Metals Exploration Regulatory News (MTL)

20 Jun 2006 14:17

Metals Exploration PLC20 June 2006 METALS EXPLORATION PLC REVIEW OF HISTORICAL DATA INDICATES THAT THE PORPHYRY-STYLE COPPERMINERALISATION LOCATED WITHIN THE COMPANY'S EXPLORATION PERMIT APPLICATION INNORTHERN LUZON, PHILIPPINES, MAY BE OPEN-PITTABLE 20 June 2006 Further to the Company's announcement of 07 March 2006, the Board of MetalsExploration PLC ("the Company") is pleased to announce that certain historicaldata has now been obtained and collated in respect of an area located in thedistrict of Northern Luzon, Philippines covered by an Exploration PermitApplication ("the EP Application"). The Company is currently processing the EPApplication with the Baguio regional office of the Mines & Geosciences Bureau("MGB") and, whilst the Company expects that an Exploration Permit will begranted to it in due course, there can be no guarantee that this will in facthappen. The EP Application is located in the Baguio district of Northern Luzon,Philippines, and is situated to the north of the Santo Nino property, previouslya copper-gold producer. The EP Application area covers approximately 5,845hectares and is located about 10 kilometres to the northeast of Baguio City. Theproperty is underlain by quartz diorite and andesite rock types and waspreviously the object of exploration for copper+gold porphyry-stylemineralisation during the 1970s. Porphyry style copper mineralisation was firstrecognized in the area in 1967 during a first pass reconnaissance programme bythe MGB as an integral part of a nationwide metallogenic study. In 1974, the MGB carried out a trial IP survey over the area comprising porphyrystyle mineralisation. Subsequently, Worldwide Mineral and Industrial Corporation("Worldwide"), a Philippine corporation, in conjunction with the MGB, carriedout a programme of soil geochemistry (645 samples) to follow up the interpretedIP anomalies. Results of the soil survey produced best results of 4,481ppm Cuwith 28 samples returning results greater than 1,000ppm Cu. Between 1974 and 1981, Worldwide reputedly completed 44 diamond drill holes foran aggregate total of 12,989 metres over a surface area of 600m x 1,200m. Thedata package obtained so far relates to 34 of these holes, drilled on a gridspacing of between 100 to 200 metres, for an aggregate total of 10,407 metres.Worldwide estimated a positive and possible resource for each drill hole basedon the polygonal method of resource estimation. Their non-JORC compliantresource totals approximately 150Mt at an average grade of 0.3% Cu and 0.2 g/tAu. It should be noted, that Worldwide's estimate is not compliant with thereporting guidelines as defined by the JORC Code, the Australasian Code forReporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The first 18 drill holes were only drilled to an average depth of 175 metres.Later, three diamond drill holes were drilled to confirm some of the bettermineralisation encountered in the earlier drilling and to test themineralisation at depth. The results of these three confirmatory holes aretabulated below: Drill-hole ID Depth (metres) Intercept (metres) Cu Au Ag (%) (g/t) (g/t) From To WidthC1 510 18 474 456 0.35 0.22 2.41C2 255 21 255 234 0.41 0.33 4.11C3 506 0 468 468 0.31 0.26 3.22 In 1982, Worldwide submitted a small batch of samples (21kg) to the nearbyPhilex Metallurgical and Assay Laboratory for metallurgical testing. The sampleswere mixed and split into two x 2kg test batches for flotation testwork. It wasreported that the second test batch averaged head grades of 0.36% Cu, 0.09 g/tAu, 3.76 g/t Ag and 0.006% Mo. The concentrate produced by flotation methodassayed at 23.2% Cu, 2.3 g/t Au, 55 g/t Ag and 0.17% Mo. The laboratory reportedthat 'the submitted sample was fast-floating and no problem was encountered inproducing separate concentrates of copper and molybdenum of marketable grade'.The molybdenite concentrate produced was about 0.01% by weight of the totalsample and assayed 45-55% MoS2 with a recovery of 45-55%. Subsequent to 1980, very little work has been carried out within the EPApplication area. Given the limited nature of the data collated so far, no assurance orimplication is being given, or should be assumed to be being given, by theinclusion of this historical data in this news release, that the mineralisationhas been, or will in the future be, deemed to be economic. The Company intends to announce the results of any drilling programme within theEP Application area to validate the historical data to a JORC compliant standardas soon as practicable. EXPLANATION OF TERMS Au chemical symbol for gold Ag chemical symbol for silver Cu chemical symbol for copper Mo chemical symbol for molybdenum g, kg gram, kilogram t, Mt tonne, million tonnes g/t grams per tonne, which is equivalent to parts per million (g/t Au = grams of gold per tonne) ppm parts per million % percent (0.1% Cu = 1,000 parts per million of copper) IP survey Induced Polarisation survey - An electrical geophysical survey technique measuring the magnetic field spontaneously induced in a volume of rock by the application of an electric current. A technique often used to identify disseminated sulphide deposits QUALIFIED PERSON Gary Powell (a Director of the Company) has been involved in the mining andexploration industry for more than 20 years. He has a Bachelor of AppliedScience degree in geology and is a member of the Australasian Institute ofMining and Metallurgy and the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists. He hascompiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatoryannouncement. ENQUIRIES: Steven Smith Chairman + 44 (0) 7797 721 858Gary Powell Executive Director (technical) + 63 (02) 894 4173Jonathan Anderson Investor Relations + 44 (0) 7950 410 680 or + 63 (0) 917 560 6654Philip Haydn-Slater/Paul Dudley WH Ireland Limited + 44 (0) 20 7220 1666 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange