22 Jan 2020 07:00
22 January 2020
Pembridge Resources plc
Minto C$2.1M Drilling Programme Update
MAG Survey Completed, Initial Positive Results
Conversion of Ridgetop to an Underground Deposit
Minto Drilling and Exploration Update
London, United Kingdom - Pembridge Resources plc (LSE: PERE) ("Pembridge" or the "Company"), and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"), is pleased to provide the following update at the Minto mine:
Infill and Definition drilling utilising diamond drilling ("Diamond drilling") campaign has commenced
Phase 1 Highlights
·; 14,000m diamond drilling programme commenced
·; 53 holes planned in total, targeting the identified deposits of Copper Keel West, Copper Keel North, Copper Keel South and Minto East II (See figure 1)
·; Objective is to expand the boundaries of these deposits, move additional resources to reserves, and expand existing reserves
·; Drilling commenced from surface in December 2019, with a second underground drill expected to start later this month
·; Fully funded C$2.1M budget for this phase
·; Assay results are expected from March 2020 onwards
Phase 2 of the diamond drilling campaign will start following completion of Phase 1, which is expected to be in H2 2020. C$2.0M is budgeted with 52 holes planned from surface and underground, targeting a number of step-out targets close to existing mining zones. The plan may be subject to change based on results from Phase 1 of drilling, as well as the analysis from the drone operated geophysical UAV-Magnetic ("MAG") survey.
MAG Survey analysis is underway
Further to the announcement made on 30 September 2019, analysis of the MAG survey has been completed. The survey was conducted over 30 square kilometres across the 'Minto' and 'DEF' claims (see figure 2), situated in and around the current Minto mining area.
Copper mineralisation at Minto is highly correlated with that of magnetite, which the MAG survey identifies. Therefore, data analysed from this survey will more accurately identify copper mineralisation, generating more efficient drill targeting. This is the first time a geophysical survey of this type has been used on the Minto property.
Results of the MAG survey have been overlaid with historical and current drilling data and historical Titan 24 DC-IP geophysical survey data, which is currently being reprocessed into 3D. Initial analysis from the MAG survey has indicated a number of promising additional targets surrounding the existing mining area, whilst also reconfirming existing exploration and development targets. Full results will be disclosed to the market later this quarter.
Please refer to PDF link for diagrams in Figure 1: Map of deposits in the Minto mining area and Figure 2: Shaded area covers the Minto and DEF claims over which the UAV-Magnetic (MAGTM) survey took place
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5063A_1-2020-1-21.pdf
Conversion of Ridgetop to an underground deposit
The Ridgetop deposit, which historically was engineered to be mined by open pit, and therefore is not included in the current Minto underground mine plan, is in the process of being remodelled and re-engineered to be mined from underground. Based on internal studies, mining of the Ridgetop from underground, rather than by open pit, will be more economical and have a significantly reduced environmental impact.
Ridgetop has previous received all the required permitting for open pit mining, which will need converted for underground mining. The deposit is circa 300m from existing underground infrastructure (see Figure 1). Given the extensive historical exploration work undertaken on the deposit, no additional drilling is required to define the resource. The results of the remodelling are expected back in Q1 2020, after which the permitting conversion process will commence.
Gati Al-Jebouri, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board said:
"I am pleased to report the drilling programme at Minto is well underway. This programme has been fully budgeted and approved by the owners of Minto and is fully funded from the ongoing project revenues.
We are also greatly encouraged by the initial results of the MAG survey data, as it would appear there is a high possibility of missed mineralisation around the Minto mining area, which until now was unidentified. The full results from this analysis, which has not been carried out previously, will form the foundation for the next phase of drilling, which will commence once this current programme is completed in early summer.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Pembridge Resources plc: +44 (0)20 7917 2968
Gati Al-Jebouri, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Paul Fenby, Chief Financial Officer
Thomas Horton, Vice President Corporate Development
Brandon Hill Capital - United Kingdom: +44 (0)20 3463 5016
Jonathan Evans
SI Capital - United Kingdom: +44 (0)14 8341 3500
Nick Emerson