Empire Metals Regulatory News (EEE)

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Empire Metals Limited / AIM: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

16 May 2022

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

Exploration Update for the Eclipse Gold Project

Drilling Increases Strike Length with Five out of Six Drill Holes Intercepting Mineralisation

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the assay results of the Diamond Drill ('DD') programme at the Eclipse Gold Project ('Eclipse'), in Western Australia. The DD programme, the second carried out by Empire at Eclipse, was designed to gather further geological and structural information on the mineralised shear and to test for lodes below the gold-depleted zone of weathering.

Highlights:

· The recent drilling has confirmed that the gold mineralisation associated with the NW-striking and steeply SW-dipping shear zone ('Eclipse shear') extends over a strike length of more than 500 metres, an increase in strike length of over 300 metres from the previously reported extent of mineralisation along the Eclipse shear.

· Six DD holes for a total of 999m were completed, focused mainly on demonstrating that the gold mineralisation persists at depth around the Eclipse shaft and Jack's Dream shaft, and to test for continuity along strike between Eclipse and Jack's Dream and to the north-west of Jack's Dream.

· Five of the six DD holes intercepted mineralisation within the Eclipse shear, with significant intercepts reported as follows:

Ø 0.54m @ 2.61g/t Au from 138.72m downhole at ECDD22_002

Ø 0.61m @ 1.63g/t Au from 164.69m downhole at ECDD22_003

Ø 0.33m @ 4.28g/t Au from 165.3m downhole at ECDD22_003

Ø 0.41m @ 2.16g/t Au from 78.79m downhole at ECDD22_005

Ø 0.48m @ 1.64g/t Au from 81.09m downhole at ECDD22_005

Ø 0.5m @ 1.78g/t Au from 121.15m downhole at ECDD22_006

Ø 0.4m @ 1.25g/t Au from 122.98m downhole at ECDD22_006

· It is noteworthy that ECDD22_003 and ECDD22_005 have proven the continuity of gold mineralisation to the north-west of the Eclipse shaft indicating the potential for Jack's Dream mineralisation to link directly to the Eclipse lode. Furthermore, ECDD22_006 has demonstrated that the mineralisation at Jack's Dream is open to the north-west. Both areas had been previously under-explored.

· The significant intercept at depth in ECDD22_002, which was drilled below the Eclipse shaft has demonstrated that the Eclipse lode remains open at depth.

· Importantly, the structural data obtained from all six DD holes, which is currently under assessment, will provide important geological and structural data which will allow Empire to update and improve the geological model at Eclipse.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "We are pleased to report the success of this strategically important diamond drill programme, which has intercepted significant mineralised zones in areas previously under-explored. The geological and structural data being gathered from the analysis of the diamond core will greatly assist in the development of a robust geological model for Eclipse and will allow us to focus our exploration on higher-grade targets along the Eclipse shear.

"We now look forward to moving the focus of our drilling campaigns to the high-grade lodes recently identified at Homeward Bound and extensions to the Eclipse shear, north-west of Jack's Dream."

The Eclipse Gold Project

The Eclipse Gold Project is comprised of a single mining licence (M27/153). The licence is located approximately 55km NNE of Kalgoorlie (refer Figure 1). The historical Eclipse gold mine has had multiple owners since its discovery in 1902. In the period from April 1905 to November 1910, the Eclipse shaft was developed to a depth of 258 feet and produced 954 tonnes @ 24.6 g/t Au for 754.25 oz Au (source: GSWA Mindex database).

The recently acquired high-grade Gindalbie Gold Project (the granted area contained within mining licence M27/158) sits adjacent to the eastern border of the Eclipse licence area and extends the current area for exploration by 200%.

Figure 1. Location Map - Location of Eclipse Gold Project (red), which contains the old Gindalbie townsite, and mining lease ML 27/158 (blue) which contains the Gindalbie Gold Project.

Since commencing its involvement at Eclipse in August 2020, Empire has completed four exploratory drilling programmes, consisting of 118 Reverse Circulation ('RC") drill holes for a total of 10,081 metres and nine diamond drill holes for a total of 1,200 metres.  

 Results from Current Diamond Drilling Campaign

The gold mineralisation at Eclipse is hosted in sheared felsic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic sediments and associated with pyrite, pyrrhotite and quartz veining. Analyses of the structural data collected during the initial diamond drilling campaign in 2021 confirmed the gold mineralisation to be associated with shear foliation within the volcaniclastic sediments.

The current diamond drilling campaign, the second carried out by Empire at Eclipse, has been designed to gather further geological and structural information on the mineralised shear and to test for lodes below the gold-depleted zone of weathering.

Six DD holes for a total of 999m were completed, focused mainly on demonstrating that the gold mineralisation persists at depth around the Eclipse shaft and Jack's Dream shaft, and to test for continuity between Eclipse and Jack's Dream and to the north-west of Jack's Dream.

Five of the six DD holes intercepted the mineralised shear, with significant intercepts reported in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Significant gold intercepts at a downhole cut-off grade of >0.3g/t Au and >1g Au*m intervals. (1 NSV = no significant values. 2 EOH = End of Hole Depth)

It is noteworthy that ECDD22_003 and ECDD22_005 have proven the continuity of gold mineralisation to the north-west of the Eclipse shaft indicating the potential for Jack's Dream mineralisation to link directly to the Eclipse lode. Furthermore, ECDD22_006 has demonstrated that the mineralisation at Jack's Dream is open to the north-west. Both areas had been previously under-explored.

The significant intercept at depth in ECDD22_002, which was drilled below the Eclipse shaft has demonstrated that the Eclipse lode remains open at depth.

The next phase of the Empire's exploration programme will focus on further RC drilling campaigns centred around the high-grade lodes recently identified at Homeward Bound and extensions to the Eclipse shear, north-west of Jack's Dream. The data collected from this DD campaign will provide an important insight into the geological and structural controls that affect the high-grade lodes and will allow a more targeted approach to our future drill campaigns.

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Eclipse Gold Project has been compiled by Ms Louisa Stokes, an employee of Eclipse Exploration Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire. Ms Stokes is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Ms Stokes is employed in the role of Exploration Geologist and has been planning the exploration activities for the Eclipse-Gindalbie project areas. Ms Stokes has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Ms Stokes consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on her information in the form and context in which it appears.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk  or contact:

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising 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 initial focus has been on the high-grade Eclipse and Gindalbie Gold Projects in Western Australia. The Company expanded its exploration licence area in April 2022 from 9.5km2 to 1,728km2 with the acquisition of the Pitfield Copper-Gold Project and the Walton Copper-Gold Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely Copper-Gold Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria. 

Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria.

The Board continues to evaluate opportunities through which to realise the value of its wider portfolio and reviews further assets which meet the Company's investment criteria.