RE:390.0 g/t Au, Meridian Mining Signs Cabaal Purchase Agreement
Announces historical intersections including 1.95m @ 390.0 g/t Au, 0.4% Cu.
London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - November 9, 2020) - Meridian Mining SE (TSXV: MNO) ("Meridian" or the "Company") today announces that it has signed the binding Purchase Agreement with the Vendors of the Cabaal Copper Gold Project ("Cabaal") in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil (Figure 1) on the terms as outlined in the Option Agreement originally announced on August 26, 2020[1]. The acquisition of Cabaal represents a key addition to Meridian's portfolio of projects. Cabaal is a district-scale Copper (Cu) Gold (Au) endowed Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") project with extensive near-mine and regional exploration upside. The filing of the mineral rights transfer with Agncia Nacional de Minerao ("ANM") will now proceed, following which Meridian will make the payment of US$275,000 scheduled under the definitive Purchase Agreement (totalling payments of US$300,000 towards the aggregate purchase price of US$8,750,000).
Having now successfully completed the Cabaal due diligence[2] and executed the Purchase Agreement, Meridian secures a largely undeveloped VMS district. The project comprises two historical underground mines (Cabaal and Santa Helena), and an extensive geological database with over 600 surface and underground drill holes, assays, regional mapping, soil and stream geochemistry, modern geophysics, metallurgical, and hydrological studies.
Highlights of the Cabaal Project:
- Purchase Agreement for the Cabaal Cu-Au acquisition executed by all parties, securing a district scale Cu-Au VMS project, comprising five tenements covering a 30km strike length of the Alto Jauru Greenstone belt
- Extensive undeveloped thick and open lenses of copper-gold mineralization provide an immediate focus for the first resource development program;
- Pre-defined regional and near mine VMS base and precious anomalies provide immediate exploration targets; and
- Near term drill programs may be conducted subject to permitting as the licence transfer is formalized.
Dr Adrian McArthur, CEO & President, states, "With the completion of the due diligence program and signing the Cabaal Purchase Agreement, Meridian has secured a significant Cu-Au (+Ag-Zn-Pb) VMS district that hosts a large and open near surface Cu-Au historic resource* and many highly prospective adjacent anomalies. Cabaal presents an opportunity to continue building a future mid-tier mining house. We see similarities to the early days of Hudbay as it set out to develop the Flin Flon VMS mining camp in Manitoba in 1927. To secure the untapped value potential presented by the Cabaal district scale VMS project for our investors and bring it onto the TSX Venture Exchange is an event rarely seen. Our intention is to develop Cabaal in an environmentally sustainable manner using best practices and engaging with local stakeholders to build our social license to operate."
BP Minerals first identified the Cabaal project with the discovery of a new greenstone belt during their 1980's gold exploration campaigns. Cabaal was historically developed as an underground mine, focussed selectively on high-grade gold and copper veins. Geological models in the early stages of mine development favoured structural controls on mineralization. Later independent studies by Canadian specialists in 1990 concluded that the belt hosted significant centres of hydrothermal activity and mineralization characteristic of VMS systems (including Cabaal itself)[3]. The mine was acquired by Rio Tinto as part of the 1989 takeover of BP Minerals before closing in 1991 as a non-core asset during a period of subdued metal prices. However, extensive lenses of Cu-Au (+Ag-Zn-Pb) VMS mineralisation defined by the historical works of BP Minerals and Rio Tinto (over 400 diamond drill holes ("DDH")) remained unmined. Regional historical exploration programs defined numerous geochemical and geophysical VMS style anomalies. Exploration drilling 475 m northeast of the Cabaal Au-Cu mine, returned an intersection in DDH JUSPD216 of 1.95 m @ 390.0 g/t Au, 0.4 % Cu from 27.5 m down hole (true width not reported) within a broader alteration halo.
Figure 1: Location of the Cabaal project in relation to other significant Cu-Au mines and exploration and development projects.
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A modern 2007 heliborne electromagnetic ("EM") survey has defined extensive EM plates, supplementing the earlier generation of defined geophysical & geochemical targets (Figure 2). The Santa Helena polymetallic mine 11km south of the Cabaal mine, was partially mined by the vendors until 2007 and forms part of the regional endowment4. The near-mine and regional targets are yet to benefit from the application of modern advances in geochemical exploration methods and surface and down-hole geophysical techniques that have contributed to discoveries in VMS camps elsewhere.
