Celsius Resources Limited’s (ASX:CLA) Philippine subsidiary, Tambuli Mining Company, Inc. (TMCI) has commenced drilling operations in the Sagay Copper-Gold Project located in Sagay City, in the province of Negros Occidental, Negros Island.
“The commencement of drilling at Sagay is another milestone in the progression of both CLA and our local subsidiary companies, in an effort to create wealth for both shareholders and the Philippine Government, along with creating employment and business opportunities for the local communities, especially during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Celsius’ Chairman Martin Buckingham.
“Our gratitude goes out to the concerned Local Government Units who have been very supportive of the drilling work program and are looking to the Company to deliver thorough, systematic exploration, which could lead to the development of the project into a responsible mining operation.”
The Sagay Project is located in the north-eastern part of Negros Island, within the cities of Sagay and Escalante and within the Province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines.
Negros Island is part of the central group of Islands in the Philippines commonly referred to as “the Visayas”. Access to the project area is through Bacolod City, the provincial capital of Negros Occidental. Bacolod City to Sagay is an 81 kilometre drive via a well-paved highway.
The areas of interest were centered on one of two prominent hills that stand out on the project area – known as Nabiga-a Hill. The Sagay Project appears to contain a very large-scale porphyry copper mineralisation at depth as defined by the numerous thick drill hole intersections as seen in the historical drilling conducted by TMCI (a wholly owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., at the time), between 2008 and 2017.
Based on the review of the geological information and field observations completed at Sagay, there are three broad target types which are considered to be the highest priority for the development of a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate.
These priorities are summarised as follows:
- Three drill holes designed to test the upper extensions of the thicker and higher-grade sections of copper mineralisation which has been identified at deeper levels to date (for 1,100m of drilling).
- Two drill holes oriented to test both supergene copper and the deeper extensions of a possible feeder structure which are the primary cause of the supergene copper (for 700m of drilling).
- Two deeper drill holes designed to consolidate large-scale copper mineralisation identified at deeper levels in the historical drilling data (for 2,600m of drilling)
SBF Philippines was selected to carry-out the drilling work program at the Sagay site, following a formal bidding process. SBF Philippines Drilling Resources Corporation is a leading Filipino drilling services company that primarily specialises in mineral exploration, geotechnical and deep well drilling.
With one of the highest deep metre reach performances in the country, SBF has become an industry leader in providing world-class drilling solutions and strategic mining services to mining companies in the Philippines. Established in 2003 by Filipino and Australian mining experts with years of experience, SBF currently operates in Saugon, Bunawan, Upper CO-O Consuelo, and Bayugan 3 in Agusan del Sur and in Tambis Barobo, Surigao del Sur.
Registered with Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2004, SBF has already completed over 600,000 metres of drilling for companies such as PHILSAGA Mining, Crew Mineral (Apex Mines), Omega Gold Mining, Silangan Mindanao Mining, and Bunawan Mining, all located in the Philippines.
