REG - East Star Resources - Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate - Verkhuba

East Star ResourcesAnnouncement

23/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5886L  East Star Resources PLC  23 April 2024

23 April 2024

East Star Resources Plc

("East Star" or the "Company")

Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate - Verkhuba

 

East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST), the Kazakhstan focused copper exploration
and resource development company, is pleased to announce a maiden JORC
Inferred Mineral Resource ("Resource") for the Verkhuba Copper Deposit
("Verkhuba" or "the Deposit") in the Rudny Altai belt, Kazakhstan of 20.3Mt @
1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead using a whole deposit cutoff grade of
0.86% copper equivalent ("CuEq").

Highlights:

 ·         236,000 tonnes of contained copper @ 1.16%
 ·         313,000 tonnes of contained zinc @ 1.54%
 ·         Upside from lowering the cutoff grade for the open pit portion of the deposit
           in future economic models

Following the publication of this Resource, the planned 2024 drilling
programme is intended to progress the open pit development concept through to
a stage where economic feasibility can be demonstrated, and a mining licence
application process can begin.

East Star is in the process of receiving offers from strategic partners for a
potential joint venture, farm-out, or sale of Verkhuba. The Company expects to
provide an update on this in the coming months, as well as further details on
its exploration plans across its copper exploration strategies.

Alex Walker, CEO, commented:

"This is a significant milestone. In a little over a year and one exploration
season, we have transformed a historical copper deposit into a large JORC
Inferred Mineral Resource in an infrastructure-rich region. Our Company is now
underpinned not only by its highly prospective exploration licences but by a
significant critical metal asset in the ground.

 

"At over 20Mt, Verkhuba is in the top third of this style of VMS deposit
globally. With copper at close to $10,000 per tonne and the prospect of a low
capex, open pit development, we believe the Deposit to be of considerable
value. In the context of East Star's current market capitalisation, and upside
from other regional VMS targets and copper porphyry exploration supported by
BHP Xplor, East Star is in a very good position to create further shareholder
value in 2024."

 

Background

 

East Star has been exploring the Rudny Altai volcanogenic massive sulfide
("VMS") belt since 2019 with the first licences being acquired in this region
in late 2020. Through methodical acquisition and review of historical data and
application of modern geophysics, low detection limit assays, new geological
models and other analytical tools, the Company has been able to initially
assess the potential of the Deposit and progress targeting for additional
discoveries in this rich but underexplored mineral belt. The benefits of
Verkhuba include:

 

·    Shallow high-grade intersections which confirm open pit development
potential

·    Established processing infrastructure (owed by third parties)
including two mills with combined spare capacity of 1.4M tonnes per annum
within 52 km of the Deposit as well as roads, power and water infrastructure

 

The Verkhuba Copper Deposit

 

The full report from AMC Consulting which undertook the Resource analysis has
been made available on East Star's website at:
https://www.eaststarplc.com/presentationsandreports
(https://www.eaststarplc.com/presentationsandreports) .

 

The historical mineral resource estimate for Verkhuba was updated from the
March 2023 Exploration Target due to:

 

1.     1,048m of drilling within the orebody conducted the Company in July
and August 2023 providing detailed insight into the orebody grades and widths
as well as the lithology

2.     Detailed geological traverses of the Verkhuba area conducted in
June 2023 uncovering 70 collar locations for more accurate coordinates of the
historical drill holes

3.     A drone LIDAR survey conducted over the Verkhuba area in June 2023
providing accurate topography

4.     Additional historical data

A total of 111 diamond core drillholes define the Verkhuba polymetallic
deposit representing a total of 46,616 m of drilling. Of that drilling, 69
drillholes were used for the grade estimate as other holes did not intersect
mineralisation. The Deposit area was sampled using diamond core drillholes at
variable spacings - from 200 m by 200 m to 100 m by 100 m spacing.

The interpretations resulted in wireframes for 56 mineralised zones for copper
("Cu") grades, 76 mineralised zones for zinc ("Zn") grades, and 39 mineralised
zones for lead ("Pb") grades using corresponding cut-off grades of 0.40% Cu,
0.35% Zn and 0.25% Pb. Wireframes provided by East Star of the lithological
model and fault planes were used to control the interpretation of each
element. A block model constrained by the interpreted mineralised zones was
constructed with a small parent cell size of 5 mE x 5 mN x 2 mRL with standard
sub-celling five times in all directions to maintain the volume resolution of
the mineralised zones.

Drillhole sample intervals have been composited to 1 m length and were used to
interpolate all main modelled grades (Zn, Pb, Cu) into the block model using
ordinary kriging (OK) interpolation techniques followed the statistical and
geostatistical analyses. Block grades were validated both visually and
statistically.

A constant average bulk density value of 3.0 t/m(3) was applied to each model
cell. The value was assumed based on work completed and documented in
historical reports.

All modelling was completed using Micromine software.

 

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

 

Peterhouse Capital Limited (Corporate Broker)

Peter Greensmith

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0930

 

Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations)

Ben Simons / Peter Jacob

Tel: +44 (0)20 7390 0234

 

About East Star Resources

 

East Star Resources is focused on copper exploration and resource development.
With eight licences covering >1,000 km² in three mineral rich districts
of Kazakhstan, East Star is undertaking an intensive exploration programme,
applying modern geophysics to discover minerals in levels that were not
previously explored.

 

East Star's most advanced project is a copper deposit on the world-class Rudny
Altai VMS Belt where the Company has a maiden JORC Inferred Mineral Resource
Estimate of 20.3Mt @ 1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead using a whole
deposit cutoff grade of 0.86% copper equivalent, within trucking distance of
third-party mills with excess capacity.

 

East Star's management are based permanently on the ground, supported by local
expertise, a joint venture with the state mining company on certain projects,
and grant funding from BHP through the BHP Xplor programme for copper porphyry
exploration.

 

Visit our website:

www.eaststarplc.com (http://www.eaststarplc.com)

 

Follow us on social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-star-resources/
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-star-resources/)

 

X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/EastStar_PLC
(https://twitter.com/EastStar_PLC)

 

Subscribe to our email alert service to be notified whenever East Star
releases news:

 

www.eaststarplc.com/newsalerts (http://www.eaststarplc.com/newsalerts)

 

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.

 

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this Report that relates to the Exploration Target is based
on and fairly represents information which has been compiled by Mr Dmitry
Pertel who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Pertel
has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of
deposit under consideration and to the activity that is being undertaken to
qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the 2012 Edition of the
"Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and
Ore Reserves". Mr Pertel is a full-time employee of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd.

The information in this Report that relates to QAQC (JORC Code Table 1
Sections 1 and 2) is based on and fairly represents information which has been
compiled by Dr Mikhail Tsypukov who is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials,
Minerals and Mining (UK). Dr Tsypukov has sufficient experience relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the
activity that is being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined
in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Tsypukov is an independent
Consulting Geologist (not associated with AMC) and has consented to the
inclusion of the matters in this report based on his information in the form
and context in which it appears.

 

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