Europa Metals Ltd (AIM:EUZ) has returned further high grade intersections of lead, zinc and silver from drilling at its Toral project in Spain.
The company also hit an interval of nearly 1% copper.
This latest 2021 infill drilling campaign was designed to improve Europa's understanding of the deposit and assess the potential for increasing future production in the early years of the planned mine.
Among the highlights from the latest results were 2.7 metres grading 11.14% zinc equivalent, 14.85 metres grading 8.36 zinc equivalent, and 2.7 metres grading 0.93% copper.
The company will now commission an independent updated resource estimate and continue with metallurgical test work.
It will also pursue the drawdown of Stage 2 grant funds of €158,628.60 once the Spanish Government Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology completes its final review of the Stage 1 milestone documentation submitted in connection with the company's innovation partnership with the University of Salamanca.
"The results from this latest round of drilling in terms of grades and widths of lead, zinc and silver are in our view exceptional and exceed our initial expectations for the upper zone of the Toral project, an area that we have always viewed as being the 'path' towards the lower, high-grade production zones,” said Laurence Read, chief executive of Europa Metals.
"The company has decided to conclude drilling and is assessing the potentially positive impact these intersections could have on the existing resource model and the potential future economics for the Toral project. Even with a high-grade project with a robust EBITDA margin at the three-year trailing metals prices in the last independent economic study, we believe that further enhancements can be achieved from optimising the mining route and further determining processing systems such as ore sorting, or separate ore sorting processes for different ore types.”