Critical Mineral Resources PLC on Thursday confirmed high grades at its copper-silver project in Morocco, which it said surpassed initial expectations.
Critical Mineral is a London-based exploration and development company focused on clean energy commodities, which has a project in Morocco. Shares in the firm were up 31% at 4.92 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
In September, Critical Mineral collected 11 samples from 3 different locations at Anzar, its copper-silver project in Central Morocco.
It said that while some variance in grades was anticipated, several samples returned ‘significantly higher grades’ than expected. The best result, taken from a channel sample, assayed just under 16% copper, and 160 grams per tonne of silver.
The highest silver grade was 272 grams per tonne, though Critical Mineral noted this was a hand sample selected for its ‘clearly visible high-grade copper mineralisation’, so not representative of the deposit’s average grade.
The firm has also been conducting fieldwork to ‘better understand’ the extent of Anzar and where it outcrops.
An exploration team has discovered at least four new outcropping locations and determined three sedimentary layers of mineralisation. Critical Mineral said these increase the potential size of the deposit, whilst the ‘numerous outcrops’ will help to direct future trenching and drilling efforts.
‘Although high-grade copper is visible in the outcropping sandstones and good grades were expected, Samples 4, 5, 6 and 10 have significantly exceeded our expectations,’ said Chief Executive Officer Charlie Long.
Long added: ‘We believe that Anzar has the potential for fast-track development, in part due to its high-grade characteristics. Leveraging our team’s mine construction and operational expertise in Morocco, along with the successful track record of small-scale copper flotation plants in the region, we will prioritise this option to generate early cash flow for the benefit of our company and its valued shareholders.’
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