Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited Investment Update (5788L)

TIDMMAFL

RNS Number : 5788L

Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited

13 January 2021

Mineral and Financial Investments Limited

Investment Update: Redcorp Intersects High-Grade Mineralization Across Wide Intercepts In The South Zone At Its Lagoa Salgada Project

HIGHLIGHTS:

   --    Highly encouraging results from first three holes of a seven hole program now available 
   --    50m step-out drill holes intercepts zones of strong mineralization 
   --    The drilling is expected to expand the mineralized envelope to expand the wireframe model 
   --    High-grade Copper intersections include: 
   -          4.20 m @ 3.59% CuEq; 
   -          10.50 m @ 3.61%, and 
   -          Copper Bonanza interval of 1.00 m @ 14.21% CuEq. 
   --    Mineralization in the South Zone remains open at depth as well as to the South and East 

GEORGE TOWN CAYMAN ISLANDS, January 13, 2021 - Mineral and Financial Investments Limited (LSE-AIM: MAFL) ("M&FI" or the "Company") is very pleased to announce that Redcorp Empreedimentos Mineiros Lda. (Redcorp), M&FI's 75% owned subsidiary, has received results from the first three holes of a seven hole drill program. The program is funded and guided by Ascendant Resources (Ascendant), which owns 25% of Redcorp, as part of Ascendant's previously announced earn-in agreement with Mineral and Financial (please refer to RNS of August 1, 2018 which has been amended see announcement dated 1 July 2020).

The drill program has intersected copper-rich mineralization in the Lagoa Salgada South Zones in the three holes of the first phase of exploration in 2021 at the Lagoa Salgada VMS project ("Lagoa Salgada") located on the Iberian Pyrite Belt ("IPB") in Portugal. Redcorp, and its operator Ascendant Resources remains focused on expanding the known mineralization of the copper-rich stockwork mineralization associated with the South Zone. The Company has already published a PEA based upon an existing 10MT M&FI Resource Estimate in the North Zone (see the Company's press release of January 14, 2020 ).

Drill Hole Highlights:

-- LS_ST_22b: 25.2m true width grading 2.23% CuEq (0.64% Cu, 1.99% Zn, 1.42% Pb, and 26.47g Ag/t);

o Including 10.50m true width grading 3.61% CuEq (0.84% Cu, 3.39% Zn, 2.77% Pb and 42.30g Ag/t)

-- LS_ST_23: 8.4m true width grading 2.24% CuEq (1.18% Cu, 0.46% Zn, 0.77% Pb, and 27.83g Ag/t)

-- LS_ST_21b: 7.7m true width grading 2.13% CuEq (0.33% Cu, 3.09% Zn, 1.31% Pb, and 14.00g Ag/t):

o Including 4.20m true width grading 3.59% CuEq (0.42% Cu, 3.38% Zn, 1.91% Pb, and 23.11g Ag/t)

Jacques Vaillancourt, Executive Chairman of M&FI stated, "The results from the first three holes of Redcorp/Ascendant's drill program in the South Zone confirms the thesis that it is copper rich, with grade intensity improving as we move south and east. We are excited to see this exploration continue activities in the South Zone where the results continue to expand the extent of the mineralization. This bodes very well for Redcorp/Ascendant finding more stockwork mineralization and demonstrating that this project has the potential to be yet another future large producer on the belt, comparable with Neves Corvo and Aguas Tenidas. We hope that future rounds of drilling to grow the Resource and match or exceed our expectation."

The intersection of numerous high-grade intervals in the first three drill holes of this 7-hole program in stockwork mineralization has been highly encouraging. Firstly, the discovery of high-grade copper within intervals is a positive indication. In hole LS_ST_21, the drilling encountered mineralization shallower than expected, intersecting a gossan, which is indicative of nearby massive sulphide mineralization. LS_St_23 drill hole is a 50m SE step-out from the 2018 southern most historical drill hole LS_St_11 which at the time was the best hole in the South Zone. LS_ST_23 confirms the South extension of the known Stockwork South Zone and intercepted multiple mineralized zones including a high-grade Cu interval of 6.00 m @ 3.74% CuEq, from 163.00m. Also, LS_ST_23 intersected what can be considered a copper bonanza interval of 1.00 m @ 14.21% CuEq (including 9.11% Cu) which represents, at current copper price $1,141.00 of in-situ metal per tonne in this interval. (NB there is no certainty that this can or will be replicated elsewhere in the deposit.)

Drill hole LS_ST_22 is a 50m ESE step-out also from ST_11 which suggests that further to the East, the South Sector continues to expand with high-grade intervals. The intense gossanization intercepted immediately after the Tertiary cover, and not yet at the Fissural mineralzation, indicates that Massive Sulphide mineralization should be nearby, as the Fissural ore does not usually produce such intense gossan "caps" or leaching layers as seen from 161.90 - 164.80 m

Follow-up drilling is planned for Q1-2021 to better define this High-Grade Copper zonation on the Lagoa Salgada South Zone Resource and in particular the LS_St_23 drill hole defined by 5 main corridors of High-Grade, Strong Stockwork mineralization.

The exploration program in the South Zone is intended to expand and upgrade the stockwork resources. This program builds upon the resources already outlined in earlier technical reports in 2019. The results highlighted in the table below will help Ascendant to expand the wireframes even further. Commodity prices have improved considerably since previous analysis was performed. An expansion of the South Resource should be accretive to the overall size of the Lagoa Salgada resource estimate, warranting further analysis of the scale and scope of potential future mining operations.

