Soil Sampling Results - Central Menzies Project

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Empire Metals Limited / AIM: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

1 October 2021

Empire Metals Limited ('Empire' or the 'Company')

Soil Sampling Results for the Central Menzies Gold Project

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the results of the recently completed soil sampling programme at the Central Menzies Gold Project in Western Australia ('Central Menzies' or the 'Project').

Highlights:

·      Encouraging results from soil sampling programme conducted on the areas of the greatest prospectivity based on the location of historical workings as well as areas of limited previous drilling.

·      2,379m of Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling completed, focusing on the most promising two of the previously identified mineralised trends, respectively known as Teglio and Nugget Patch. These targets were chosen based on elevated gold concentration within the licence area and the potential to generate significant strike and lateral extension from old workings.

·      The main gold anomalism identified from the soil sampling programme coincides with the Teglio trend which has demonstrated a total strike length of 1.8km as is open 800m to the north-west from the recently drilled RC programme, and for another 300m to the south-east

·      The results of the soil sampling programme have helped identify several drilling targets which will be further evaluated and prioritised once the results of the initial RC drilling programme are returned.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "The results from the soil sampling programme have been most encouraging, validating the decision to fast track an RC drilling campaign which targeted two previously identified mineralised corridors, known as the Teglio and Nugget Patch prospects. Not only do the soil sampling results confirm the prospectivity of the areas initially chosen to drill, they also indicate the potential to extend these targets along strike, both to the north and south of the current drilling footprint. In total, we have identified a mineralised corridor that extends for over 1.8km along strike, which clearly warrants further drilling.

"The soil sampling has also picked up anomalous gold-in-soil in a number of areas where the regolith cover is shallower. These areas add to the already impressive list of drill ready targets within the licence area. With the initial RC drilling campaign now completed we expect assay results to be available in October and, based on these, a decision on when and where to drill next can be made. I look forward to updating shareholders when drill results become available."

The Central Menzies Gold Project

In May 2021 Empire entered into an option agreement to acquire a 75% interest in the Central Menzies Gold Project, located in the Menzies Shire, approximately 115km north of the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 10km south of the township of Menzies. Central Menzies consists of four prospecting tenements (P26/2361, 2362, 2363 and 2364) covering a total area of 618 hectares.

The tenements are located within a north-north-west trending greenstone belt, with basalts as the dominant hosts together with interbedded shales and magnetite-rich banded iron formations ("BIF"), with mineralisation hosted within the Bardoc-Menzies Shear Zone, or associated fault splays (Figure 1). Gold-bearing quartz veins occur along the sheared contacts between basalts and sediments. A series of structurally controlled high-grade gold deposits have been historically mined in the region and display widespread exploration potential for high-grade extensions.

Geochemical Mapping

A soil programme comprising 688 sites was designed for Central Menzies and site sampling was completed in July 2021. The sampling sites were situated on each of the four licences, although largely focused on P29/2361 and P29/2363. The sampling grid was 160m x 40m and samples were collected from 10-30cm below surface using standard industry practices.

The areas selected for sampling represented areas of the greatest prospectivity based on the location of historical workings as well as a low density of prior drilling (Figure 2). Essentially the tenements, other than P29/2364 which has been the subject of previous rotary air blast ("RAB") drilling campaigns, were devoid of any previous surface geochemistry work. Hence the primary target of this soil sampling programme was to delineate any gold anomalous footprint around the old mine workings and locate new anomalous trends indicative of potential primary lodes. As shown by the high-resolution magnetic data (Figure 2), areas of outcrop and residual soils are restricted to the NE sector, with the remainder of the Project under variable transported cover conditions.

The resulting geochemical mapping is summarised in Figure 3 and the key findings are:

·    The main Au (and As) anomalism coincides with the Teglio trend and matches the recently completed Empire interpretation based on existing workings, geology in outcrop and historical RC holes, and gold in historic RAB/AC drilling.

·    The Teglio trend is open for some 800m to the north-west from the last RC traverse, and for 300m to the southeast for a total length of some 1.8km.

·    The Teglio trend may continue further to the south-east however soil response is obscured by extensive transported soil cover.

·    The strong anomaly identified immediately south of the recently drilled area at Teglio is close to the top of a hill which comprises indurated (hardened) gravel from a remnant (mostly eroded) channel from an old land surface. This gold anomaly may be coming from the old paleochannel.

·    There are indications of gold anomalism in the residual area to the NE of Teglio, the best being in the northern tip of the Project area.

·    The subdued gold response in sampling within the southern half of the survey is not surprising given the extensive cover.

·    A broad low-level gold anomaly in the southeast of the Project is considered to be of significance due to the presence of cover and location along the potential extension of known gold trends

RC Drilling Programme

A programme of 27 RC holes for a total of 2,379 metres was recently completed targeting the two priority prospects initially identified from the historical exploration dataset.  14 RC holes for 1,189 metres were drilled at Teglio, testing a strike length of 520 metres. A total of seven sections of drill holes span this length. At Nugget Patch a further 13 holes were drilled for 1,190 metres.

Geological observations indicate that gold encountered on previous drill sections at Teglio occurred within shearing, in proximity to the contact between basalt and interflow sediments. Most holes were completed in relatively fresh basalt. Quartz veining was also observed in most instances where gold mineralisation occurred.

This same contact was intersected on each of the recently drilled sections at Teglio, which extended over some 500m in strike length, although more often within weathered rocks.

The Nugget Patch prospect has been characterised by a broad low grade (0.1 - 0.5 g/t Au) mineralised zone intercepted by RAB drilling with the occasional moderate to high grade drill intercept. The recent drilling has confirmed that the Nugget Patch trend also coincided with the SW-dipping contact between mafic rocks in the footwall and overlying sediments, apparently sub-parallel to the Teglio trend. A felsic intrusion was intersected on the southernmost section.

Future Work

Several exploration targets have been defined at Central Menzies from a combination of the recent soil geochemical results, previous RAB/AC drilling, and geological and structural information from surface exposures and RC drilling. The targets are annotated T1 to T6 on Figure 4, with the targets approximately in order of priority with T1 being the highest. Planning of follow-up work will be finalised once assays from the recent RC drilling have been received and interpreted.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk  or contact:

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising gold interests in Australia and Austria.

The Company strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project and the Central Menzies Gold Project in Western Australia, with the goal to expand through the addition of further projects in the region to develop a viable and compelling portfolio of precious metals assets.

Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located in an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria. 

The Board continues to evaluate opportunities through which to realise the value of its wider portfolio and reviews further assets which meet the Company's investment criteria.