23 April 2024
East Star Resources
Plc
("East Star" or the
"Company")
Maiden Mineral Resource
Estimate - Verkhuba
East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan focused copper exploration and
resource development company, is pleased to announce a maiden JORC
Inferred Mineral Resource ("Resource") for the Verkhuba Copper
Deposit ("Verkhuba" or "the Deposit") in the Rudny Altai belt,
Kazakhstan of 20.3Mt
@ 1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead using a whole
deposit cutoff grade of 0.86% copper equivalent ("CuEq").
Highlights:
|
·
|
236,000 tonnes of contained copper @
1.16%
|
|
·
|
313,000 tonnes of contained zinc @
1.54%
|
|
·
|
Upside from lowering the cutoff grade for the
open pit portion of the deposit in future economic
models
|
Following the publication of this
Resource, the planned 2024 drilling programme is intended to
progress the open pit development concept through to a stage where
economic feasibility can be demonstrated, and a mining licence
application process can begin.
East Star is in the process of
receiving offers from strategic partners for a potential joint
venture, farm-out, or sale of Verkhuba. The Company expects to
provide an update on this in the coming months, as well as further
details on its exploration plans across its copper exploration
strategies.
Alex Walker, CEO, commented:
"This is a significant milestone. In a little over a year and
one exploration season, we have transformed a historical copper
deposit into a large JORC Inferred Mineral Resource in an
infrastructure-rich region. Our Company is now underpinned not only
by its highly prospective exploration licences but by a significant
critical metal asset in the ground.
"At over 20Mt, Verkhuba is in the top third of this style of
VMS deposit globally. With copper at close to $10,000 per tonne and
the prospect of a low capex, open pit development, we believe the
Deposit to be of considerable value. In the context of East Star's
current market capitalisation, and upside from other regional VMS
targets and copper porphyry exploration supported by BHP Xplor,
East Star is in a very good position to create further shareholder
value in 2024."
Background
East Star has been exploring the
Rudny Altai volcanogenic massive sulfide ("VMS") belt since 2019
with the first licences being acquired in this region in late 2020.
Through methodical acquisition and review of historical data and
application of modern geophysics, low detection limit assays, new
geological models and other analytical tools, the Company has been
able to initially assess the potential of the Deposit and progress
targeting for additional discoveries in this rich but underexplored
mineral belt. The benefits of Verkhuba include:
·
Shallow high-grade intersections which confirm
open pit development potential
·
Established processing infrastructure (owed by
third parties) including two mills with combined spare capacity of
1.4M tonnes per annum within 52 km of the Deposit as well as roads,
power and water infrastructure
The
Verkhuba Copper Deposit
The full report from AMC Consulting
which undertook the Resource analysis has
been made available on East Star's website at: https://www.eaststarplc.com/presentationsandreports.
The historical mineral resource
estimate for Verkhuba was updated from the March 2023 Exploration
Target due to:
1. 1,048m of drilling within
the orebody conducted the Company in July and August 2023 providing
detailed insight into the orebody grades and widths as well as the
lithology
2. Detailed geological
traverses of the Verkhuba area conducted in June 2023 uncovering 70
collar locations for more accurate coordinates of the historical
drill holes
3. A drone LIDAR survey
conducted over the Verkhuba area in June 2023 providing accurate
topography
4. Additional historical
data
A total of 111 diamond core drillholes define
the Verkhuba polymetallic deposit representing a total of
46,616 m of drilling. Of that drilling, 69 drillholes were
used for the grade estimate as other holes did not intersect
mineralisation. The Deposit area was sampled using diamond core
drillholes at variable spacings - from
200 m by 200 m to
100 m by 100 m spacing.
The interpretations resulted in wireframes for
56 mineralised zones for copper ("Cu") grades, 76
mineralised zones for zinc ("Zn") grades, and 39 mineralised zones
for lead ("Pb") grades using corresponding cut-off
grades of 0.40% Cu, 0.35% Zn and 0.25% Pb. Wireframes
provided by East Star of the lithological model and fault
planes were used to control the interpretation of each
element. A block model constrained by the interpreted mineralised
zones was constructed with a small parent cell size of 5 mE x 5 mN
x 2 mRL with standard sub-celling five times in all directions to
maintain the volume resolution of the mineralised zones.
Drillhole sample intervals have been composited
to 1 m length and were used to interpolate all main modelled grades
(Zn, Pb, Cu) into the block model using ordinary kriging (OK)
interpolation techniques followed the statistical and
geostatistical analyses. Block grades were validated both visually
and statistically.
A constant average bulk density value of 3.0
t/m3 was applied to each model cell. The value was
assumed based on work completed and documented in historical
reports.
All modelling was completed using Micromine
software.
East Star
Resources Plc
Alex Walker, Chief Executive
Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234 (via Vigo
Consulting)
SI
Capital (Corporate Broker)
Nick Emerson
Tel: +44 (0)1483 413 500
Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate
Broker)
Peter Greensmith
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0930
Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)
Ben Simons / Peter Jacob
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234
About East
Star Resources
East Star Resources is focused on
copper exploration and resource
development. With eight licences covering >1,000
km² in three mineral rich districts of Kazakhstan, East Star
is undertaking an intensive exploration programme, applying modern
geophysics to discover minerals in levels that were not previously
explored.
East Star's most advanced project is a copper
deposit on the world-class Rudny Altai VMS Belt where the Company
has a maiden JORC Inferred Mineral Resource
Estimate of 20.3Mt @ 1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead
using a whole deposit cutoff grade of 0.86% copper equivalent,
within trucking distance of third-party mills with excess
capacity.
East Star's management are based permanently on
the ground, supported by local expertise, a joint venture with the
state mining company on certain projects, and grant funding from
BHP through the BHP Xplor programme for copper porphyry
exploration.
Visit our
website:
www.eaststarplc.com
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The person who
arranged for the release of this announcement was Alex Walker, CEO
of the Company.
This announcement contains inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 2014/596/EU which is
part of domestic UK law pursuant to the Market Abuse (Amendment)
(EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). Upon the
publication of this announcement, this inside information (as
defined in UK MAR) is now considered to be in the public
domain.
Competent
Persons Statement
The information in this Report that relates to
the Exploration Target is based on and fairly represents
information which has been compiled by Mr Dmitry Pertel who is a
member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Pertel has
sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and
type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that is
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 Pertel
is a full-time employee of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd.
The information in this Report that relates to
QAQC (JORC Code Table 1 Sections 1 and 2) is based on and fairly
represents information which has been compiled by Dr Mikhail
Tsypukov who is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals
and Mining (UK). Dr Tsypukov has sufficient experience relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration
and to the activity that is 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 Tsypukov is an independent
Consulting Geologist (not associated with AMC) and has consented to
the inclusion of the matters in this report based on his
information in the form and context in which it appears.