Phoenix Copper (AIM:PXC) has reported “a significant increase” to its Empire polymetallic open pit resource in Idaho after the group published findings of a compliant resource update.
The North American-focused metals explorer told investors that it had conducted a detailed review of the geochemical and geological data available for the Empire open pit project.
The group said a new report at the Empire Mine pit based on future recovery of copper, zinc, gold and silver had shown measured and indicated resources as having increased by 27%.
“Including the inferred resources, we now have 129,923 tonnes of copper, 50,549 tonnes of zinc, 9,502,495 ounces of silver and 342,249 ounces of gold,” said Ryan McDermott, CEO.
The group said that gold and silver mineralisation wasn’t always “spatially associated” with copper grades meeting the cut-off criteria and had therefore not been included previously.
Shares in Phoenix Copper were trading 7.32% higher at 22p during Monday trading.
It noted that a gold and silver mineralising event was likely to have occurred later than the primary copper mineralising event and had occured on a trend with a different orientation.
McDermott said the report now showed separate trends “so substantial gold and silver grades could stand on their own and not be subjected solely to the surrounding copper values.”
“This has resulted in a larger overall pit shell that is inclusive of significantly more metal,” he said.
The group said it will now continue its metallurgical evaluation of process designs for the polymetallic ore with the objective of maximising the recovery of the metals.
Whilst Phoenix continues to progress its open pit project, it expects to soon report the results of its second phase of drilling at Red Star, which commenced on 27 April 2020.
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