Meridian Mining drills 12.7% CuEq over 12.8 metres at Cabacal, Brazil
Meridian Mining U.K. Societas [MNO-TSX; MRRDF-OTCQB; 2MM-FSE/Tradegate] provided an update on the continuing drill program at its Cabacal project, Brazil, where advanced permitting covers 928 km2.
Drill hole CD-240 has intersected a wide high-grade copper zone that grades 34.5 metres at 5.3% CuEq/7.9 g/t AuEq (4.0% Cu, 1.7 g/t Au and 22.4 g/t Ag) with the core of the high-grade feeder zone returning 12.8 metres at 12.7% CuEq/19.0g/t AuEq (9.7% Cu, 4.0 g/t Au and 55.8 g/t Ag). This is the highest-grade copper interval ever drilled in the history of Cabacal, with peak assay grades of 17.9% Cu and 34.1 g/t Au, and multiple copper assays grading greater than 17.0% Cu. This rich feeder zone is considered open, with further drill results from Cabacal to be released in the near future.
Highlights: Meridian’s CD-240 drill hole returned the highest-grade VMS copper-gold feeder zone to date at Cabacal. Cabacal’s highest grade copper zone returned 34.5 metres at 5.3% CuEq/7.9 g/t AuEq (4.0% Cu, 1.7 g/t Au and 22.4 g/t Ag) from 125.35 metres, including 12.8 metres at 12.7% CuEq/19.0 g/t AuEq (9.7% Cu, 4.0 g/t Au and 55.8 g/t Ag) from 129.9 metres.
Peak assay grades were 17.9% Cu, 34.1 g/t Au and 105 g/t Ag; the CD-240 high-grade zone remains open.
Dr. Adrian McArthur, CEO, commented: “The highest-grade VMS results reported today from CD-240’s copper-gold feeder zone highlight the tremendous upside that Cabacal continues to offer. This trend has the potential to enhance the existing resource base and extends below the current open pit design. The targeting of this open mineralization in the Southern Copper Zone (SCZ) is part of the ongoing drill program. We expect these results to deliver a positive contribution to the next phase of economic studies. Our technical team continues to analyse the historical data which led directly to these significant results in the high-grade SCZ’s extensions.”
SCZ Copper Sulphide Feeder System: The company will include this new zone, and the multiple of other higher-grade trends, defined since August 2022, in the upcoming Cabacal resource update. CD-240’s high-grade feeder zone and its broader halo, are not in the current resource model.
When included in the future resource upgrade, these results will improve localized metal content and economics (the block model’s grades in CD-240’s position are typically in the range of ~0.8 to 3.0g/t AuEq, compared to the average of 7.9 g/t AuEq over the 34.5- metre intersection). The ongoing drill program aims to delineate the SCZ’s extensions, which were not historically mined due to the historic gold focused cut-off grade, despite containing exceptional copper grades.
CD-240 is in a high-grade copper-gold feeder zone within the SCZ, also intersected by the historical holes JUSPD596, JUSPD482, and CAIK211. Unfortunately, complete data for ~28,000 metres of historical drilling including these intersections and others cannot be located, and therefore was not able to be used in Cabacal’s 2022 resource calculation. The three SCZ intersections are quoted in a 1990 report on Cabacal’s potential: JUSPD596 returned 15.0 metres at 5.2% Cu, 2.7 g/t Au and 9.5 g/t Ag; JUSPD482 returned 13.4 metres at 5.5% Cu, 1.3 g/t Au and 24.7 g/t Ag; CAIK211 returned 29.3 metres at 6.0% Cu, 3.1 g/t Au and 28.8 g/t Ag.
Meridian’s team recently recovered some of BP’s 1980s drill rig bulletins from a local warehouse, including JUSPD596’s bulletin. This helped confirm the SCZ’s high-grade copper-gold extensions with CD-240’s success. Reviews of these bulletins continue.
The 1990 report estimated the SCZ’s high-grade extensions had dimensions of 80 to 100 metres long, 10 to 20 metres wide, and up up to 25 metres thick, with VMS depostional controls. Further drilling will be conducted to confirm the zone’s geometry and extension, but the CD-240 result is consistent with these interpretations. CD-240’s strong results will have a positive impact both within the current PEA pit shell and below the modelled pit floor.
Meridian Mining is focused on the development and exploration of the advanced staged Cabacal VMS gold-copper project, the regional scale exploration of the Cabacal VMS belt, the exploration in the Jauru and Araputanga Greenstone belts all located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil and exploring the Espigao polymetallic project in the State of Rondonia, Brazil.