag mineralisation
associated with mesothermal style, intrusive-related
quartz-sulphide-carbonate vein breccias mapped over an area of 1000
x 600m1,2,3,4. Historical sampling by the Company has
reported results up to 6.94% Cu, 1.85g/t Au and 84.8g/t
Ag.
Sam Garrett,
Chief Executive Officer of Great Southern Copper,
said: "Whilst we complete our scout drilling
programmes at Abundante and Teresita, our exploration team is
working to enhance the pipeline of drilling prospects at
Especularita. These new rock chip results continue to highlight the
significance of the Victoria prospect with consistent high grades
of copper and associated gold-silver mapped and sampled in
outcrop.
"The mineralisation is similar in style to that
currently being drill-tested at our Teresita prospect, although the
Victoria mineralisation is typically copper-rich, whereas the
Teresita veins tend to be gold-rich. This type of metal zonation
across the Especularita project is important to understand and
alludes to the large-scale endowment of the project.
"Work continues at Victoria with a view to
better understanding the controls on mineralisation and advancing
the prospect toward being ready for drill testing. These results
further emphasise the pipeline of high quality copper-gold drill
targets that GSC's team is developing across this significant
project."
Victoria
prospect mesothermal intrusion-related Cu+Au-Ag vein
breccias:
Prospect-scale geology mapping and sampling at
Victoria has identified a network of ineralizati structures
including quartz-sulphide matrix vein-breccias hosted in hornfelsed
volcanics, and quartz-carbonate-sulphide matrix to carbonate
matrix-supported vein-breccias hosted in granodiorite.
Beneath the shallow gravel cover the geology of the prospect area
is dominated by hornfelsed andesitic volcanic that is apparently
fault-bound to the north against the Colorada advanced argillic
lithocap. To the west and south the gravel overlaps the regionally
extensive granodiorite intrusive. Both the granodiorite and
volcanics exhibit evidence of overprinting by anastomosing
quartz-carbonate+sulphide-filled structures (Figure 1).
The vein-breccia structures typically strike in
a NNE-NE orientation over a distance of up to 400m and vary in
outcrop width from 3 to 20m. Outcrop in the prospect area is
obscured by shallow scree and colluvium which has the potential to
bury additional mineralised structures - confirmed by several
shallow artisanal pits and workings.
Copper ineralization typically occurs as coarsely
disseminated chalcopyrite (with pyrite-specularite) hosted
exclusively within quartz-dominant zones of the vein-breccia
structures. Partial oxidation of the chalcopyrite to pitch limonite
and other Cu oxides is evident in most locations. Leaching of
copper from surface outcrops is also evident where strongly inerali
boxwork textures are coincident with lower copper grades. 33
outcrop and 11 float samples of quartz-sulphide vein-breccias were
collected during this survey period.
In places late carbonate is observed to infill the
open-space quartz-sulphide veins and overprint the silicification
event resulting in re-brecciation and dilution of the
silica-sulphide filled structures often resulting in massive
carbonate veins and stockwork systems. These later
carbonate-dominant structures are typically sulphide-poor.
Character samples of the carbonate-dominant veins (24 outcrop and 3
float samples) were collected to establish the Cu-Au grade
relationship between silica-sulphide dominant veins and carbonate
veins within the overall Victoria system. All of the
carbonate-dominant vein structures sampled in this programme
returned copper assay grades below 250ppm Cu.
The copper+gold-silver ineralization at Victoria is
consistent with mesothermal intrusive-related type mineralisation
and is similar to the gold-copper rich vein breccia system which is
currently being tested with scout RC drill holes at the Company's
Teresita prospect, located approximately 7.5km to the
south-southeast (Figure 2).
Planning is now underway for the next phase of
exploration at Victoria which is designed to identify targets for
prospect-scale reconnaissance drilling planned for the first half
of 2024.
Sampling and
results:
All rock chip and float 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.
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).
Assay results for the 44 outcrop and float
samples of quartz-sulphide vein-breccia range up to 4.04% Cu,
4.57g/t Au and 26.7g/t Ag. Significantly, however, 91% of the
outcrop samples and 73% of the float samples were anomalous in
copper (>0.1% Cu). In addition, 36% of the quartz-sulphide
outcrop and 27% of the float samples returned assay grades over 1%
Cu.
