TIDMATN
RNS Number : 2877Z
Aterian PLC
15 May 2023
15 May 2023
Operational Update:
High Silver and Base Metal Grades,
Jafra Project, Morocco
Aterian Plc
(" Aterian " or the " Company")
Aterian Plc (LSE: ATN), the critical and strategic metal-focused
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the
results, including 170 g/t and 159 g/t silver ("Ag"), from initial
geological reconnaissance work completed on the Company's Jafra
Project (the " Project "). The Project covers 29 km(2) and is
located 35 km northeast of Marrakech within the Marrakech-Safi
Region of the Kingdom of Morocco (" Morocco "). The Project is one
of 15 copper, silver and base metal projects owned by Aterian,
covering a total area of 762 km(2) in Morocco, within established
current and historic mining districts.
Highlights:
-- Sampling reports high silver and lead grades of 170 g/t Ag,
22.2 % Pb and 157 g/t Ag, 21.2 % Pb.
-- Project hosts a historically mapped lead ("Pb") occurrence,
and several historical workings have been identified.
-- Situated on the eastern margin of a Hercynian-age granite.
-- Located 35 km east of the former Roc Blanc silver mine.
-- The project lies 14 km south of the Company's Jebilet Est Copper Project.
-- Project located close to good infrastructure.
Charles Bray, Chairman of Aterian, commented:
"These preliminary results from the initial reconnaissance at
Jafra are very encouraging with much of the area targeted covered
by loose, surface scree material on the hillside, which obscures
visible outcrop. These results further support our project
portfolio's strong and broad potential in Morocco. Jafra
demonstrates the metal diversification of our Moroccan projects and
is well located, close to power and rail links and only 35 km
outside Marrakech. The high silver values supported by very high
lead grades are an excellent starting point for further exploration
of the Project. At Aterian, we firmly believe that our existing
asset portfolio has the potential to deliver tremendous value to
the Company, its shareholders and other stakeholders. We will
continue exploring this Project along with the other assets within
our portfolio, which from the work reported thus far, are showing
significant upside potential. I look forward to updating
shareholders with the results from this as well as the other
exploration programmes in due course."
Project Summary:
The Jafra Project covers 29.0 km(2) and comprises two license
blocks in the western Meseta, north-central Morocco, approximately
36 km northeast of Marrakech, 35 km east of the former Roc Blanc
silver mine, and 32 km from the rail line to the port of
Casablanca. The project is located at the eastern margin of the
pluton within the metamorphic aureole. It hosts a historically
mapped lead occurrence, coincident with apparent former artisanal
mining associated with fault zones and a quartz-carbonate vein
system. The Project lies 14km south of the Company's Jebilet Est
Copper Project (an update on this project was released on 14(th)
March 2023). Access to the Project is via asphalt roads and a
network of smaller tracks. The Company holds a 100 % interest in
the project.
Jafra is located in the highly prospective Jebilet Massif, which
comprises part of the Jebilet-Guemassa Metallogenic Province. The
Jebilet Massif includes deformed Hercynian age basement rocks
surrounded by discordant Mesozoic and Cenozoic formations. The
region hosts several base metal VMS deposits, including the
polymetallic Draa Sfar (Zn-Cu-Pb), Hajar (Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag), Koudiat
Aicha (Zn-Pb-Cu), and Kettara (Cu) deposits (note the
mineralisation hosted at these deposits is not necessarily
indicative of mineralisation at Jafra).
The project targets the Lower Carboniferous (Namurian) age
Sarhelf series and a Hercynian age pluton, of which the license
encompasses the eastern margin. The metamorphic aureoles of
Hercynian age granites are known to host base metal deposits and
occurrences in the region. There is a historically mapped lead
occurrence in the suspected aureole of the granite pluton, which
coincides with former artisanal workings and a reportedly 1.75km
quartz-carbonate veins system.
Aterian Reconnaissance Exploration Results
Reconnaissance has focussed on two areas within the centre of
the project, where several artisanal workings were identified on El
Marassa Hill, a prominent topographic feature trending across the
project. All mapped workings appear to exploit quartz veins and a
fault zone breccia showing visible sulphide mineralisation.
