(Sharecast News) - Anglesey Mining updated the market on the progress of its Northern Copper Zone (NCZ) mineral resource delineation drilling programme at the Parys Mountain copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold VMS project on Tuesday, located on the Isle of Anglesey in north west Wales.
The AIM-traded firm said the ongoing 2023-2024 exploration drilling campaign was intended to confirm the reliability of historical drill holes and fill gaps in the drilling to facilitate an update of the Parys Mountain mineral resource estimate.
A recent highlight included the completion of drill hole NCZ002, revealing a 107-metre apparent thickness zone of visible sulphides between 413 and 520 metres downhole.
The company said the hole was strategically positioned as an infill between two pierce points from the 1970s drilling programme, which previously intersected broad zones of mineralisation, including high-grade sections.
Samples from NCZ002 had been dispatched to the ALS laboratory in Ireland on 16 February, with results expected in weeks.
The results were expected to confirm the continuity of the copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold mineralisation at Parys Mountain, building on promising assay results from NCZ001 announced on 19 January.
Additionally, drilling of the third hole in the campaign, NCZ003, had started, with 200 metres drilled to date.
Key takeaways from the drilling results included the further validation of the existing Parys Mountain geological model and the identification of significant high-grade widths of polymetallic mineralisation along the contact with the Garth Daniel Zone.
Notably, an intersection of 22 metres grading 3.2% copper equivalent from NCZ001 represented a substantial potential upside to the current resource estimate.
"On behalf of Anglesey management and the field team, I am delighted to report that ongoing drilling of the Northern Copper Zone is confirming that Parys Mountain has a significant zone of copper dominant mineralisation within an area 600 to 700 metres along strike and 300 to 400 metres downdip," said interim chairman Andrew King.
"Widths of mineralisation appear to be averaging over 20 metres in this zone with copper equivalent grades of between 1.0 to 1.3%."
"The positive verification and infill drilling of the Northern Copper Zone completed so far is a key element to advancing the project through future development studies and ultimately providing sufficient data on which to base a decision to mine."
King said current management had "always believed" the Northern Copper Zone to be much more significant than the current resource numbers implied, adding that the first two drill holes of the programme were encouraging in supporting that view.
"We look forward to reporting back with the assay results from NCZ002 and the drilling results of NCZ003 in due course, along with further detail on the potential upside to the current Parys Mountain resource estimate."
At 1428 GMT, shares in Anglesey Mining were flat at 1.55p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Anglesey Mining (AYM)