Phoenix Global Mining Ltd General corporate update (1161K)

TIDMPGM

RNS Number : 1161K

Phoenix Global Mining Ltd

05 July 2017

Phoenix Global Mining Ltd / Ticker: PGM / Sector: Mining

5 July 2017

Phoenix Global Mining (PGM) (the "Company" or "Phoenix")

General corporate update

Phoenix Global Mining Ltd (AIM:PGM), the AIM quoted, US-focused copper exploration and development company, is pleased to provide an update on corporate and project related activities at its Empire Copper Mine in Idaho, USA, following its recent IPO on AIM.

Highlights

-- 28 hole (2,200 metre) drilling programme underway targeting additional oxide resource at shallow depths building on the recent JORC resource of 68,200 tonnes of contained copper

   --    First drill assay results expected in 3 to 6 weeks 

-- Metallurgical studies and Preliminary Feasibility Study ("PFS") underway - targeting initial production of 7,000 tonnes per annum of copper cathode by 2020

   --    Geologists hired to begin analysis on higher grade sulphide mineralisation 
   --    Contractors engaged to provide ground-based and aerial surveying services 

-- Konnex board restructured following admission to AIM giving Phoenix operational and management control

Dennis Thomas, the Company's CEO, said, "Having listed on AIM last week, we have already commenced a number of new work programmes with the aim of delivering an open pit oxide copper heap leach project capable of being in production by 2020. We are now embarking on our first drilling programme to extend and upgrade the JORC resource that will be fed into the PFS studies.

"Whilst the advancement of this oxide copper project remains our primary focus, the Company has also now commenced exploration work on the deeper sulphide resource potential, which has historically yielded grades of up to 11.4% copper and remains largely untested.

"Our programme is overseen by an experienced and highly motivated team, who have proven success in advancing base metal projects into production. We are receiving great local support from the citizens of Mackay, the closest town to our operations. We firmly believe we are on course for an exciting summer of progress and we look forward to keeping shareholders updated with our progress."

Konnex Board

PGM owns 80% of Konnex Resources ("Konnex"), which owns the rights to the Empire Mine ("Empire") in Custer County, Idaho. PGM acquired the interest in Konnex from ExGen Resources Inc. shortly before the IPO.

The Board and management of Konnex has now been reorganised to give Phoenix both operational and management control. The senior management team of the Company, being Dennis Thomas, Richard Wilkins and Ryan McDermott have been appointed to the Board of Konnex thereby giving Phoenix a majority position on the board with three seats out of the total of five board positions.

Drilling Programme and Metallurgical work

The Company has contracted AK Drilling, Inc. of Butte, Montana to provide both core-drilling and reverse-circulation ("RC") drilling services. The programme has already commenced and will require approximately 3 to 4 weeks to be completed.

The Company outlined its intention to upgrade and increase the current JORC resource (12.8mt grading 0.53% copper for 68,200 tonnes contained metal) derived from the AP Pit in order to accelerate the development of a low cost and open pit oxide copper heap leach project by 2020, with the Company initially targeting 7,000t per annum of copper cathode.

The current drill programme will focus on identifying further oxide resources within the AP Pit area and upgrading the JORC Resource. Also, a number of drill holes will be used for the purposes of new metallurgical studies to build on the historic knowledge from prior studies.

The Company has initially committed to a 28-hole, 2,200 metres, drilling programme consisting of 21 RC drill holes for a total of 1,600 metres designed to infill and augment the existing drilling used in the recent April 2017 SRK resource calculation. This includes 300 metres HQ diameter core in 4 holes and 300 metres large PQ diameter in 3 holes, which will provide samples for bulk metallurgical test work.

As of 4 July 2017, 5 of the 21 RC holes had been completed to a total of 317 metres, and 2 of the 4 HQ core holes have been completed for a total of 169 metres. The PQ core drilling programme is anticipated to begin the week commencing 10 July 2017.

ALS Global of Reno, Nevada has been selected for its analytical services. Core samples and RC cuttings will be analysed for total copper, copper oxide, gold, silver, zinc and tungsten. Additional trace element analysis will also be performed. The samples from the first 5 RC drill holes are in transit to the laboratory and the HQ core hole samples will be delivered to the laboratory for analysis following thorough logging and sampling.

The Company expects receipt of analytical results within industry standard turn-around times of 3 to 6 weeks from their receipt of the samples depending on the work load of the laboratory. The Company will complete the Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) evaluation of the lab results required by NI43-101 standards.

