Eurasia Mining PLC (AIM:EUA)
('Eurasia' or 'the Company')
Monchetundra flanks application submitted
Eurasia Mining PLC, the palladium, platinum, iridium, rhodium and gold producing company, is pleased to announce that an application for an exploration tenement adjacent to and surrounding the deposits at Loipishnune and West Nittis within the Monchetundra project, has now been submitted to Rosnedra for approval. Eurasia is developing the Monchetundra Project towards production following the issue of a mining permit for the circa 2Moz (2PGE + Gold) palladium dominated deposit and the award of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract, with an associated mine finance package, to Chinese company Sinosteel. The EPC contract relates to the development of two open pittable deposits at Loipishnune and West Nittis, however the directors believe there is a strong case for further resources in the on-strike continuation of these deposits, which are included in the applied for Flanks area.
Highlights:
· Flanks area application now submitted to Rosnedra. Eurasia's TGK (Eurasia's 80% subsidiary) as the production license holder has exclusive rights to the flanks areas which the directors believe have the potential, given drilling success, to increase the resources severalfold.
· An 8km2 area has been applied for to cover on-strike continuation of mineralisation at both the Loipishnune and West Nittis open pittable reserves.
· Significant resource potential has been identified by previous exploration in the area and is recorded in Russian state archives, notably in the Nittis Kamuzhaya Travanya (NKT) Massif area to the north of West Nittis, which contains resources of Palladium, Platinum, Gold, Nickel, Cobalt and Copper. The area between the Loipishnune and West Nittis deposits is also highlighted as having significant potential, further details of which can be found below.
× The Monchegorsk Complex and Monchetundra Massif, which host the West Nittis and Loipishnune deposits are known to contain type examples of the majority of the layered intrusion and contact hosted PGM deposit types recognised globally.
× Regionally, the mineralisation in the Monchegorsk area is recognised (as outlined below) as being genetically related to the Fedorova Pana layered intrusion which contains the Fedorova tundra deposit controlled by Barrick and containing 1.2m oz Platinum and 5.5m oz palladium. With the submission of this Flanks application, and the already state approved reserves in the Loipishnune and West Nittis deposits, directors believe Eurasia to be well established as a dominant player in the PGM space the region.
Executive Chairman at Eurasia Christian Schaffalitzky highlighted 'It has always been quite clear that the mineralisation at West Nittis was in fact clipping the edge of a much larger potential target in NKT, as a contact hosted PGM target - in fact the area was partially mined for high grade copper and nickel veins in the past but never systematically explored for palladium and other PGMs. Whilst outlining the resource at West Nittis the area was not available as an exploration license. Similarly, at the Loipishnune deposit there is strong support for further on strike extensions to our identified ore body which were not sufficiently outlined prior to the submission of our mine plan. On receipt of the flanks area exploration license these areas will become high priority brown field exploration targets which the directors believe may increase the resources for the project severalfold.'
Further detail:
As per Russian subsoil licensing legislation, the holder of a mining right is granted an automatic and exclusive right to apply for exploration tenements directly adjacent to approved resources. Eurasia have previously utilised this right in application for exploration ground adjacent to the West Kytlim project. After desktop studies and analysis of available literature a final outline was agreed for the Monchetundra flanks application in August 2019, and an application submitted to the necessary authorities on 23rd September 2019. The Monchetundra deposit comprises two separate deposits - namely the Loipishnune and West Nittis deposits - both of which demonstrate clear on-strike continuation of mineralisation beyond the limits of the current approved resource and mining rights.
The applied for area comprises a significant portion of a zone to the north and west of the West Nittis deposit known as the Nittis Kamuzhaya Travanya (NKT) Massif, an area previously mined for high grade nickel and copper mineralisation and with significant resources in PGM. Further potential resources exist in the on strike continuation of the mineralisation at Loipishnune as it extends into the area between Loipishnune and West Nittis, beyond the current mining license, in fact several early 'discovery holes' drilled by Eurasia in 2006 occur in this area, and contain intervals of 8.4 g/t (Pt+Pd) over 3.6m (Drillhole UM-3, see RNS dated 5th November 2006).
State archive information.
State archive information at the Apatity branch of the Territorial fund of geological information was consulted during the application process, as part of the due diligence process in outlining the exploration tenement, and to detail the grounds for the exploration license. The application is largely based on the Company's in-house database however the potential in the area was also highlighted by a variety of previous workers and exploration campaigns in the area. These are demonstrated in the graphic below as figure 1.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6909N_1-2019-9-25.pdf
Figure 1 : Graphic showing the flanks application area submitted for approval on 23rd September 2019. State archive information including resource calculations for other occurrences in the area is also shown, however there is no guarantee that all the resources outlined in these occurrences will result in mineable reserves. The inferred resource calculations in the areas are largely based on state funded early drilling campaigns with resources later calculated and approved for submission to the state archive by Russian subsoil licensing agencies.
Notable occurrences are at NKT where a Russian category P resource (similar to an Inferred Resource under the JORC classification) was provided to the Company by the Apatity branch of the Territorial fund of geological information. The resource was calculated by the state funded research group Rosgeologia in 2017 and comprises Ni - 298,000 t; Cu - 229,000 t; Co- 11,300 t; Pt - 18.5 tonnes/594,000 oz; Pd - 55 tonnes/1.7moz; Au - 7.6 tonnes/0.24moz; Ag - 185 tonnes/6moz. Eurasia has not verified this resource, and therefore it cannot be relied upon, but it is provided an indicative of potential in the area.
This announcement includes inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.
Enquiries:
Eurasia Mining Plc
Christian Schaffalitzky
+44 (0)207 932 0418
WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Katy Mitchell / James Sinclair-Ford
+44 (0)161 832 2174
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)
Jason Robertson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7374 2212
Optiva Securities (Joint Broker)
Christian Dennis
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3137 1902
