Tertiary Minerals PLC (AIM:TYM, OTC:TTIRF) earlier this week reported its highest-grade silver and copper intersections to date from drilling at the Mushima North project in Zambia.
The company said the results confirm its view that the project could represent a significant discovery. Managing director Richard Belcher told investors that the intersections seen in the second phase of drilling support the company’s understanding of the geology and mineralization first outlined when silver was identified at the site in late 2024.
Belcher joined the Proactive studio to tell us more about the project.
Proactive: Richard, very good to speak with you. The latest drill results at Mushima North include your highest grade silver and copper intersections to date. How significant is this for the project?
Richard Belcher: Well, thanks Stephen. This is really significant for us. I think, firstly, this confirms what we've been saying for, well, since we made this silver discovery late last year, that, based on the geology and the mineralization, this could be a significant discovery for the company. And I think these results, that we're seeing from the second phase and particularly ones now, really does confirm what we've been suspecting for a while. So these are great results at this stage.
Proactive: Mineralization now extends over 450m by 400m and remains open. What are the next steps to test the scale of this system?
Richard Belcher: Yes. So I think what's been really interesting is that these results, as you say, are from the northern extent of our initial footprint. So not only have they extended it further, but they do remain open. And as we've shown today or yesterday, the copper grades are also looking really interesting as well, 9m at 0.7%. Several values within there above 1%, up to 1.6% copper. And these were on the northern area of an area that we have only just started to test. So lots of upside potential with that mineralization going forward. So, yeah, really interesting to potentially explore the extent of the mineralization in that northernly-most northwesterly direction.
Proactive: As mentioned, you reported that new zone of high-grade copper. How could this influence your exploration model and future development options?
Richard Belcher: Yeah. So, you know, primarily this is silver supported by copper, zinc and maybe some critical metals as well. But these copper grades have been obviously warmly received by us and also the markets, and it opens up the potential of could there be additional high-grade copper within the system as well? So, we'll certainly be looking at that as a possibility in the next phases of work we do on the project.
Proactive: And with analytical results still pending on other holes, when can investors expect the next update from the phase two program?
Richard Belcher: Yes. So we still have, as you say, some assay results due to come back. These are for reconnaissance holes across the target area. We've also submitted some samples from drill holes from our phase one, because not all holes were analyzed at the lab. And not analyzed for silver. So we're trying to see if we can identify additional targets around this area we've been drilling as well. This is also in the IOCG area, the iron oxide copper gold region of Zambia. So we're also going to be looking at the potential for gold in this target area as well. So we're going to be submitting some samples for gold to test that. And then we've got the samples that are going up for mineralogy to start to look at the initial metallurgical work. So lots of news flow really to come back in over the next couple of months for this project.
Proactive: Well, I hope you'll keep us updated as these results come through.