Celsius Resources (ASX:CLA) reports the presence of further shallow, ‘high-grade’ copper mineralisation from an ongoing drilling operation at its flagship MCB Copper-Gold Project in the Philippines.
The results have continued to ‘significantly’ extend the envelope of the near surface, ‘high-grade’ mineralisation further to the east and complement drilling results from previous drillholes completed at the project between 2021 to 2022.
Key intercepts from drillhole MCB-041 include; 10.5m @ 0.69% Cu and 0.07g/t Au from 19.5m, plus 65m @ 1.73% Cu and 0.37g/t Au from 66m.
Drilling is still ongoing to test the extents of the shallow Cu mineralisation.
Addressing the results, Celsius Resources Country Operations Director, Peter Hume said: “Our drilling strategy was modified in 2022 to shift the focus from deep targets to the recently identified near surface ‘higher grade’ targets and it is starting to significantly pay off with better-than-expected results.
“Our drilling strategy was modified in 2022 to shift the focus from deep targets to the recently identified near surface ‘higher grade’ targets and it is starting to significantly pay off with better-than-expected results.”
We had previously interpreted that the ‘high-grade’ targets were mostly at depth, but an analysis of the recent results, particularly from MCB-036 which intersected 59m at 1.29% copper and 0.27g/t gold, MCB-037 which intersected 28.95m at 1.12% copper and 0.06g/t gold, and now MCB-041, have confirmed the presence of a more extensive shallow copper mineralisation than previously understood.
We expect these combined results will make a solid positive enhancement to the feasibility study which will commence in early 2023.”
The company also notes that these results have been returned following its application to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) for a Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF), as announced by the Celsius earlier this month.
Celsius Resources is an ASX-listed exploration and development company focusing on its portfolio of copper-gold assets in the Philippines, which currently holds the 4th largest copper reserves in the world. The company’s world-class flagship MCB project is situated on the country’s main island of Luzon, about 320km north of the capital city of Manila and is wholly owned by Celsius’s Philippine subsidiary, Makilala Mining. The total JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of the project currently stands at 313.8Mt at 0.48% Cu and 0.15g/t Au at a cut-off grade of 0.2% Cu.
With assays from drillhole MCB-041 now received, Celsius Resources announces that it has moved forward with drilling of hole MCB-043 while it awaits for the return of assays from drillhole MCB-042.
Images: Celsius Resources Ltd
