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East Star Resources Plc announced on 24 April 2025 the re-start of an induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey in the Rudny Altai belt in Kazakhstan. The survey concentrates on the Rulikha and Talovskoye anomalies, designed to delineate 2025 drill targets. Rulikha was historically reported at 14.3 Mt @ 1.2% Cu, 3.5% Zn, 0.28 g/t Au, and 13.5 g/t Ag, while Talovskoye was reported at 3.9 Mt @ 1.87% Cu, 5.4% Pb, 11% Zn, 0.3 g/t Au and 34.5 g/t Ag.
| Date | 24 Apr 2025 |
| Time | 07:00:05 |
| Category | Corporate updates |
| ID | 9258F |
24 April 2025
East Star Resources Plc
("East Star" or the "Company")
IP Survey of VMS Copper Targets
Survey targeting undrilled existing known anomalies at historical mines and deposits
East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), which is exploring for copper and gold in Kazakhstan, is pleased to announce the re-start of an induced polarisation ("IP") geophysical survey in the Rudny Altai belt in the East Region of Kazakhstan. The survey is concentrating on the Rulikha and Talovskoye anomalies and is designed to delineate these high impact 2025 drill targets. Rulikha and Talovskoye are two volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") deposits in a similar geological setting to, and around 33 km from, East Star's Verkhuba Copper Deposit (see Figure 1).
Highlights:
· Rulikha target: East Star surveys have delineated an electromagnetic ("EM") anomaly and several highly chargeable IP anomalies within a few hundred metres to the north of the Rulikha deposit, which was historically reported to contain 14.3 Mt @ 1.2% Cu, 3.5% Zn, 0.28 g/t Au, and 13.5 g/t Ag1
· Talovskoye target: An historic high-grade mining area where East Star reported two shallow chargeable zones on the northern line and a larger chargeable zone towards the south-west2. The 50m spaced IP infill lines are designed to provide further data on the larger south-west IP anomaly
· Both targets are within 11km of the Nikolaevsky processing plant with spare capacity
Alex Walker, East Star CEO, commented:
"The best place to find a mine is near an existing one and these strong geophysical anomalies below and adjacent to known deposits make for very promising drill targets. The IP survey we have restarted this week is the last stage in finalising the targets for drilling this season.
East Star has spent three years finding the best targets in the East Region and getting them drill ready, covering more than 800km2 of our own licences and visiting 17 mines across the belt to assist in our geological understanding and targeting. We're also in the process of collecting and digitising the historical Rulikha deposit drill hole database and will provide an update on this work in due course."
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Figure 1: Location of 2025 IP survey lines |
Further Information
Rulikha IP Anomalies
The chargeability models show an east-west trending chargeable zone across the entire southern part of the survey area. The chargeable zone becomes stronger towards the east. There is also a second highly chargeable zone just to the north of this trend. These two zones are strongest (>40 mV/V) on the easternmost line, and both are around 180m to 200m deep. These two highly chargeable zones are good drill targets for potential disseminated sulphide mineralisation and have never been drill tested. While the southern anomaly is over 850m long, it is thought to continue to the east and the current survey is designed to confirm the strike extent of the anomaly prior to drilling in 2025.
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Figure 2: Rulikha deposit outline with East Star's existing geophysical anomaly locations |
Rulikha EM Anomaly
A strong, complex EM response defined by a large, low resistivity zone in the basement and a coincident chargeable response. The core of the anomaly is around 320m deep. The coincidence of the HeliTEM anomalies, large low resistivity zone and chargeable response suggests this is a target for VMS mineralisation that warrants drill testing.
Further, within the envelope of the EM anomaly, an historical drill intersection reported 8.1m at 3.6% Zn from 296.5m and 4m at 5.9% Zn from 395m. High grade zinc sulphide (sphalerite) does not typically provide an EM response and therefore does not explain the EM anomaly. It does, however, indicate a highly mineralised system which could contain a copper-rich massive sulphide zone as the source of the EM anomaly.
Talovskoye IP Anomaly
An historical mining location, reported as 3.9 Mt @ 1.87% Cu, 5.4% Pb, 11% Zn, 0.3 g/t Au and 34.5 g/t Ag3, made up of a number of thin and shallow, very high-grade massive sulphide pipes. East Star's sampling of these pipes in 2023 returned grades including:
· 6.30% Cu, 5.19% Pb, 0.81 g/t Au and >100g/t Ag
· 8.44% Cu, >20% Pb, 1.1 g/t Au and > 100 g/t Ag
· 2.58% Cu, 11.35% Pb, 3.84 g/t Au and >100 g/t Ag
The hill contains extensive sulphide mineralisation, with outcropping gossans largely obscured under waste from historical small-scale mining. The 2024 IP survey reported two narrow shallow zones on the northern line where East Star sampled very high-grade massive sulphide rock chips. A larger chargeable zone was registered southwest of the main hill and historical workings. East Star has planned 50m spaced infill IP lines, which are designed to provide further data on the larger south-west trending IP anomaly.
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Figure 3: Rock chip sampling of the historic workings |
Figure 4 a, b & c: IP survey results from 2024 showing the shallow anomalies to the north and the larger anomaly to the southwest |
1Lobanov et al., 2914, announced in the Prospectus dated 14 December 2021
2East Star announcement 4 February 2025, 'Exploration Update'
3Lobanov et al., 2914, announced in the Prospectus dated 14 December 2021
East Star Resources Plc
Alex Walker, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234 (via Vigo Consulting)
SI Capital (Corporate Broker)
Nick Emerson
Tel: +44 (0)1483 413 500
Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)
Ben Simons / Peter Jacob
Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234
About East Star Resources Plc
East Star Resources is focused on the discovery and development of copper and gold in Kazakhstan. East Star's management are based permanently on the ground, supported by local expertise. The Company is pursuing three exploration strategies:
· A Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) discovery with a maiden JORC MRE of 20.3Mt @ 1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead, in an infrastructure-rich region, amenable to a low capex development
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Location of East Star's projects in the Rudny Altai belt |
· Copper porphyry and epithermal gold exploration, with multiple opportunities for Tier 1 deposits, supported by an initial $500k grant from BHP Xplor in 2024
· Sediment-hosted copper exploration with Getech where the initial targeting strategy is at no cost to East Star
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The person who arranged for the release of this announcement was Alex Walker, CEO of the Company.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 2014/596/EU which is part of domestic UK law pursuant to the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information (as defined in UK MAR) is now considered to be in the public domain.