However, several quartz and carbonate veins were recorded on the
western part of the same hill, hosting minor mineralisation.
The abandoned artisanal workings are clustered on the ESE-WNW
trending ridge close to the contact between granite rocks to the
south and folded metasedimentary units. The workings are located on
the slope of the hill where the surface scree material obscures the
mappable outcrop. Consequently, exposure of these mineralised
structures is limited to shallow workings. Sulphide mineralisation
is observed in situ within the historical workings, and surface
quartz-rich float containing galena is frequently observed in the
old artisanal dumps.
However, individual structures can be traced over 100 m along
strike from the workings. Several breccia zones with variable
widths up to 3 m have been identified and are typically composed of
roughly parallel quartz-carbonate veins and breccia. Veins range
from 1 to 30 cm wide with a general NE trend, cross-cutting the
metasiltstones.
A total of 39 rock chip samples (37 outcrop rock chip samples,
one surface float sample and one surface grab sample collected from
a historical mining dump) have been collected from the Project.
From these, 13 samples (33 % of this batch) reported greater than
10 g/t Ag, with 5 (or 13 % of the batch) greater than 50 g/t
Ag.
Nine samples reported Pb values greater than 1%, with two
samples greater than 20%. Zn is generally low in the samples with
six samples greater than 0.25 % Zn. Anomalous copper was identified
in only one sample, returning 0.34 % Cu. Antimony (Sb), listed as a
critical metal in 2022 by the USGS, returned 12 samples greater
than 100 ppm Sb, with five samples greater than 500 ppm Sb. The
maximum sample was 862 ppm Sb.
Several of the more significant anomalies reported from the
surface grab sampling include:
-- 170 g/t Ag, 22.2 % Pb, 0.12 % Zn reported from a
quartz-siderite vein sample from a historical dump sample, with
abundant galena.
-- 159 g/t Ag, 21.3 % Pb reporting from quartz veins hosted in leucogranite.
-- 127 g/t Ag, 3.03 % Pb reporting from a fault zone breccia.
-- 89.5 g/t Ag, 6.67 % Pb, 0.34 % Cu, 0.41 % Zn reporting from a fault zone breccia.
-- 61.9 g/t Ag, 3.96 % Pb reporting from a brecciated fault gouge
*A rock chip or grab sample cannot be taken as a representation
of the overage grade average and potential deposit size. A float
sample is collected from loose pieces of rock not connected to an
outcrop.
Work Plan for the Jafra Project
Future work programmes at the Jafra project will include further
geological mapping supported by trenching and geophysics to
determine the extent of the high-grade breccia and vein system that
is poorly exposed on the flanks of El Marassa Hill.
Sampling Methodology and Analysis
ALS Limited, an accredited laboratory in Sevilla, Spain,
undertook all sample preparation and analysis from these reported
samples. Given the early-stage nature of these programmes, no QA/QC
samples were included. Rock samples were crushed with 70 % passing
-2 mm. The less than 2 mm fraction was pulverised, with 85 % of the
sample passing <75 microns. All samples were analysed using
four-acid digestion for a multi-element suite of 33 metals by
Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES).
In addition, all samples were analysed for their gold content by a
50g Fire Assay method with an atomic absorption finish.
Illustrations
The following figures have been prepared by Aterian and relate
to the disclosures in this announcement.
A: View NE towards the working at JF-AB-001 shows structure
within the fault zone; B: Galena observed w ithin the breccia;
C: Minor malachite and sulphides in 10cm-wide quartz-carbonate
rich breccia.
Qualified Person
The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has
been approved by Simon Rollason, Chief Executive Officer of Aterian
Plc. A graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in Geology
(Hons). He is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and
Mining, with over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration and
mining.
-S -
This announcement contains information which, prior to its
disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation
11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310
(as amended).
