TIDMATN
RNS Number : 2685F
Aterian PLC
03 November 2022
3 November 2022
Operational Update
High-Grade Copper & Silver Results,
Azrar Project, Morocco
Aterian Plc
(" Aterian " or the " Company")
Aterian Plc (LSE: ATN), the exploration and development company
developing its portfolio of African-focused critical and strategic
metal assets, announces the discovery of high-grade copper and
silver on the Company's recently acquired Azrar Project (the "
Project "). The Project, which totals 78.4 km(2) is located in the
western Anti-Atlas Mountains of the Kingdom of Morocco (" Morocco
") and is held by the Company's 100% owned subsidiary, Aterian
Resources Limited. The Company's acquisition of Aterian Resources
Limited, which completed immediately prior to its Admission to the
London Stock Exchange's Main Market, sees the Company acquire a
portfolio of 15 copper-silver and base metal projects in
Morocco.
Highlights:
-- High-grade copper and silver reported from outcrop sampling.
-- Results include 3.79 % Cu and 23 g/t Ag in a fault breccia sample.
-- Copper and silver mineralisation identified across 5 target areas.
-- Work to date covers less than 50% of the Project area.
-- Multiple occurrences of historic hard rock artisanal mining have been mapped.
-- Potential for stratiform sediment-hosted and contact breccia copper-silver mineralisation.
-- The Company's newly acquired portfolio of projects are
located in established current and historic copper and silver
mining districts.
-- The Company holds 15 highly prospective projects in Morocco, totalling 762 km(2) .
Charles Bray, Chairman of Aterian, commented:
"We are pleased to announce high-grade copper and silver results
from sampling at the Azrar Project, which was recently acquired in
line with the Company's acquisition of Aterian Resources Limited.
Following the Company's Admission to the Main Market of the London
Stock Exchange on 24 October 2022, we look forward to pressing
ahead with the exploration of the Project and the other assets
within our Moroccan portfolio, which we believe demonstrate
significant upside potential.
"The results of our outcrop sampling campaign, including 3.79 %
Cu with 23 g/t Ag and 2.06% Cu with 24 g/t Ag, are highly
encouraging and demonstrate the presence of high-grade copper and
associated silver mineralisation across a considerable extent of
the Project. Mineralisation is observed in fault-related breccia
and hosted in carbonate and siltstone sedimentary sequences.
Several artisanal workings have been identified across the Project,
with host rocks considered comparable to the nearby Managem-owned
Tizert copper mine.
"These results support earlier observations made during initial
reconnaissance that prospective geological formations for
stratiform sediment-hosted copper deposits occur within the Project
area. The discovery of multiple historic artisanal workings further
supports the mineral potential at Azrar.
"We will continue to evaluate the unexplored areas of the
Project and follow up on the multiple targets generated by the
field teams. Concurrently we will commence detailed mapping and
sampling over the five target zones identified so far. Ultimately,
we are working towards establishing an extensive drill programme. I
look forward to updating shareholders with the results from these
programmes in due course."
Project Summary:
The Azrar Project covers an area of 78.4 km(2) and comprises six
contiguous licence blocks, situated in the western Anti-Atlas
Mountains, 155 km southeast of the port city of Agadir and 45 km
southeast of the Tizert copper mine, which is operated by Managem
Group (mineralisation hosted at Tizert is not necessarily
indicative of mineralisation at Azrar).
The western Anti-Atlas is dominated by Palaeoproterozoic to
Neoproterozoic age inliers overlain unconformably by Cambrian to
recent sedimentary and volcanic sequences. The Lower Cambrian
Adoudounian Formation comprises sediments known to host major
sedimentary copper deposits in the Western and Central Anti-Atlas
that include the Tizert mine. The Tizert copper deposit is
considered the largest copper deposit in the western Anti-Atlas
with resources estimated to be 57 Mt grading 1.03 % Cu and 23 g/t
Ag.
Aterian Reconnaissance Exploration Results
Exploration work on the Project has identified sedimentary
hosted copper potential within Adoudounian sediments on the
southern flank of a Neoproterozoic inlier. The results highlight 5
target zones that require additional follow-up. One such zone has
an ENE-WSW trending fault zone which has been traced for c. 1.5 km,
and is open-ended, cross-cutting dolomitic sediments, and is up to
8 m wide, with one sample returning 1.41 % Cu and 41 g/t Ag. The
maximum copper value from samples collected along this structure is
3.45 % Cu. A separate target zone returned results up to 3.79 % Cu
and 23 g/t Ag from a brecciated dyke within a zone of faulting. An
earlier phase of sampling, completed by Elemental Altus Royalties
Corp ("Elemental Altus") reported a sample returning 1.00 % Cu and
16 g/t Ag from a ferruginous stratiform bed of 1 m width.
A total of 31 rock chip samples* were collected during this
reported sampling campaign. Of these samples, 12 samples (39 % of
this batch) were > 1 % Cu, 5 (16 %) were between 0.5 % Cu and 1
% Cu. 7 samples (23 %) were >10 g/t Ag and 24 samples (77 %)
< 10 g/t Ag.
