Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, said that exploration activities have now commenced at the Pitfield Copper Project, located in Western Australia.
These field activities will focus on under-explored areas of the Project and generate new exploration data that will add significantly to the company's understanding of the size and nature of this potential Giant copper province, it added.
In a statement, Shaun Bunn, Empire Metals' managing director, said: "I am pleased to report that we have commenced our exploration field work at Pitfield ahead of schedule, thanks to the efforts of our highly experienced exploration team. Having successfully put in place the initial land access agreements needed to commence surface exploration the team has mobilised to site to expedite the surface mapping and soil sampling programme at the Project, which has shown strong potential to be a new Giant copper province.
"The areas currently targeted are along strike from known soil anomalies, where high values of copper, silver and base metals have been identified from previous exploration. We expect that the results from our current programme will significantly expand the areas of high discovery potential ahead of completing surface IP surveys to identify drill targets beneath the surface metal anomalies.
"We have been keen to get our boots on the ground at this highly prospective new asset, and the exploration team are all eager to begin work as we look to prove up the presence of a new Giant copper province."
Exploration highlights:
- Pitfield has the potential to contain multiple sediment-hosted stratabound copper (SSC) deposits across a 40 kilometre North-South (N-S) magnetic anomaly (as announced on 21 September).
- Current exploration focus is on areas that were previously under-explored by major mining companies to further the Company's understanding of the size and nature of this potential 'Giant' copper province.
- Highly experienced exploration team, led by Ed Baltis, mobilised to Pitfield to conduct fieldwork including geological surface mapping and soil sampling.
- Further exploration field work, including IP surveying, is expected to continue in Q1 2023 ahead of an intended drill programme to evaluate the economic significance of any SSC deposit.
Empire Metals' strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its initial focus has been on the high-grade Eclipse and Gindalbie Gold Projects in Western Australia.
The company expanded its exploration licence area in April 2022 from 9.5 square kilometres to 1,728 square kilometres with the acquisition of the Pitfield Copper-Gold Project and the Walton Copper-Gold Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely Copper-Gold Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria.
Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria.