RE: 12 miners to follow from @TMsreach23 Jan 2022 09:27
Empire Metals (AIM:EEE) has embarked on a tough journey of transformation over the past 18 months as it has attempted to pivot from a long-time focus on Georgia to fresh assets in Western Australia.
The company has moved away from its previous flagship asset, a 50pc interest in the Bolnisi Copper and Gold Project in the Caucasus mountains, after a long running dispute with the Georgian National Agency of Mines over the extent of the licence, taking a big step on its new path with the acquisition of a 75pc interest in the Eclipse Gold Project. The Project is centred on a historic mine located 55 km north-east of Kalgoorlie, which has recorded historic production of 954 tonnes at 24.6 g/t gold for 754.25 oz gold. A 2014 drilling programme identified high-grade mineralisation within a 30 metre zone either side of the main Eclipse shaft, and soil surveys have indicated elevated gold concentrations in portions of the Project’s mineralised system.
Empire doubled down on Australia in May, taking a 75pc interest in the Central Menzies Gold Project 90 km north-west of Eclipse. The Project, comprising four exploration licences covering a granite-greenstone belt within the Menzies Shear Zone, is circled by the 320,000oz @ 2.1g/t gold Menzies Gold Project operated by ASX-listed Kingswest Resources, and is directly south along the strike of the 15 kilometre Yunndaga line of workings, which has a historic metal inventory of 1.1 Moz of gold. Historic drilling has encountered several high-grade intercepts including 5 metres @ 19.59 g/t gold from 30 metres, and 3 metres @ 5.15 g/t gold from 35 metres. Under the agreement Empire will spend AUD$0.5m on exploration at Central Menzies within a nine-month option period, with the right to exercise the option for AUD$1.75m in cash and AUD$1.25m worth of shares.
The company has made progress at both Eclipse and Central Menzies this year. It started exploring Central Menzies, aiming to verify the drilling data it inherited, and to acquire fresh geophysical survey data. Two phases of reverse circulation drilling at the prospect over the past few months have indicated a significant gold anomaly identified along a 500 metre strike length, which is currently being evaluated to inform the company’s decision whether to extend its option on the licence.
This summer’s drilling at Eclipse has sought to test the extent of previously identified mineralised systems, particularly around historic workings at Jack’s Dream. In July Empire announced that 19 holes had been drilled for a total of 1,893 metres, and three core diameter drill holes for a total of 201.1 metres, discovering ‘several parallel veins in addition to the main Eclipse vein’, and confirming intercepts from previous drilling.
In August the company changed its Eclipse drilling strategy after finding the main gold mineralisation at the mine to be more prevalent at depth and ‘perhaps orders of magnitude larger than originally anticipated.’ Rather than movi