Significant Trenching Results And Commencement of Drilling at Red Mountain
reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay).
TORONTO, Aug. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xanadu Mines Ltd (ASX: XAM, TSX: XAM) (Xanadu or the Company) is pleased to provide an exploration update for the Red Mountain copper-gold district (Figure 3), a joint venture with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC JV).
Highlights
- Drilling commenced at Red Mountain on a targeted approx. 2,450 metre program
- Assay results returned for the 1,000 metres trenching program, confirming additional, shallow high-grade copper mineralisation at Stairy and extending zones of mineralisation seen in historic trenches
- Significant results include:
- OUTR100 returns 8m @ 2.03% eCu from 136m1
- OUTR104 returns 8m @ 1.94% eCu from 4m1
- Varying thicknesses of copper mineralisation intersected in all trench assays
- Exploration drilling will focus on shallow high-grade targets identified via trenching and previous drilling
- Red Mountain district is being progressed as a standalone high-grade copper project, complementing the advanced large-scale Kharmagtai copper-gold district
Xanadu’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Stewart, said “We are very excited by shallow copper mineralisation in our surface trenching at Red Mountain. This confirms the mineralised structures are sub-vertical and up to twenty-four meters wide, potentially extending well over a kilometre. Importantly, our latest geological interpretation suggests these may be linked to a large-scale porphyry system at depth. The quality of Stairy and of the Red Mountain district continues to improve, laying a strong foundation for our new drilling program.”
Stairy Trenching Results
Approximately 1,000 metres of trenching was completed at Stairy (Figure 1), designed to obtain geological (structural) data relating to the zones of mineralisation associated with previous company trenches. Multiple intercepts of strong copper mineralisation have been encountered (Appendix 1: Tables 1 and 2), including Trenches OUTR100 and OUTR104 shown below. These results indicate extensions of the mineralisation zones seen in historic trenches and provide important information for targeting future drilling programs.
Hole ID | From2 | Interval | Au | Ag | Cu | eCu |
OUTR100 | 22m | 6m | 0.01g/t | 6.17g/t | 0.77% | 0.78% |
and | 132m | 19m | 0.06g/t | 8.14g/t | 0.88% | 0.91% |
including | 136m | 8m | 0.13g/t | 18.33g/t | 1.96% | 2.03% |
including | 136m | 6m | 0.17g/t | 23.60g/t | 2.36% | 2.45% |
Hole ID | From2 | Interval | Au | Ag | Cu | eCu |
OUTR104 | 0m | 14m | 0.03g/t | 9.43g/t | 1.32% | 1.34% |
including | 4m | 8m | 0.04g/t | 13.78g/t | 1.92% | 1.94% |
and | 38m | 14m | 0.02g/t | 6.56g/t | 0.95% | 0.96% |
including | 40m | 12m | 0.02g/t | 7.62g/t | 1.08% | 1.09% |
Note that true widths will generally be narrower than those reported. See disclosure in JORC explanatory statement attached.
FIGURE 1: Trenching Results at Stairy, showing surface high-grade mineralisation.3 is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c0aee884-7352-43eb-9d0d-36fec08a3142
Stairy Drilling Program Commencing
An approximately 2,450-metre drilling program has commenced at the Red Mountain district, with the objective to delineate a near surface, low tonnage, high-grade copper deposit.
Targets are developed based on results of the recent 1,000 metre trenching program and drilling intercepts from the first quarter of 2021, which included drill hole OUDDH100 with 4m @ 15.85% Cu from 55m within 16m @ 4.09% Cu from 54m.4
About Stairy
The Stairy prospect consists of a 1.5km by 1km zone of sheeted mineralised structures hosted within the Stairy Intrusive in the central east of the Red Mountain Mining Lease (Figure 2). These structures are interpreted to be sub-vertical, up to twenty-four meters wide and can extend for over a kilometre.
Copper mineralisation at Stairy consists of bornite and chalcopyrite sulphide with quartz carbonate fill. The current geological interpretations suggest these sheeted structures may be linked to a large-scale porphyry system at depth.
FIGURE 2: Red Mountain Mining Licence, showing ground Landsat data and priority target locations is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2d585fec-1e9a-4db8-afb4-53faff32ddfb
About Red Mountain
The Red Mountain district is located within the Dornogovi Province of southern Mongolia, approximately 420 kilometres southeast of Ulaanbaatar (Figure 3) and is a joint venture between Xanadu and JOGMEC, in which JOGMEC may earn up to 51% beneficial interest in the project by sole funding up to $US7.2 million in exploration expenditure over 4 years, commencing April 2020.
