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 second drill hole, which was recently completed at the MCB Copper-Gold Project (MCB) in the Philippines.
Drilling has confirmed continuity of high-grade core confirmed with assay results from MCB-034, including 74m @ 0.97% Cu and 0.14g/t gold from 353m down hole. The total intersection measured 607m @ 0.44% copper and 0.04g/t gold from 26m down hole.
Executive Director, Blair Sergeant, said the results from hole MCB-034 confirm the position of a central core of high-grade mineralisation, similar to MCB-033, and has increased confidence for this portion of the Mineral Resource.
Celsius is delighted with the excellent results received from the second hole MCB-034, which like those of the first hole MCB-033, provide a great deal of confidence in the quality and scale of the copper-gold mineralisation at our flagship MCB project, and in particular the scale and quality of the high grade core that is the focus of the current Scoping Study,” Mr Sergeant said.
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 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.
Within the above, is a high-grade core of 93.7 million tonnes @ 0.80% copper and 0.28 g/t gold, currently the focus of the Scoping Study. The high-grade core comprises 79.8 million tonnes @ 0.83% copper and 0.30 g/t gold in the Indicated category and 13.9 million tonnes @ 0.59% copper and 0.11 g/t gold in the Inferred category (refer ASX announcement of 12 January 2021).
Makilala Mining commenced drilling activities at MCB in February 2021. The planned drilling program and current status of this drilling, is designed to achieve a number of key milestones, including:
- increase confidence in the high-grade portion of the Mineral Resource – now completed
- test depth extensions to the high-grade section of the copper gold mineralisation – in progress
- test further strike extensions to the MCB deposit across a defined fault which appears to offset the copper-gold mineralisation on its western boundary.
The geological setting for the MCB copper-gold mineralisation is typical of a porphyry copper + gold + moly deposit.
The mineralisation and associated alteration exist across the contact between a genetically related intrusive body (tonalite) and the surrounding host rock material. In most cases the surrounding host rock is an older mafic volcanic rock
