Shares in Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) rose as the company published “exceptional assay results” from the 2018 drilling campaign at its Redmoor project in Cornwall.
The shares were up 3.2% at 1.60p as investors pored over the results from the initial two holes from the 2018 Redmoor drilling programme, which yielded the company's best drill results at the project to date.
READ: Strategic Minerals pleased with progress at Cornwall tungsten development
Highlights included:
- Hole CRD021: 14.21 metres (m) @ 1.13% SnEq (tin equivalent) from 644.63m, including 1.59m @ 5.06% SnEq
- CRD021: 7.65m @ 1.48% SnEq from 670.02m, including 1.09m @ 4.84% SnEq
- CRD022: 9.75m @ 1.01% SnEq from 405.00m, including 1.50m @ 3.42% SnEq
- CRD022: 14.10m @ 1.44% SnEq from 420.25m, including 2.00m @ 4.55% SnEq
- CRD022: 10.88m @ 0.92% SnEq from 483.36m, including 4.20m @ 1.89% SnEq
The above intercepts provide strong evidence of down-dip extensions of the high-grade zones within the sheeted vein system (SVS) up to 180m below existing intercepts and also potentially extend this deeper mineralisation along-strike, Strategic Minerals said.
Drilling of three more holes (CRD023, CRD024 and CRD025) of the Phase 1 programme has now been completed and these holes are in the process of being sampled and analysed.
Visually, all three holes appear to have intersected multiple zones of tungsten and copper mineralisation and are of a similar appearance to that in CRD021 and CRD022, the company said.
Drilling of the final two Phase 1 holes (CRD026 and CRD027) has commenced and is expected to be completed in early October. Final results from the Phase 1 programme are expected to be released in the December quarter.
"The initial results from the first two holes have exceeded our expectations and they reinforce the team's considered opinion that the resource grade increases at depth,” said John Peters, the managing director of Strategic Minerals.
Peters said the results pave the way for Cornwall Resources Limited (CRL), the joint venture vehicle in which the company has a 50% stake, to commence “an investment quality” pre-feasibility (PFS) study in 2019.
“While the board and the company's shareholders have confidence in the value of its investment in CRL, it considers that delivery of a PFS is critical to the market in determining the value attributed to CRL by the company,” Peters said.
"A report on CRL's additional drilling plans is expected within a month and SML looks forward to updating the market at this time," he added.