Filing of the Plan of Operations for Empire Mine

Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: PXC / Sector: Mining 

1 July 2021

Phoenix Copper Limited

("Phoenix" or the "Company")

Filing of the Plan of Operations for the Empire Mine Open Pit

Phoenix Copper Ltd (AIM: PXC, OTCQX: PXCLF), the AIM quoted North American focused base and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company, is pleased to announce that its Idaho-registered operating subsidiary, Konnex Resources Inc. ("Konnex"), filed a Plan of Operations (the "Plan") with the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") on 30 June 2021, for review and approval for the construction and operation of the Empire Mine Open Pit in Custer County, Idaho, USA ("Empire" or the "Empire Mine"). 

Highlights

·    Plan of Operations is a key step in moving the Empire Mine towards production

·    No significant environmental issues have been identified on the Empire Property and the Company anticipates a straightforward permitting process

·    The Company is carrying out an extensive programme of work this summer at the Empire Mine, with electro-magnetic surveys and drilling taking place across all properties

Plan of Operations

In 2017 Konnex began conducting baseline studies at the Company's flagship Empire Mine property for eventual inclusion in a Plan of Operations for submittal to the Federal Land Management Agencies in charge of mine permitting and licensing.

 Since that time, Konnex and its consulting firms have completed studies on Climate and Air Quality, Surface and Groundwater Hydrology, Soil Characterisation, Land Use Planning, Cultural Resources, Mill Processing, Transportation, Socioeconomics, Water Use and Treatment, Workforce, Sanitary and Solid Waste Management, Plant and Wildlife, Aquatic Biology, Aesthetics, Recreational Impacts, Fire and Safety, Long Term Reclamation and Mitigation, Geochemical Characterisation, Emergency Response and Contingency Planning, and Community and Infrastructure Planning.

The Plan of Operations provides the Federal, State, and County regulatory authorities with a detailed outline of proposed mining and processing activities and addresses any potential impact from those activities on the environment, the economy, and the local community. 

The regulatory agencies will commence their review of the Plan, assess any alternatives or mitigative steps, and ultimately provide a Record of Decision formally approving the Plan to permit the Empire Mine Open Pit for further development and production.

Ryan McDermott, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are pleased to file the Plan of Operations with BLM as an integral step in moving the Empire Mine forward towards production.  The filing of this Plan marks a significant milestone in the history of the Company and Empire and utilises the results of environmental and engineering planning studies that we began in 2017.  During the course of the studies, no significant environmental issues were recognised on the Empire Property and, as such, we anticipate a straightforward permitting process.

"The Empire Mine will require a substantial workforce and provide numerous, well-paid employment opportunities for the citizens of Custer County, as well as generating business opportunities in the construction, material supply, retail, and transportation sectors throughout Idaho.  Empire will also generate new tax revenue for the State and County through mine license tax, employment tax, and property tax. As a primary copper deposit, production from the Empire Mine should be timely as the new administration in Washington D.C. is actively encouraging the clean energy revolution which will include the development of metals essential for electrification projects. Our Empire copper resources fit neatly into that category.

"The filing of the Plan of Operations is the culmination of many years of work by the Phoenix team, and represents a very significant step forward for the Company towards metal production from Empire."

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance

Phoenix is committed to meeting and exceeding the environmental standards required by law as a core value of the Company.  The baseline environmental data collected to date will be used for furthering the permitting process, but as importantly, will be used as the building blocks for the Company's future Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance ("ESG") platform.

 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 until the release of this announcement.

Contacts

For further information please visit https://phoenixcopperlimited.com or contact:

Notes

Phoenix Copper Limited is a North American focused, base and precious metal emerging producer and exploration company, which has carried out a drilling programme and generated a copper, gold, silver and zinc resource on which it is carrying out a feasibility study to bring the historically producing Empire Mine in Idaho, USA, back into production. It is also evaluating the silver and gold resources around three other past producing mines within the 23 km² Empire claims block as well as cobalt in two claims blocks north of Empire in Idaho.

Phoenix's primary operations are focused near Mackay, Idaho in the Alder Creek mining district. This district includes the historical Empire, Horseshoe, White Knob and Blue Bird Mines, past producers of copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead and tungsten from underground mines in the first half of the twentieth century. Additionally, the district includes Navarre Creek, a Carlin-trend gold discovery which hosts a 6.1 km gold strike length within a 9.8 km² area.

Phoenix acquired an 80% interest in the historical Empire Mine property in 2017 and, based on a total of 320 drill holes, an oxide resource was completed in late 2017. A NI 43-101 compliant PEA (preliminary economic assessment) for an open pit heap leach solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine was completed in April 2018. In 2018 a further 8,600 metres in 93 holes was completed to upgrade the oxide resources, provide samples for ongoing metallurgical test work, geotechnical and hydrological studies and condemnation drilling for the heap leach pad site, waste dump and plant site. An updated NI 43-101 compliant resource was completed in early May 2020 and October 2020 for all metals. Present contained metal in all NI 43-101 compliant categories of resources, measured, indicated and inferred, stand at 355,523 ounces of gold, 129,641 tonnes of copper, 10,133,772 ounces of silver and 58,440 tonnes of zinc. Following the latest NI 43-101 compliant resource, Phoenix updated its economic model in February 2021 to include the processing of all contained metals through a two phased approach.

Since acquiring Empire, Phoenix has increased the claim area from 818 acres to 5,717 acres, mainly to the northwest and west, and in so doing has increased the potential for additional oxide and sulphide copper resources, as well as the potential for stand-alone gold and silver resources, along a strike length of approximately 5.4 km towards the other brownfield mines of the Horseshoe, White Knob and Blue Bird Mines now within the property boundary. In particular, a new discovery at Red Star, 330 metres northwest of the Empire Mine proposed open pit, has revealed sulphide ore and from three shallow exploration drill holes a NI 43-101 compliant maiden resource of 1.6 million silver equivalent ounces was reported.

At Empire, it is estimated that less than 1% of the potential ore system has been explored to date and, accordingly, there is significant opportunity to increase the resource through phased exploration.

More details on the Company, its assets and its objectives can be found on PXC's website at https://phoenixcopperlimited.com.