Red Mountain covers approximately 57 square kilometres in a frontier terrane with significant mineral endowment, and it has a granted 30-year mining licence. Red Mountain comprises a cluster of outcropping mineralising porphyry intrusions which display features typically found in the shallower parts of porphyry systems where narrow dykes and patchy mineralisation branch out above a mineralised stock. This includes multiple porphyry copper-gold centres, mineralised tourmaline breccia pipes copper-gold/base metal skarns and high-grade epithermal gold veins.
FIGURE 3: Location of the Red Mountain district in the South Gobi porphyry copper belt is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ed706c28-6083-49db-b32c-358dd35706ef
About Xanadu Mines
Xanadu is an ASX and TSX listed Exploration company operating in Mongolia. We give investors exposure to globally significant, large scale copper-gold discoveries and low-cost inventory growth. Xanadu maintains a portfolio of exploration projects and remains one of the few junior explorers on the ASX or TSX who control a globally significant copper-gold deposit in our flagship Kharmagtai project. For information on Xanadu visit: www.xanadumines.com.
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Stewart
Chief Executive Officer
T: +61 2 8280 7497
M: +61 409 819 922
E: [email protected]
This Announcement was authorised for release by Xanadu’s Board of Directors.
Appendix 1: Trenching Results
Table 1: Trench locations
Hole ID | Prospect | East | North | RL | Azimuth (°) | Depth (m) |
OUTR100 | Stairy | 378456 | 4939918 | 1056 | 203 | 151.1 |
OUTR101 | Stairy | 378346 | 4939874 | 1056 | 217 | 160.0 |
OUTR102 | Stairy | 378444 | 4940018 | 1058 | 155 | 100.0 |
OUTR103 | Stairy | 378550 | 4939640 | 1050 | 180 | 140.0 |
OUTR103A | Stairy | 378550 | 4939725 | 1053 | 180 | 85.0 |
OUTR104 | Stairy | 378656 | 4939694 | 1051 | 152 | 100.0 |
OUTR105 | Stairy | 378370 | 4939583 | 1052 | 180 | 175.0 |
OUTR106 | Stairy | 378980 | 4939790 | 1047 | 180 | 125.0 |
OUTR107 | Stairy | 378725 | 4939390 | 1045 | 180 | 50.0 |
Table 2: Significant trench results
Hole ID | Prospect | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Cu (%) | CuEq (%) | AuEq (g/t) |
OUTR100 | Stairy | 22 | 28 | 6 | 0.01 | 6.17 | 0.77 | 0.78 | 1.53 |
and | 132 | 151.1 | 19.1 | 0.06 | 8.14 | 0.88 | 0.91 | 1.77 | |
including | 136 | 144 | 8 | 0.13 | 18.33 | 1.96 | 2.03 | 3.97 | |
including | 136 | 142 | 6 | 0.17 | 23.60 | 2.36 | 2.45 | 4.79 | |
OUTR101 | Stairy | 96 | 113 | 17 | 0.01 | 2.32 | 0.32 | 0.33 | 0.64 |
and | 123 | 131 | 8 | 0.01 | 0.42 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.18 | |
OUTR103 | Stairy | 94 | 97.5 | 3.5 | 0.02 | 2.86 | 0.69 | 0.70 | 1.37 |
OUTR104 | Stairy | 0 | 14 | 14 | 0.03 | 9.43 | 1.32 | 1.34 | 2.62 |
including | 4 | 12 | 8 | 0.04 | 13.78 | 1.92 | 1.94 | 3.80 | |
and | 38 | 52 | 14 | 0.02 | 6.56 | 0.95 | 0.96 | 1.88 | |
including | 40 | 52 | 12 | 0.02 | 7.62 | 1.08 | 1.09 | 2.12 | |
OUTR105 | Stairy | 32 | 46 | 14 | 0.01 | 0.77 | 0.24 | 0.24 | 0.48 |
including | 34 | 38 | 4 | 0.01 | 1.10 | 0.44 | 0.44 | 0.86 | |
and | 102 | 114 | 12 | 0.01 | 0.71 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.20 | |
and | 130 | 160 | 30 | 0.01 | 0.37 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.24 | |
including | 130 | 136 | 6 | 0.01 | 0.70 | 0.27 | 0.28 | 0.54 |
Appendix 2: Statements and Disclaimers
Competent Person Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr Andrew Stewart, who is responsible for the exploration data, comments on exploration target sizes, QA/QC and geological interpretation and information. Dr Stewart, who is an employee of Xanadu and is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists, has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking to qualify as the “Competent Person” as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and the National Instrument 43-101. Dr Stewart consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
Copper Equivalent Calculations
The copper equivalent (eCu) calculation represents the total metal value for each metal, multiplied by the conversion factor, summed and expressed in equivalent copper percentage with a metallurgical recovery factor applied. The copper equivalent calculation used is based off the eCu calculation defined by CSA in the 2018 Mineral Resource Upgrade for Xanadu’s Kharmagtai project.5
Copper equivalent (eCu) grade values were calculated using the following formula:
eCu = Cu + Au * 0.62097 * 0.8235,
Where Cu = copper grade (%); Au = gold grade (gold per tonne (g/t)); 0.62097 = conversion factor (gold to copper); and 0.8235 = relative recovery of gold to copper (82.35%).