Figure 2 Cabaal drilling with examples of historical drill results outside the limits of mine development. VTEM db/dt conductivity image in the background with blue representing more conductive zones.
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The Cabaal VMS district has many similarities to other VMS districts such as Flin Flon (Manitoba) Matagami (Quebec) among others (Figure 3). Unlike these mature or near end-of-life mining camps, the Cabaal VMS district is comparatively untouched by mining and regional exploration drilling and hosts significant near surface Cu-Au (+Ag-Zn-Pb) mineralisation. The defined regional prospects are ready for follow-up. Also, like comparable VMS camps, based on the historical production and in-house reviews, the Cabaal Cu-Au (+Ag-Zn-Pb) mineralisation is amenable to standard metallurgical recovery techniques.
Figure 3: Analogue VMS Mining Districts
Figure 3: Cabaal shown at the same scale to other analogue VMS Mining Districts.
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A particular near-term objective will be to conduct verification and infill drilling on the Cu-Au VMS envelope defined by the historical drilling at Cabaal. The undeveloped lenses of stringer stockwork and disseminated mineralization hosts an historical resource of 21.7 Mt @ 0.6 % Cu & 0.6 g/t Au*. Attractive targets also include the open down-plunge projection of high-grade trends to Cabaal, and clusters of conductivity anomalies on strike within the mine corridor defined by the modern VTEM survey.
* Note: The historic resource was completed by Falcon and presented to the Vendors in a report dated 22 April 2009. The Company has not treated this resource as a current mineral resource for purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Readers are cautioned that the historic resource is not considered to be current for purposes of NI 43-101. The historical resource was estimated via an Inverse Square Distance method, using data from 301 diamond drill holes. A uniform density of 2.7 was applied for tonnage calculation, using 3D solids modelled from 54 sections. A 0.20% Cu Equivalent % cut off grade was applied (CuEquiv % = Cu % + (0.51 * Au ppm); Metallurgical Recovery = 85% Cu, 65% Au; Au price US$ 845 / oz; Cu price US$ 4000 / ton). Given the amount of historic exploration data on the Cabaal project the Company considers the historic resource to be relevant to understand the mineral potential of the Cabaal project. Historical resource numbers are rounded to 1 decimal place. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves
The Company has prepared an extensive corporate program to advance the procedures and permitting required to conduct the future resource delineation and exploration programs at Cabaal. The Company is also pleased to announce it has engaged Mr James McLucas of North 51 Mining Limited to aid in Meridian's corporate development.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Dr. Adrian McArthur, B.Sc. Hons, PhD. FAusIMM., CEO and President of Meridian Mining as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
NOTES
Samples from Cabaal drill core were historically analysed for gold by 50g Fire Assay with AAS finish, copper three acid digest and AA finish, and silver by Aqua Regia by AA finish at BP Mineral's laboratory in Bonsucesso (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), supervised by Mauro Yamamoto. Samples were prepared at Caxias and the mine site itself. Half-core was dried, crushed to a quarter inch size through a jaw crusher, pulverised to 150 mesh in a ring mill, passed through a Jones Splitter to produce a 100-200g split, with one sample archived for reference and the other dispatched for analysis. BP Mineral's quality control program included duplicate analyses, and periodic checks using independent laboratories. Holes were surveyed by theodolite referenced to a local base station by qualified surveyors. Hole 216 was drilled by a Maque 124 diamond rig with HQ core size. Analytical results are variably recorded in prints of BP Mineral's VAX database records of the time and reports of the era. An objective of Meridian's initial drill program is to conduct a series of twin drill holes to a modern QA/QC program through a certified independent laboratory to test the repeatability of historical results.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Meridian Mining SE
Dr. Adrian McArthur
CEO, President and Director
Meridian Mining S.E.
Email: info@meridianmining.net.br
Ph: +1 (778) 715-6410 (PST)
ABOUT MERIDIAN
Meridian Mining SE is focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development activities in Brazil. The Company is currently focused on developing the Cabaal VMS Cu-Au project in the state of Mato Grosso; exploring the Espigo Cu-Au polymetallic project, the Mirante-da-Serra manganese project, and the Ariquemes tin portfolio in the State of Rondonia Brazil.
Further information can be found at
www.meridianmining.co