For further information, please visit the Company's website:
www.aterianplc.com or contact:
Aterian Plc:
Charles Bray, Executive Chairman -
charles.bray@aterianplc.com
Simon Rollason, Director - simon.rollason@aterianplc.com
Financial Adviser and Broker:
Novum Securities Limited
David Coffman / George Duxberry
Tel: +44 (0)207 399 9400
Financial PR:
Yellow Jersey PR - aterian@yellowjerseypr.com
Charles Goodwin / Bessie Elliot
Tel: +44 (0)20 3004 9512
Notes to Editors:
About Aterian plc
www.aterianplc.com
Aterian plc is an exploration and development company with a
diversified African portfolio of critical and strategic metals
projects.
Aterian plc is actively seeking to acquire and develop new
critical and strategic metal resources to strengthen its existing
asset base whilst supporting ethical and sustainable supply chains.
The supply of these metals is vital for the development of the
renewable energy, automotive and electronic manufacturing sectors
that are playing an increasing role in reducing carbon emissions
and meeting climate ambitions globally.
The Company has three partnerships in Rwanda exploring and
developing tantalum-niobium-tin-lithium mining operations, and
recently acquired Aterian Resources Limited, a wholly owned and
battery metals-focused subsidiary of Elemental Altus Royalties Corp
(formerly Altus Strategies plc). Aterian owns a portfolio of 15
copper-silver and base metal projects with a project area of 762
km(2) in the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Company's strategy is to seek new exploration and production
opportunities across the African continent and to develop new
sources of strategic and critical mineral assets for exploration,
development, and trading.
Geological Setting of the Jebilet Est Project
The Jafra Project is located within the Jebilet Massif in the
Marrakech-Safi Region of western Morocco, which comprises a block
of Carboniferous sedimentary rocks that were extensively deformed
and metamorphosed during the Hercynian-Variscan orogeny. The
Jebilet Massif extends for 170 km east to west and 40 km in a
north-south orientation. It is interpreted as an intracontinental
Devonian-Carboniferous rift-basin formed during a period of
extension during rifting of the continental crust in a back-arc
geodynamic environment. The Jebilet Massif consists of three
litho-tectonic domains, the Western, Central, and Eastern Domains,
which are separated by major shear zones. The Project area is
within Palaeozoic metamudstones and quartzites proximal to
Hercynian-age granite and mafic intrusive bodies in the Eastern
Domain of the highly prospective Jebilet Massif.
The Roc Blanc silver mine, located 35k west of Jafra, was
discovered in 1925 with an indicated and inferred resource,
estimated at c.200,000 t at 297 g/t Ag and >56,000 t at 234 g/t
Ag, respectively. Resources contain about 0.8% Pb and 1.01% Zn and
a significant amount of copper and gold. The Roc Blanc deposit's
mineralisation occurs as veins displaying banded or brecciated
structures. It consists mainly of pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite,
chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, Ag-tetrahedrite, Pb-Ag-Sb
sulphosalts, argentite, native silver, Ag-Au amalgam, and Ni-Co
minerals. The mineralogy of the Roc Blanc ore corresponds to an
intermediate- to low-sulphidation deposit.
Glossary of Terms
The following is a glossary of technical terms:
"Ag" means Silver
"Au" means Gold
"Breccia" means a rock consisting of angular fragments of
stones cemented by finer materials
"Cu" means Copper
"Ferruginous" means containing iron oxides
"Float sample" means loose pieces of rock that are not connected
to an outcrop
"g/t" means grams per tonne
"Hercynian or means an orogenic belt that evolved during the
Variscan Orogeny" Devonian and Carboniferous periods, from
about 419 to 299 million years ago
"km" means Kilometres
"m" means Metres
"mm" means Millimetres
"Mt" means millions of tonnes
"NI 43-01" means National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure
of Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities
Administrators
"Outcrop" means a rock formation that is in situ and visible
on the surface
"Qualified Person" means a person that has the education, skills and
professional credentials to act as a qualified
person under NI 43-101
"Sb" means Antimony is used in alloys and in lead-acid
storage batteries. The U.S. Government has
considered antimony a critical mineral mainly
because of its use in military applications.
"Stratiform" means parallel to the bedding planes of the surrounding
rock
"Vein" means a distinct sheetlike body of crystallised
minerals within a rock
"Zn" means Zinc
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