To date, 53 samples (including those collected from an earlier
programme) have been analysed with 36% of these returning values of
> 1 % Cu and 43 % returning silver values of > 10 g/t Ag. The
work undertaken to date has concentrated on the eastern part of the
Project and the remaining c. 50 % of the Project is unexplored.
*A rock chip or grab sample cannot be taken as a representation
of the overage grade average and potential deposit size.
Work Plan for the Azrar Project
Future work will include the follow-up ground truthing and field
evaluation of several targets generated by the field teams over the
unexplored portion of the Project, which include historic worked
mineral occurrences, priority structural targets, and the basal
Adoudounian sedimentary package. We will also commence more
detailed mapping and sampling over the five target zones identified
so far.
Sampling Methodology and Analysis
All sample preparation and analysis from these reported samples
were undertaken by ALS Limited, an accredited laboratory in
Sevilla, Spain. Given the early-stage nature of these programmes,
no QA/QC samples were included.
Rock samples were crushed with 70 % passing -2 mm. The less than
2 mm fraction was pulverised with 85 % of the sample passing <75
microns. All samples were analysed for a multi-element suite of 33
metals by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
(ICP-AES) using four-acid digestion. In addition, all samples were
analysed for their gold content by a 50 g Fire Assay method with an
atomic absorption finish.
Illustrations
The following figures have been prepared by Aterian and relate
to the disclosures in this announcement.
Qualified Person
The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has
been approved by Simon Rollason, Chief Executive Officer of Aterian
Plc. A graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in Geology
(Hons). He is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and
Mining, with over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration and
mining.
-S -
This announcement contains information which, prior to its
disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation
11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310
(as amended).
For further information, please visit the Company's website:
www.aterianplc.com or contact:
Aterian Plc:
Charles Bray, Executive Chairman -
charles.bray@aterianplc.com
Simon Rollason, Director - simon.rollason@aterianplc.com
Financial Adviser and Broker:
Novum Securities Limited
David Coffman / George Duxberry
Colin Rowbury
Tel: +44 (0)207 399 9400
Financial PR:
Yellow Jersey PR - aterian@yellowjerseypr.com
Tom Randell / Henry Wilkinson / Laurie Gellhorn
Tel: +44 (0)20 3004 9512
Notes to Editors:
About Aterian plc
www.aterianplc.com
Aterian plc is an exploration and development company with a
diversified portfolio in Africa of critical and strategic metals
projects.
Aterian plc is actively seeking to acquire and develop new
critical and strategic metal resources to strengthen its existing
asset base, whilst supporting ethical and sustainable supply
chains. The supply of these metals is vital for the development of
the renewable energy, automotive and electronic manufacturing
sectors that are playing an increasing role in reducing carbon
emissions and meeting climate ambitions globally.
The Company currently has three joint ventures in Rwanda where
it is exploring and developing small-scale tantalum-niobium-tin
mining operations and recently acquired Aterian Resources Ltd, a
wholly owned and battery metals-focused subsidiary of Elemental
Altus Royalties Corp (formerly Altus Strategies plc). Aterian owns
a portfolio of 15 copper and silver projects with a project area of
762 km(2) in the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Company's strategy is to seek new exploration and production
opportunities across the African continent and to develop new
sources of strategic and critical mineral assets for exploration,
development, and trading.
Geological Setting of the Azrar Project
Azrar is located in the western Anti-Atlas which is dominated by
Palaeoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic age inliers overlain
unconformably by Cambrian to recent sedimentary and volcanic
sequences. The Lower Cambrian Adoudounian Formation is comprised of
sediments known to host major sedimentary copper deposits in the
Western and Central Anti-Atlas that include the Tizert mine. The
project is located on the flank of the Agadir-Melloul inlier and is
composed of terminal Neoproterozoic volcano-sediments overlain
unconformably by Adoudounian sediments. A series of north to
northeast striking faults and fold hinges traverse the project and
are cut by a series of west-northwest interpreted structures.
Glossary of Terms
The following is a glossary of technical terms:
"Ag" means silver
"Au" means gold
"Breccia" means rock consisting of angular fragments of stones
cemented by finer materials
"Cu" means copper
"Ferruginous" means containing iron oxides
"g/t" means grams per tonne
"km" means kilometres
"mm" means millimetres
"Mt" means millions of tonnes
"NI 43-01" means National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure
of Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities
Administrators
"Outcrop" means a rock formation that is visible on the surface
"Qualified Person" means a person that has the education, skills and
professional credentials to act as a qualified
person under NI 43-101
"Stratiform" Means parallel to the bedding planes of the surrounding
rock
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
UPDEXLFBLFLBFBZ
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 03, 2022 11:06 ET (15:06 GMT)
Aterian (LSE:ATN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Aterian (LSE:ATN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024