Figure 1: Copper geochemistry results for rock
chip and float samples at Victoria prospect, Especularita. Note:
10,000ppm Cu = 1% Cu. Interpreted location of
quartz-carbonate-sulphide vein-breccias (red dashed lines) and
unmineralised, carbonate-dominated vein-breccias and stockwork
zones (orange dashed lines) are indicated.
Figure
2: Summary
map of exploration activity at Especularita, January
2024.
References:
1. RNS 2146H (22 November
2022): Early exploration at Especularita identifies multiple Cu-Au
targets
2. RNS 3666Q (20 February
2023): Exploration update at Especularita and San
Lorenzo
3. RNS 2868U (27 March 2023):
Float sampling at Victoria prospect
4. RNS 0445V (03 April 2023):
Rock chip assay grades up to 6.9% Cu and 1.85g/t Au in outcrop from
Victoria prospect.
Enquiries:
Great Southern
Copper plc
|
|
Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer
|
+44 (0) 20 4582 3500
|
|
|
SI Capital
Limited
|
|
Nick Emerson
|
+44 (0) 1483 413500
|
|
|
Gracechurch
Group
|
|
Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore, Henry
Gamble
|
+44 (0) 20 4582 3500
|
Notes for
Editors:
About Great
Southern Copper
Great Southern Copper PLC is a UK-listed
mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of copper-gold
and lithium deposits in Chile. The Company has the option to
acquire rights to 100% of two projects in the under-explored
coastal belt of Chile that are prospective for large scale
copper-gold deposits. In addition, the Company has the option to
acquire rights to 100% of a lithium project located in the Salar de
Atacama district of Chile. Chile is a globally significant mining
jurisdiction being the world's largest copper producer and the
second-largest producer of lithium.
The two, early-stage Cu-Au projects comprise
the San Lorenzo and Especularita Projects, both located in the
coastal metallogenic belt of Chile which hosts significant copper
mines and deposits, including Teck's Carmen de Andacollo copper
mine, and boasts excellent access to infrastructure such as roads,
power and ports. Significant historical small-scale and artisanal
workings for both copper and gold are readily evident in both
exploration project areas.
The Company's Monti Lithium project is
strategically located in the pre-Andean region of Salar de Atacama
which is Chile's premier lithium-producing region with
well-established lithium mining operations and
infrastructure.
Great Southern Copper is strategically
positioned to support the global market for copper and lithium -
both critical battery metals in the clean energy transition around
the world. The Company is actively engaged in exploration and
evaluation work programmes targeting both large tonnage, low to
medium grade Cu-Au and Li deposits as well as 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 and a shareholder 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 announcement includes information that
relates to Exploration Results prepared and first disclosed under
the JORC Code (2012) and extracted from the Company's previous LSE
announcements as noted, and the Company's Prospectus dated 20
December 2021. Copies of these announcements are available from the
LSE Announcements page of the Company's website: www.gscplc.com.
The Company confirms that it is not aware of
any new information or data that materially affects the information
included within the Prospectus dated 20 December 2021.
Forward Looking and Cautionary
Statements
Some statements in this announcement regarding
estimates or future events are forward-looking statements. They
include indications of, and guidance on, future earnings, cash
flow, costs and financial performance. Forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements preceded by words such
as "planned", "expected", "projected", "estimated", "may",
"scheduled", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential",
"predict", "foresee", "proposed", "aim", "target", "opportunity",
"could", "nominal", "conceptual" and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements, opinions and estimates included in this
report are based on assumptions and contingencies which are subject
to change without notice, as are statements about market and
industry trends, which are based on interpretations of current
market conditions. Forward-looking statements are provided as a
general guide only and should not be relied on as a guarantee of
future performance. Forward-looking statements may be affected by a
range of variables that could cause actual results to differ from
estimated or anticipated results and may cause the Company's actual
performance and financial results in future periods to materially
differ from any projections of future performance or results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. So, there
can be no assurance that actual outcomes will not materially differ
from these forward-looking statements.