Celsius Resources Limited’s (ASX:CLA) Philippine subsidiary Makilala Mining Company, Inc. (MMCI) has received high-grade copper-gold assay results from the company’s third drill hole, which was recently completed at the MCB Copper-Gold Project.
Hole MCB-036 has identified a previously unrecognised shallow high-grade zone within the MCB deposit.
The drill hole was targeted to test the depth extent of the deposit and confirmed the presence of copper mineralization to over 700m below the surface, highlighting further the scale of the porphyry copper mineralization at MCB.
“We have had to persevere with this drill hole due to both COVID related and technical difficulties on site. However, the resulting discovery of previously unrecognized shallow high-grade copper has delivered an opportunity to further enhance the future studies at MCB,” said Celsius’ Chairman, Martin Buckingham.
“We have now modified the next set of drill holes to focus effort around this additional shallow high grade copper-gold mineralisation as it will clearly have a positive impact on potential future production options as we move from the Scoping Study into the next phase of Trade-Off Studies.”
The MCB Copper-Gold Project (MCB) is located in the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Philippines, approximately 320 km north of Manila.
It is the flagship project within the Makilala portfolio which also contains other key prospects in the pipeline for permit renewal/extension.
A maiden JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate was declared for the MCB Project in January 2021, comprising 313.8 million tonnes @ 0.48% copper and 0.15 g/t gold, for 1.5 million tonnes of contained copper and 1.47 million ounces of gold, of which 290.3 million tonnes @ 0.48% copper and 0.15 g/t gold is classified as Indicated and 23.5 million tonnes @ 0.48% copper and 0.10 g/t gold is classified as Inferred.
A Scoping Study for the MCB Project was announced by CLA on December 1, 2021, which identified the potential for the development of a copper-gold operation with a 25 year mine life. The scoping study was based on an underground mining operation and processing facility to produce a saleable copper-gold concentrate.
Highlights from the Scoping study include a Post tax NPV (8%) of US$464m and IRR of 35%, assuming a copper price of US$4.00/lb and gold price of US$1,695/oz. Initial capital expenditure is estimated to be US$253m with a payback period of approximately 2.7 years.
The mine production is matched to a 2.28Mtpa processing plant which will treat ore with an estimated average grade of 1.14% copper and 0.54g/t gold for the first 10 years of operation with a C1 cash costs at just US$0.73/lb copper, net of gold credits.
Updated Drilling Work Programme
The recent results from the MCB Scoping Study identified stronger returns associated with the higher grade sections of the Mineral Resource at shallow levels, which could be accessed early in the proposed mining schedule.
The drilling results from MCB-036 has highlighted the potential for further sections of higher grade copper mineralisation which could enhance the value of the MCB project as the Company moves to advance trade off Studies for MCB moving towards the submission of a Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility (DMPF).
As a result, the drilling programme has been modified to focus on the possible extensions to the shallow high grade copper positions. A total of five drill holes have been planned from a central drill collar position to test these potential drilling positions with the first of these drill holes commencing in January 2022.
Additional Geotechnical and Hydrogeology drilling works will also commence next year to support the application of the DMPF and future studies as the project proceeds through the various development and approval phases.
