Caerus Mineral Resources PLC has uncovered very high-grade copper mineralisation across the target area at the flagship Troulli project in Cyprus, following a trenching and sampling programme focussed on residual metals in surface materials.
The project is also the subject of a prospective joint venture involving Jubilee Metals Group and Bezant Resources.
Samples have been collected and viewed through XRF and are now ready for dispatch to the assay laboratory.
Duplicate samples have been batched and dispatched to Jubilee Metals Group for test work;
Over 160 metres of trenching extending to a depth of over four metres and a width of 2.5 metres have revealed a potential resource for copper that exceeds all expectations in terms of both tonnage and grade.
The run-of-mine ore surface layer is now known to extend to up to three metres and comprises ore that has remained at the current location since the termination of historic operations some 50 years ago.
The surface zone contains visible copper oxide and sulphide minerals and is also expected to host an as yet unknown grade of gold.
This surface zone is immediately underlain by a highly enriched zone varying in width between 30 centimetres and 50 centimetres and hosting visible copper mineralisation and running at significantly high-grade copper values, peaking at 17% copper but more typically at between 6% and 8%.
"Each dump potentially represents an orebody,” said Caerus chief executive Martyn Churchouse.
“In terms of future mining, the notable difference between a dump and a lens of volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation is the fact that we do not need to drill and blast the resource, nor is it necessary to strip overlying waste material or commit to the capital required to access the mineralisation via underground development. We simply need to confirm the tonnage and grade.”
Over 100 separate XRF analyses have been undertaken on the high-grade copper leach zone within the Troulli stockpile.