The copper equivalent formula was based on the following parameters (prices are in USD): Copper price = 3.1 $/lb (or 6,834 $ per tonne ($/t)); Gold price = 1,320 $ per ounce ($/oz); Copper recovery = 85%; Gold recovery = 70%; and Relative recovery of gold to copper = 70% / 85% = 82.35%.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this Announcement, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Xanadu and its projects may also include statements which are ‘forward‐looking statements’ that may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral reserves and mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions. These ‘forward-looking statements’ are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Xanadu, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forward‐looking statements.
Xanadu disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forward‐looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after the date of this Announcement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than required by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Listing Rules of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The words ‘believe’, ‘expect’, ‘anticipate’, ‘indicate’, ‘contemplate’, ‘target’, ‘plan’, ‘intends’, ‘continue’, ‘budget’, ‘estimate’, ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘schedule’ and similar expressions identify forward‐looking statements.
All ‘forward‐looking statements’ made in this Announcement are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that ‘forward‐looking statements’ are not guarantee of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on ‘forward‐looking statements’ due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
For further information please visit the Xanadu Mines’ Website at www.xanadumines.com.
Appendix 3: Red Mountain Table 1 (JORC 2012)
Set out below is Section 1 and Section 2 of Table 1 under the JORC Code, 2012 Edition for the Red Mountain project. Data provided by Xanadu. This Table 1 updates the JORC Table 1 disclosure dated 22 July 2021.6
1.1 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 1 - SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND DATA
Criteria | JORC Code explanation | Commentary |
Sampling techniques |
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Drilling techniques |
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Drill sample recovery |
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Logging |
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Sub - sampling techniques and sample preparation |
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Quality of assay data and laboratory tests |
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Verification of sampling and assaying |
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Location of data points |
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Data spacing and distribution |
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Orientation of data in relation to geological structure |
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Sample security |
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Audits or reviews |
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1.2 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 2 - REPORTING OF EXPLORATION RESULTS
(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections).
Criteria | JORC Code (Section 2) Explanation | Commentary |
Mineral tenement and land tenure status |
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Exploration done by other parties |
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Geology |
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Drill hole Information |
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Data Aggregation methods |
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Relationship between mineralisation on widths and intercept lengths |
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Diagrams |
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Balanced Reporting |
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Other substantive exploration data |
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Further Work |
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1.3 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 3 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF MINERAL RESOURCES
Mineral Resources are not reported so this is not applicable to this report.
1.4 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 4 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF ORE RESERVES
Ore Reserves are not reported so this is not applicable to this report.
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1 Refers to horizontal distance along the trench
2 Refers to horizontal distance long the trench
3 ASX/TSX Announcement 16 June 2021 - Multiple strong MLEM conductors detected at Stairy
4 ASX/TSX Announcement 23 March 2021 - Shallow Bornite Mineralisation at Red Mountain
5 ASX Announcement 31 October 2018 - Major increase in Kharmagtai Open-Cut Resource to 1.9Mt Cu & 4.3Moz AU
6 ASX Announcement 22 July 2021 – Target Program Completed at Red Mountain