Moreover, the Company is re-examining the core and RC cuttings currently in the resources inventory from the previous exploration efforts of predecessor companies at the Empire Project. Re-logging of select intervals is ongoing, and the potential for additional geochemical analyses of those intervals is being evaluated.

Sulphide Exploration

The Company has retained Mr. Graham Kelsey and Mr. Martin Houhoulis as senior geologists to oversee the current drilling programme and to begin the examination and exploration of potential sulphide-hosted copper mineralization at the Empire Project.

Mr. Kelsey and Mr. Houhoulis have extensive experience on copper and base metal projects globally. Mr Houhoulis graduated with a B.Sc. in Geology from the Northern Arizona University and has over 30 years of experience. He worked for Resolution Copper Company (RTZ) in Arizona; as Project Manager on the San Cristobel Mine in Bolivia for Summit Mining; Piedras Verdes Copper Project in Mexico and the Morenci Mine in Arizona for Phelps Dodge Corp. Mr. Kelsey gained an M.Sc. degree in Geology from the Arizona State University and has over 35 years' experience working for Phelps Dodge, Cyprus Minerals, Amoco Minerals and Lac Minerals among others.

The Company is now completing the necessary plan for regaining underground access for mapping, sampling and drilling in the sulphide zone beneath the oxides.

Aerial and Ground Survey

Dunn Land Surveys of Cascade, Idaho has been contracted to provide ground-based and aerial surveying services, including the development of a drone-based, hi-definition aerial imagery and topographic survey which will be used for future ground control and engineering purposes. The drone survey is currently underway and delivery of the imagery and topographic files is anticipated in late July.

Pre-Feasibility Study

The Company is currently inviting and evaluating proposals from engineering firms with a successful track record of designing open pit oxide copper heap leach projects for the position of lead consultant responsible for the Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for the AP pit.

Qualified Person

Information in this announcement relating to drilling results is based on data reviewed by Roger Turner A.C.S.M., M.Sc., M.I.M.M.M., C.Eng., Chief Technical Officer and Non-Executive Director of the Company. Mr Turner is a graduate mining engineer from the Camborne School of Mines with an MSc in Economic Geology from Leicester University with more than 40 years' experience in mine development, construction and operation and is a qualified person under the AIM Rules. Mr Turner consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which they appear.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

**S**

For further information please visit www.pgmining.com or contact:

 
 Phoenix Global         Dennis Thomas & Richard           c/o St Brides 
  Mining Ltd             Wilkins                               Partners 
                                                            [phone] 
                                                                   1177 
---------------------  --------------------------------  -------------- 
 SP Angel               Lindsay Mair / Caroline                Tel: +44 
  (Nominated Advisor)    Rowe                              20 3470 0470 
---------------------  --------------------------------  -------------- 
 Brandon Hill           Jonathan Evans / Oliver                Tel: +44 
  Capital (Broker)       Stansfield/ Alex Walker/Robert    20 3463 5000 
                         Beenstock 
---------------------  --------------------------------  -------------- 
 St Brides Partners     Charlotte Page / Susie                 Tel: +44 
  (Financial PR)         Geliher / Hugo de Salis           20 7236 1177 
---------------------  --------------------------------  -------------- 
 

Notes

Phoenix Global Mining Ltd (AIM: PGM) is a US-focused, base metal explorer and developer, which is fast-tracking the historically-producing Empire Mine in Idaho, USA back into production.

Having established an initial copper oxide JORC resource of 12.8mt grading 0.53% copper ('Cu') for 68,200t contained Cu from historical drill holes, Phoenix has defined a two-phase development strategy. Phase One is focused on commencing low cost, open pit production from the current oxide resource, targeting 7,000t copper cathode per annum by 2020 via an SX-EW plant. Stage Two will look to extend the life of mine by targeting the deeper (below c.120m), higher grade copper sulphides, where intercepts of up to 11.4% Cu have been recovered. Pre-feasibility Study work on the priority open pit oxide resource is already underway.

It is estimated that only 5% of the potential ore system has been explored to date and accordingly there is significant opportunity to increase the resource through phased exploration; the current resource relates to the oxide resource only, which remains open along strike and does not include the deeper, higher grade sulphides. Furthermore, the Mine has an exploration target of between 3.4 to 6.7 million tonnes (derived from historic data), grading 0.34% to 0.50% Cu for 11,560 to 33,500 tonnes of additional contained copper and there is potential to extract additional metals, including gold, silver, zinc and tungsten.

With a management team that has successfully constructed, commissioned and operated mines and a low risk, mining-friendly jurisdiction with excellent infrastructure, Phoenix is looking to fulfil its ambitions to become a mid-tier copper producing company.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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July 05, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)