Mr. Richard Williams reports
CORNISH METALS REPORTS HIGH-GRADE COPPER AT THE UNITED DOWNS COPPER-TIN PROJECT
Cornish Metals Inc. has released assay results from three diamond drill holes at the continuing drill program at the United Downs copper-tin project, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Key points:
- Drill hole UD21-011A intersected five parallel zones of high-grade copper/tin/silver mineralization beneath the historic United mines, as shown in the associated table.
- United mines operated between approximately 1700 and 1870 as a high-grade underground copper mine with historical grades reported to be in excess of 7.5 per cent copper.
- This is the third drill hole to intersect the downdip extension of United mines. GWDD-001 and GWDD-002 (drilled in 2020) intersected 6.91 metres grading 0.80 per cent copper and 4.04 m grading 4.44 per cent copper and 2.06 per cent tin.
- High-grade mineralization has now been confirmed over a 500 m strike length and is open along strike and to depth.
- The next drill hole is planned to test this mineralization an additional 400 m along strike to the east.
- High-grade copper (plus tin-silver) mineralization in this region is hosted in metasediments (locally known as killas), which overlie granite.
- The killas are projected to extend at least 400 m below the intercepts in UD21-011A.
- The granite underlying United Downs is considered to be highly prospective for tin mineralization, as it is at the company's South Crofty tin project, located eight kilometres to the west.
Richard Williams, chief executive officer, stated: "Management believes that these latest intersections clearly demonstrate the potential for United Downs to host a copper/tin/silver mineral resource to complement the identified tin mineral resource at South Crofty. Confirmation that high-grade mineralization continues beneath the historic United mines validates the exploration potential we believe exists throughout Cornwall and within our mineral rights holdings.
"It is very interesting to see the tin grades starting to appear in the deeper intersections, which adds weight to our theory that the whole United Downs area is prospective for tin beneath the old copper mines, the same zonation that is clearly evident at South Crofty, just a few kilometres to the west."
Drill hole From To Length Copper Tin Silver (m) (m) (m) (%) (%) (g/t) UD21-011A 652.55 655.08 2.53 4.61 0.05 32.4 including 653.57 654.35 0.78 10.40 0.09 73.0 UD21-011A 670.85 673.11 2.26 1.47 0.15 4.4 UD21-011A 676.51 679.24 2.73 4.45 0.12 25.7 including 678.42 679.24 0.82 6.26 0.32 29.8 UD21-011A 701.16 703.74 2.58 2.08 0.67 12.9 including 702.96 703.26 0.30 11.25 0.77 65.3 and 703.26 703.74 0.48 1.42 1.68 7.2 UD21-011A 751.25 751.93 0.68 0.03 0.70 0.3 Note Reported intercepts are drilled lengths. True thicknesses of the mineralized intercepts are estimated to range between 70 and 90 per cent of the drilled lengths.
Drill holes UD21-009 (100 m east of UD21-008) and UD21-010 (drilled above UD21-008) were drilled to test the extension of mineralization encountered in UD21-008 (see news release dated Nov. 3, 2021). Although neither hole returned any mineralization of note, this has improved the structural understanding of the area to the south of UD lode and the company is currently awaiting a renewal of the general permitted development order (GPDO) in order to continue drilling in this area and at UD lode.
Other drilling activities
One drill rig is currently testing the polymetallic Trenares target, located immediately south of the Mount Wellington mine within the United Downs project area.
The second drill rig has been moved to test targets on the southern flank of Carn Brea. Carn Brea is located 1.5 km southeast of the South Crofty tin project and has potential to host tin-bearing lode structures in the vicinity of the historic Great Flat lode mining district.
Geology and mineralization
The geology at United Downs comprises metasediments (locally termed killas), which overlie an intrusive granite body. All the historic copper mines within the area (United mines and Consolidated mines) and the historic tin, copper and zinc mines (Mount Wellington and Wheal Jane) exploited mineralization hosted entirely within killas.
The mineralization is primarily hosted in narrow, steeply dipping vein or lode structures, and consists of cassiterite (tin), chalcopyrite (copper) and sphalerite (zinc) with other copper minerals such as chalcocite and bornite occasionally present.
United mines and Consolidated mines, located 200 m south and 400 m north of the UD lode, respectively, operated between the early 1700s and the 1870s, mining high-grade copper ores (reported grades of 7.5 per cent copper) to depths of up to 500 m below surface.
The Mount Wellington and Wheal Jane mines exploited similar structures located along strike from the historic mining at United Downs, where tin, copper and zinc mineralization was mined and processed until 1978 and 1991, respectively. Wheal Jane was mined to a depth of approximately 500 m below surface whereas Mount Wellington only reached approximately 200 m depth before closing. Mount Wellington is located within Cornish Metals' mineral rights and was still in mineralization when the mined closed.
Technical information
Drilling at United Downs is being performed by Priority Drilling Company Ltd. using an Epiroc Christensen CT14 diamond drill rig. Mineralized zones were drilled in NQ (76-millimetre diameter) to recover a 48 mm diameter drill core. Core recovery was greater than 95 per cent. The core was logged, split and sampled by Cornish Metals personnel. The samples, comprising half core, were sent for assay at ALS, Loughrea, Ireland. Sample preparation involved crushing to 70 per cent less than two mm, riffle split and pulverized to 85 per cent less than 75 microns. The analytical method used was X-ray fluorescence (XRF) following a lithium borate fusion. Samples that were assayed using this technique include copper, tin, tungsten, zinc and arsenic. Additionally, a multielement four-acid digestion ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) analysis was also carried out to further characterize the mineralization and alteration assemblages. Overlimit assays on Ag were carried out using a three-acid digestion with HCl (hydrochloric acid) leach and ICP-AES analysis. A comprehensive quality assurance/quality control program has been undertaken using standard, duplicate and blank samples included within the sampling program.
The technical information in this news release has been compiled by Owen Mihalop who has reviewed and takes responsibility for the data and geological interpretation. Mr. Mihalop (MCSM, BSc (honours), MSc, FGS, MIMMM, CEng) is chief operating officer for Cornish Metals and has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a competent person as defined under the JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) code (2012) and as a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Mihalop consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
About Cornish Metals Inc.
Cornish Metals owns a 100-per-cent interest in the South Crofty tin and United Downs copper/tin projects, plus additional mineral rights located in Cornwall, U.K., in July, 2016 (see company news release dated July 12, 2016). The company recently published an updated mineral resource estimate for South Crofty (see news release dated June 9, 2021). The South Crofty tin project mineral resource update report, dated June 9, 2021, authored by N. Szebor, CGeol (London), EuroGeol, FGS, of AMC Consultants (U.K.) Ltd., can be accessed on the company's website.
SOUTH CROFTY SUMMARY (JORC 2012) MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE Increase in contained tin/ Contained tin/ tin equivalent Area Classification Mass Grade tin equivalent from 2016 MRE (000 tonnes) (000 tonnes) Lower mine indicated 2,084 1.59% Sn 33 10.2% inferred 1,937 1.67% Sn 32 129.8% Upper mine indicated 277 1.01% SnEq 3 9.5% inferred 493 0.93% SnEq 5 8.0%
The additional mineral rights cover an area of approximately 15,000 hectares and are distributed throughout Cornwall. Some of these mineral rights cover old mines that were historically worked for copper, tin, zinc and tungsten.
We seek Safe Harbor.