Meridian Mining drills 1.3% CuEq over 11 metres at Santa Helena, Brazil
Meridian Mining U.K. Societas [TSX-MNO; OTCQX-MRRDF; FSE-2MM] reported further strong intercepts of shallow copper, gold, silver and zinc mineralization at the Santa Helena mine, Brazil. New results include: 11.7 metres at 1.3% copper equivalent from 27.0 metres (CD-351); and 30.7 metres at 0.8% CuEq from 6.0 metres, including 5.7 metres at 1.5% CuEq from 7.0 metres and 3.3 metres at 1.2% CuEq from 33.3 metres (CD-336).
These drill holes are targeting a soil geochemical anomaly in the western sector of the deposit, up dip from the historical resource envelope. Drilling continues to expand into open areas of open-pittable resource potential outside of the Santa Helena mine limits. A new satellite anomaly is emerging on the far southeast of the geophysical survey area, defining potential extensional targets, which remain open.
The company’s work on the main Cabacal deposit continues to prove up robust intervals of gold and copper mineralization from infill and extensional drilling, with results including a 70.1 metres interval grading 0.9 g/t AuEq. In addition, the Cabacal deposit’s environmental impact study for a maximum 4.5Mtpa mine throughput is expected to be submitted this month.
Further drill results remain pending at both Santa Helena and the Cabacal mine area. True width is considered to be 80-90% of intersection width.
Gilbert Clark, CEO, commented: “These strong results from Santa Helena further confirm the Cabacal belt’s prospectivity to host multiple open-pitable deposits of base and precious metals. Our drill results are pushing the mineralization’s boundaries out further, locally increasing the width of the mineralized footprint up to 300%. The ongoing works on delineating the Santa Helena trend’s untested upside has encountered a new open IP anomaly that projects towards the Alamo target area. We are also strongly encouraged by the ongoing drill results on the main Cabacal Mine deposit that continues to deliver robust grades of in-pit mineralization. With the pending submission of Cabacal’s environmental impact study, the progression for a future granting of Cabacal’s Preliminary License in 2024 continues to track well. With a strong treasury, a premium VMS belt to develop, and a highly motivated team in place, we look forward to delivering further results and updates shortly.”
Santa Helena is a Cu-Au-Ag and Zn VMS deposit located ~9km to the southeast of the Cabacal Mine. It has over 10,000m of historical drilling and is one of a series of exploration targets along the 11km Cabacal Mine Corridor. The company commenced initial drilling in August 2023 as part of a verification program, to validate the historical data in line with NI43-101 requirements, and to initiate scout drilling for resource extensions defined by geophysics. The company’s compilation of historical drill data indicated that many past holes were not completely sampled, that reconciliation of surveyed drilled positions and mine workings suggested that the high-grade massive sulphide mineralization was only partially mined. and that extensions of near-surface mineralization to the east were also not integrated into the historical resource calculations1. The company has concluded that this historical resource area is considered open.
The company is pausing the geophysical program at Santa Helena for a period, to allow geological and geochemical reconnaissance to advance and support the prioritization of potential new exploration drill targets.