Last checked at 26 Apr 2023 07:00
Empire Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources
26 April 2023
Empire Metals Limited
("Empire" or "the Company")
Grant of Exploration Licence for the Walton Copper-Gold-Lithium Project and Issue of Shares
Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the granting of the Exploration Licence for the Walton Copper-Gold-Lithium Project ("Walton") located in Western Australia, in which Empire holds a holds a 70% interest.
Highlights
· Walton is a highly prospective copper, gold and lithium exploration project located in the underexplored Yerilgee greenstone belt within the Southern Cross domain.
· The Yerilgee greenstone belt is part of the 2.9 Ga Western Yilgarn greenstone succession, host to world-class volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) systems such as Golden Grove and Cobre Ltd's emerging Perrinvale Project.
· Limited previous shallow surface exploration has been undertaken on the project area and Empire expects to mobilise its exploration team in June-July this year to commence surface soils/auger sampling and geological mapping.
· Exploration at Walton will be undertaken in parallel with work at the Company's priority Pitfield Copper Project following completion of a maiden reverse circulation drilling programme (announced 24 April 2023).
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "I am pleased to announce that the Exploration Licence for Walton has been granted and that we can commence reconnaissance work on the ground to help confirm the prospectivity of this region for gold, base metal and lithium discoveries.
"The April 2022 acquisition of a 70% interest in Walton, along with the Pitfield and Stavely Projects, has transformed Empire into a significant copper-gold-lithium explorer in Australia, and along with the existing Eclipse and Gindalbie projects has created four highly prospective, geologically diverse exploration camps covering 2,155km2.
"We are now planning a field geological mapping and soil sampling programme at Walton which we expect to commence over the coming months, with the aim of identifying potential drill targets."
The Walton Copper-Gold Lithium Project
Location and Regional Geology
Figure 1. Location of Walton Project within the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia.
Local Geology and Historical Mining Activities
The Yerilgee belt comprises a sequence of high-magnesium basalts, ultramafic volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks and granites including iron formations. It is part of the 2.9 Ga Western Yilgarn greenstone succession that hosts the world-class Golden Grove VHMS system, and a number of other emerging VHMS prospects such as Cobre Ltd's Perrinvale Project and Dreadnought Resources' Strickland Project (refer Figure 2.) Cobre's drilling at the Schwabe Prospect at Perrinvale, which lies to the north of Walton, has outlined an initial resource of 272Kt at 1.6 % Cu, 1.2 % Zn, 0.04 % Co, 0.04 % Pb, 6.3 g/t Ag & 0.4 g/t Au. In addition to VHMS, there is potential for orogenic gold associated with major belt parallel shear zones and lithium-bearing pegmatites which are common in the higher metamorphic grade terrains of the Yilgarn craton.
Figure 2. Aeromagnetics of the Southern Cross province showing location of Walton tenement in relation to existing mines and recent discoveries.
Recent exploration success in the region also includes:
· Spectrum Metals' high-grade Penny North discovery which led to a takeover of Spectrum Metals by Ramelius Resources in 2020. Ramelius Resources is mining the Marda gold operation in the greenstone belt immediately to the west of Yerilgee; and
· Red Dirt Minerals discovery of lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites at its flagship Mt Ida Lithium Project, located to the north of Walton, which has a current Mineral Resource of 12.7Mt at 1.2% Li2O.
Future Work Planned
Limited previous shallow surface exploration has been undertaken on the project area and the historical geological database is under review ahead of the Company commencing its own site-based exploration activities with the objective of identifying copper, gold or lithium drilling targets.
The Company expects to mobilise its exploration team in June-July to commence surface soils/auger sampling and geological mapping.
Completion and Issue of Equity
The consideration payable for the acquisition of the Pitfield, Walton and Stavley projects (the "Projects") was agreed at the time of the initial acquisition as announced on 6 April 2022. The consideration is satisfied by the issue of 16,835,588 new ordinary shares in Empire (the 'Consideration Shares') apportioned equally between each Project and issued upon the grant of the relevant Tenement comprising each Project.
Following completion on Walton, 5,611,863, Consideration Shares have been issued. The remaining one third of the Consideration Shares will be at the time that the Stavely licence is granted.
Application for Admission
The 5,611,863 Consideration Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of no-par value in the capital of the Company. Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the new shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission will become effective on or around 3 May 2023.
Following Admission of the new shares as described above, the issued share capital of the Company will consist of 488,491,035 ordinary shares of no-par value. 488,491,035 represents the total number of voting rights in the Company and may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
Empire Metals Ltd Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel | Tel: 020 4583 1440 |
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker) Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl | Tel: 020 3470 0470 |
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker) Damon Heath | Tel: 020 7186 9950 |
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR) Susie Geliher / Ana Ribeiro / Max Bennett | Tel: 020 7236 1177 |
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising copper and gold interests in Australia and Austria.
The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, which has demonstrated strong potential to be a new "Giant" copper mineral system. The Company is also advancing the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project in Western Australia, which is prospective for high-grade gold and also kaolin, which is used extensively in a number of industries and is considered to be a desirable feedstock for the production of high-purity alumina - an essential component in lithium-ion batteries.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Walton Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold production region in central-southern Austria.