Phoenix Copper. Share News (PXC)

(Sharecast News) - North America-focussed base and precious metals exploration and development company Phoenix Copper announced the results of two years of independent baseline environmental data collection and monitoring at the Empire Mine in Idaho on Wednesday.
The AIM-traded firm said the results would be used for environmental permitting and the continued development of the plan of operations for all future mining activity, including Red Star and the Empire open-pit copper oxide deposit.

It said that no critical habitat for threatened or endangered plant or wildlife was identified within the project area, and added that surface and groundwater studies indicated no impacts from legacy mining operations.

There were also no significant cultural or archaeological artefacts identified in the project area, and no sage grouse or sage grouse breeding sites were identified at or near the project area .

"We are encouraged with the results of the environmental baseline studies received to date," said chief executive officer Ryan McDermott.

"We retained the services of North American-based Cascade Earth Sciences with a field office in Pocatello, Idaho, in 2017 to provide independent, third party collection and evaluation of baseline environmental data necessary for the permitting of mining operations at our Empire Mine site.

"The results of two years of extensive flora, wildlife, hydrological, and archaeological studies by the Cascade team have resulted in no critical habitat for threatened or endangered plant and wildlife species, most notably sage grouse."

McDermott said that additionally, Cascade hydrologists concluded that no legacy impacts to surface or groundwater occurred as a result of historical mining operations.

"Cascade archaeologists were also unable to identify any significant cultural artefacts on the Empire property.

"These findings clear the path to permitting and should have a positive effect on our permitting timeline.

"The company now has a copper-oxide resource at Empire and a silver-lead resource at Red Star, both situated within the area of Cascade's baseline studies."

The copper sulphide target at Empire also lay within the boundaries of the Cascade survey, meaning the company now had three projects with those "favourable" environmental conditions, McDermott explained.

"The baseline environmental data collected by Cascade Earth Services will serve a dual purpose in providing data for mine permitting and as a foundation for the company's environmental and social responsibility platform.

"Phoenix is committed to responsible operations, at all levels of the company, and we see the opportunity in using the baseline data as the early-stage building blocks for such a programme."

At 0846 GMT, shares in Phoenix Copper were down 7% in London, at 9.3p.