(Alliance News) - Beowulf Mining PLC on Tuesday said drilling at the the Viti licence in Kosovo has likely intersected a porphyry system, suggesting "real potential".
Shares in Beowulf were up 6.9% at 8.55 pence in London in late morning trade.
Beowulf took a 14% stake in Vadar Minerals, which is developing Viti, for GBP250,000 back in November 2018. In April, Beowulf said it would exercise its option to raise its Vadar stake to 38% for GBP750,000. For another GBP115,000, Beowulf can increase its ownership to 40%.
There is a three kilometre gossanous outcrop at Viti, which had already returned anomalous gold and copper concentrations. This new drill testing was intended to determine the extent and the type of alteration associated with this outcrop.
Drilling did indeed find anomalous copper and gold, which correlated with the outcropping gossans, and indicated that the drilling had " intersected the upper part of a porphyry system".
The next steps at Viti will be a magnetic and direct current-induced polarisation survey to find copper-gold targets. Follow-on drilling is scheduled to take place in the 2020 field season.
Beowuld Chief Executive Kurt Budge said: "Viti is showing real potential as a copper-gold mineralised porphyry target. While it is still early days, porphyry deposits are typically large mineralised systems which can be amenable to open pit mining and therefore represent extremely attractive exploration targets.
"The drilling from an initial stratigraphic hole in an unexplored area has demonstrated the presence of anomalous gold and visible copper with the hydrothermal alteration characteristics of a porphyry system. This is an outstanding result from the Vardar team, and testament to the rigorous technical exploration work leading up to the drilling.
"Combined with the recent announcements for Wolf Mountain and Mitrovica South, the company's GBP1 million investment in Vardar has, in the board's view, already created significant value for Beowulf's shareholders."
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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Beowulf (BEM)