Drill hole location and results are shown in Table 1 and 2 respectively below.

TABLE 1: DRILL HOLE INFORMATION FOR SOUTH ZONE, LAGOA SALGADA

 
                        Lagoa Salgada South Zone 
                   WGS84 
             -----------------  -----  -------  ----------  ------------ 
     ID         E         N      Az.(   Dip .(   Elevation   Final Depth 
                                   )       )                     (m) 
             -------  --------  -----  -------  ----------  ------------ 
 LS_ST_21b    547362   4231148   240     -60        92         352.60 
             -------  --------  -----  -------  ----------  ------------ 
 LS_ST_22b    547430   4231183   240     -60        92         473.40 
             -------  --------  -----  -------  ----------  ------------ 
  LS_ST_23    547426   4231137   240     -60        92         458.00 
             -------  --------  -----  -------  ----------  ------------ 
 

TABLE 2: SIGNIFICANT DRILL HOLE RESULTS FOR SOUTH ZONE, LAGOA SALGADA

 
                                      South Zone Significant Drilling Results 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    DDH                     From      To     Width   TRUE     Cu     Zn      Pb      Ag       Au      Sn    CuEq[1] 
                                                              (%)    (%)     (%)    (g/t)    (g/t)    (%)     (%) 
                                                            -----  ------  -----  -------  -------  -----  -------- 
                            (m)      (m)      (m)    Width 
                                                      (m) 
-----------  -----------  -------  -------  ------  ------  -----  ------  -----  -------  -------  -----  -------- 
 LS_ST_21b 
        Composite          215.00   226.00   11.00   7.70    0.33   3.09    1.31   14.00     0.04    0.03    2.13 
        including          215.00   220.00   5.00    3.50    0.62   5.67    2.27   24.80     0.05    0.04    3.81 
           and             278.00   284.00   6.00    4.20    0.42   3.38    1.91   23.11     0.06    0.03    3.59 
 LS_ST_22b 
        Composite          214.00   216.00   2.00    1.40    1.42   1.43    0.42   49.00     0.65    0.03    3.16 
           and             239.00   275.00   36.00   25.20   0.64   1.99    1.42   26.47     0.09    0.03    2.23 
        including          245.00   260.00   15.00   10.50   0.84   3.39    2.77   42.30     0.13    0.04    3.61 
           and             287.00   290.00   3.00    2.10    0.76   2.04    1.03   17.00     0.10    0.03    2.18 
           and             298.00   307.00   9.00    6.30    0.38   3.98    2.03   20.11     0.14    0.03    2.86 
        including          303.00   305.00   2.00    1.40    1.41   14.13   6.67   68.50     0.39    0.06    9.86 
  LS_ST_23 
        Composite          162.00   174.00   12.00   8.40    1.18   0.46    0.77   27.83     0.11    0.10    2.24 
        including          167.00   168.00   1.00    0.70    9.11   0.19    3.21   275.0     0.31    0.38    14.27 
           and             192.00   205.00   13.00   9.10    0.24   1.74    1.24   11.58     0.05    0.04    1.56 
           and             214.00   220.00   6.00    4.20    0.37   2.35    1.69   17.50     0.07    0.02    2.04 
           and             237.00   241.00   4.00    2.80    0.35   2.10    0.97   14.00     0.10    0.03    1.72 
 

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Analytical work was carried out by ALS Laboratories. Drill core samples were prepared in the ALS Lab, in Seville, Spain. Pulp samples were then sent to their analytical Laboratory in Ireland for analysis. The core samples are analyzed for gold (ppm) by fire assay (Au--AA25), and for the other elements by multi element analysis of base metal ores and mill products by optical emission spectrometry using the Varian Vista inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ME-ICPORE). Samples from the South Zone, LS_ST_DH ID, are also assayed for Tin (Sn) by ICP-AES after Sodium Peroxide Fusion (Sn-ICP81x).

ALS Laboratories has routine quality control procedures which ensure that every batch of samples includes three sample repeats, two commercial standards and blanks. ALS Laboratories is independent from Ascendant. Ascendant used standard QA/QC procedures when inserting reference standards and blanks for the drilling program.

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by References in this announcement to exploration results and resource updates have been approved for release by Joao Barros, BSc (Engineering), MSc (Geology), who has more than 16 years of relevant experience in the field of activity concerned. Mr. Barros is a Member of the Portuguese Engineers Association. Mr. Barros is employed by Redcorp Empreedimentos Mineiros, Lda., a 75% owned subsidiary of M&FI, and has consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

   Katy Mitchell, WH Ireland Limited                                              [phone] 
   Jon Belliss, Novum Securities Limited                                         [phone] 
   Jacques Vaillancourt, Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd.           [phone] 
   Dominic Baretto - Yellow Jersey PR Limited                                [phone] 

About Mineral and Financial Investments Ltd.

Mineral and Financial is a Cayman Island based London AIM listed investment company which focuses on investing in, as well as financing and advising of natural resource companies, with a particular focus on metals and mineral focused companies. For more information on Ascendant Resources, please visit our website at www.mineralandfinancial.com

[1] *CuEq% = ((Zn Grade*24.25) +(Pb Grade*20.94) +(Cu Grade * 66.14) +(Au Grade*53. 05)+(Ag Grade*0. 64)+ (Sn Grade * 202,77))/ 66. 14

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January 13, 2021 07:33 ET (12:33 GMT)