Meridian Mining UK S (TSX: MNO) (OTCQX: MRRDF) (Frankfurt/Tradegate:2MM) ('Meridian' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce upcoming drilling programs at Santa Helena and C2A East copper gold targets in the Cabacal VMS belt.
Recent re-assays of historic drill core confirm high grade Cu-Au-Ag-Zn results at shallow depths (e.g., 5.6m @ 3.4% Cu, 3.0g/t Au, 82.6g/t Ag, and 7.6% Zn from 38.4m). Additional results are pending. To reach this stage of Santa Helena's development, the Company has made significant progress in field mapping, surface geophysical programs, data confirmation studies[1], and the relogging and resampling of historical core samples. With this upcoming drill campaign, Meridian is among the few companies worldwide advancing a VMS belt with multiple resource development projects and significant exploration potential.
Dr. Adrian McArthur, CEO, comments: 'We are pleased to announce the and expansion of the Cabacal program and the engagement of our contractor for our first exploration and resource delineation drill program over the high-grade VMS trend that hosts the historical Cu-Au-Ag-Zn Santa Helena mine. We strongly believe that this deposit has been structurally over-printed by a later-stage gold event, characteristic of the Cabacal belt. The Santa Helena historical resource was only partially mined, and like Cabacal, there is much more upside as an open pit prospect than as a selective underground mine. We have prepared this program using the exact same preparation and methodology used to expand the now advanced-stage Cabacal deposit. With the commencement of the program, Meridian will be advancing resource development studies on a second VMS open pit target at Santa Helena. In addition, we will test the copper-gold potential of C2A East, which is a neighboring extension of the Cabacal deposit.'
Santa Helena Resource Delineation
The Santa Helena deposit is located 9km to the southeast of the Cabacal Mine area, within the 11km Mine Corridor trend. The deposit was first discovered by BP Minerals ('BPM') in 1984, and is associated with the same host geology as that of the Cabacal Mine. The former operator at Santa Helena, Prometalica ('PML'), commissioned the underground mine in 2006 with an historical Measured and Indicated resource of 1.12 Mt @ 6.2% Zn, 1.3% Cu, 1.3g/t Au, 41.7 g/t Ag. Production commenced in 2006, but the mine closed well ahead of planning in 2008 with the collapse of the zinc price. Total production amounted to 439,813t @ 6.65% Zn, 1.62% Cu, 1.77g/t Au & 43.02g/t Ag. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource.
Shallow oxide gold mineralization is recognized in an historical trenching area to the east of the resource limit , which was not previously considered in SRK's historical 2007 estimate for the deposit. Along with unmined resources, Meridian sees potential for resource additions here, and in testing for potential extensions to the mineralized envelop in unsampled core intervals. Numerous historical holes have not been sampled to conclusively demonstrate the limit of mineralization (or analysed for the full suite of elements). Of the 39 PML holes, gold assays are not available for 12 of the holes (31%), and in an additional 9 of the holes, the first recorded sample starts within the mineralized halo (grades of 0.1 - 1.0g/t Au). The sampling approach in the original BPM holes (for which data is available in the JUCHD series) is similar, with an average starting depth of 22.4m. Whilst some angled holes were drilled by BPM, historical drilling was overwhelmingly vertical, and unsuited to testing the late stage overprinting vertical gold structures now recognized in the belt. The Company has reviewed the historical drill database that supports the presence of a gold-overprint. Original Santa Helena drill core photos illustrate similar vein textures to that seen at the Cabacal deposit.
Meridian also concluded surface geophysical surveys[4], detecting three shallow dipping EM plates interpreted to be bedrock conductors. The EM plates have a typical conductivity thickness for Cu-Zn sulphides of 4 Siemens. The leading edge of the two most eastern plates aligns with the position of the resource envelope and extend outwards a further 200 - 250m to the north-northwest into sparsely drilled areas. The response from a gradient array IP survey also aligns well with the Cu-Zn-Au-Ag sulphide system, and remains open over extensions to the east. This suggests some sulphides are present in the shallower up-plunge sector of the deposit beyond the historical resource limit. The peak chargeability response follows the strike of the deposit in the eastern sector, reaching ranges of 30 mV/V (millivolts per volt) - characterized as a moderate to strong response for VMS mineralization. Initial scout drilling will be conducted to evaluate IP and EM anomalies for potential repeats or extensions of the Santa Helena mineral system. About Meridian
Meridian Mining UK S is focused on: The development and exploration of the advanced stage Cabacal VMS gold-copper project; Regional scale exploration of the Cabacal VMS belt; Exploration in the Jauru & Araputanga Greenstone belts (the above all located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil) and Exploring the Espigao polymetallic project in the State of Rondonia, Brazil.
Cabacal is a gold-copper-silver rich VMS deposit with the potential to be a standalone mine within the 50km VMS belt. Cabacal's base and precious metal-rich mineralization is hosted by volcanogenic type, massive, semi-massive, stringer, and disseminated sulphides within deformed metavolcanic-sedimentary rocks. A later-stage sub-vertical gold overprint event has emplaced high-grade gold mineralization cross-cutting the dipping VMS layers.
The Cabacal Mineral Resource estimate consists of Indicated resources of 52.9 million tonnes at 0.6g/t gold, 0.3% copper and 1.4g/t silver and Inferred resources of 10.3 million tonnes at 0.7g/t gold, 0.2% copper & 1.1g/t silver (at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade), including a higher-grade near-surface zone supporting a starter pit.
The Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report (the 'PEA Technical Report') dated March 30, 2023, entitled: 'Cabacal Gold-Copper Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, Mato Grosso, Brazil' outlines a base case after-tax NPV5 of USD 573 million and 58.4% IRR from a pre-production capital cost of USD 180 million, leading to capital repayment in 10.6 months (assuming metals price scenario of USD 1,650 per ounces of gold, USD 3.59 per pound of copper, and USD 21.35 per ounce of silver). Cabacal has a low All-in-Sustaining-Cost of USD 671 per ounce gold equivalent for the first five years, driven by high metallurgical recovery, a low life-of-mine strip ratio of 2.1:1, and the low operating cost environment of Brazil.
Readers are encouraged to read the PEA Technical Report in its entirety. The PEA Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.meridianminig.co and under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Contact:
Tel: +1 (778) 715-6410 (PST)
Technical Notes
Samples have been analysed at the accredited ALS laboratory in Lima, Peru. Samples are dried, crushed with 70% passing 85% passing 200. Routine gold analyses have been conducted by Au-AA23 (fire assay of a 30g charge with AAS finish). High-grade samples (>10g/t Au) are repeated with a gravimetric finish (Au-GRA21). Samples with visible gold identified during logging are analysed by screen fire assay method Au-SCR21. Samples are held in the Company's secure facilities until dispatched and delivered by staff and commercial couriers to the laboratory. Pulps are retained for umpire testwork, and ultimately returned to the Company for storage. The Company submits a range of quality control samples, including blanks and gold and polymetallic standards supplied by Rocklabs, ITAK and OREAS, supplementing laboratory quality control procedures. In BPM sampling, gold was analysed historically by fire assay and base metals by three acid digest and ICP finish at the Nomos laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. Silver was analysed by aqua regia digest with an atomic absorption finish. True width is considered to be 70-80% of intersection width.
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