Celsius Resources Ltd’s (ASX:CLA) Philippine subsidiary Makilala Mining Company Inc has received high-grade copper-gold assay results from the company’s first drill hole at the MCB Copper-Gold Project on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
Results from hole MCB-033 confirm the high-grade mineralisation and increase confidence that this portion of the mineral resource.
Results include 87.85 metres at 1.24% copper and 0.36 g/t gold from 305 metres downhole within a total intersection of 619 metres at 0.41% copper and 0.08 g/t gold from 17 metres.
The hole has achieved its primary objective of confirming the geological and grade continuity leading to improved confidence in the MCB mineral resource estimate.
Delighted with results
Celsius executive director Blair Sergent said: “Celsius is delighted that these results confirm the significance of our maiden mineral resource and continue to validate our confidence in the high-grade copper-gold core at our MCB project.
“This high-grade core is the main focus of our scoping study, which is progressing well.”
MCB Copper-Gold Project
MCB Project is the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Philippines, approximately 320 kilometres north of Manila, and holds a large, high-grade copper-gold porphyry deposit.
It is the flagship project within the Makilala portfolio which also contains other key prospects in the pipeline for permit renewal/extension.
The company has announced a maiden JORC-compliant MCB mineral resource of 313.8 million tonnes at 0.48% copper and 0.15 g/t gold for 1.5 million tonnes of contained copper and 1.47 million ounces of gold.
Of this, 290.3 million tonnes at 0.48% copper and 0.15 g/t gold is classified as indicated and 23.5 million tonnes at 0.48% copper and 0.10 g/t gold is classified as inferred.
Results from drilling at MCB
The company started drilling at MCB in February 2021 to achieve several key milestones including:
- To gain confidence in the high-grade portion of the mineral resource;
- To test the depth extensions to the high-grade section of the copper-gold mineralisation; and
- Test further strike extensions to the MCB deposit across a defined fault which appears to offset the copper-gold mineralisation on its western boundary.
Second drill hole
A second drill hole at MCB (MCB-034) is well underway and has reached a depth of 380 metres.
The hole is designed to further define the boundaries to broader copper mineralisation in addition to confirming the continuity of the critical high-grade core.
This hole is planned to reach a total target depth of 600 metres but may be extended as required.
The drill rig will move on to a further two drill holes planned to test for deeper extensions to the high-grade copper-gold mineralisation at MCB.
Scoping study
A high-grade core of 93.7 million tonnes at 0.80% copper and 0.28 g/t gold is the focus of the company’s initial scoping study.
The company has initiated the study and has completed 70% mine plan and design trade-off study along with 50% of the infrastructure requirement.
It has also started Paste Backfill study and the metallurgical test-work is set to start during June.