Alien Metals complete definition drilling at Hancock Project – confident of upgrade

Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO), a global minerals exploration and development company, has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Iron Ore Company of Australia Pty Ltd (IOCA) has completed its latest resource definition drilling program at it’s flagship Hancock Iron Ore Project, situated in the prolific iron ore producing region of the Pilbara, Western Australia

Infill diamond core drilling has been completed at the Company’s high grade Sirius Deposit. The Sirius Deposit is a key element of IOCA’s production plans. Of the Companys 4.2mt Mining Inventory (see announcement 26 April 2023), Sirius accounts for 2.3mt.

Highlights

·    Drilling program consisted of 13 Diamond Coreholes for a total of 1048.9m.

·    Excellent high grade results returned from the handheld portable XRF (pXRF) readings recorded across all holes.

·    Core is scheduled to be taken to the Laboratory imminently and the Company will update the market on those assay results as they become available.

·    Drilling supports further confidence in the Hancock Project Ore Resources and Reserves

·    Given the high conversion rates of Ridges C and E (associated tenement targets) it is expected that Sirius will be upgraded to an Ore Reserve, after the requisite Mineral Resource Estimates and mining studies are completed.

Rod McIllree, Alien Metals Executive Director, commented:

“Completion of this phase of drilling is positive step in the Companys transition from explorer to developer and operator. Given the high conversion rate we have seen on Ridges C and E, we are confident of a further upgrade to the Ore Reserves once assay results have been received and our and external geological experts update the model.”

“In the very near term, we are looking forward to updating the market on the significant progress we have made in relation to the Hancock Project. We are currently in the process of finalising preferred tenders for the project capital and operational works, which secures cost certainties and will allow us to finalise and update the feasibility and financial model and metrics for the project.”

This drilling program executed 13 diamond core holes with a combined program of 1048.9m in total. Core recovery across the program has been excellent and the geological information has improved both geological and structural knowledge of the high grade ore zones. This, is now in addition to the 21 holes and 2082.5m previously drilled at Sirius. All holes have been logged for both geology and rock structure. Two of the holes were designed by consultant geotechnical geologists and drilled to provide geotechnical information that will aid in the optimisation and refinement of the currently designed open pit at the Sirius Extension.

Throughout drilling, the team collected core pXRF readings to guide the drilling program and provide preliminary data (see in Figure 7). These pXRF measurements support the anticipated high grade iron ore as predicted by the current Mineral Resource Model. The Company is confident that Inferred Resources within Sirius will be upgraded to Indicated category after Labatory results are received, and the requisite modelling and QAQC procedures completed.

Table 1: Diamond drilling infill summary, Hancock Iron Ore Project, May 2023

Now that drilling has been completed, the team will begin processing the core before dispatching the samples to a laboratory in Perth for analysis.

Figure 5: High grade pXRF results on core from hole 23IHD001 and 23IHD004, Hancock Iron Ore Project, May 2023. The above hole 23IHD001  shows 12.3m of interpreted high grade core logged with pXRF up to 67.3%

High grade pXRF results were identified across the drilling campaign. Evidence as shown in figure 7 from hole 23IHD007, located in the northern section of the resource and drilled southward indicate the hole has intercepted high grade iron ore.

Figure 7: pXRF results on core from hole 23IHD007, Hancock Iron Ore Project, May 2023

Alien Metals Ltd is a mining exploration and development Company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (LON: UFO). The Company’s focus is on delivering a profitable, long life direct shipping iron ore operation based out of the Pilbara in Western Australia. In 2019, the Company acquired 51% of the Brockman and Hancock Ranges high-grade (Direct Shipping Ore) iron ore projects and in December 2022 moved to 90% legal and beneficial ownership. The Company also acquired 100% of the Vivash Gorge Iron Ore project in the west Pilbara in July 2022.

The Company acquired 100% of the Elizabeth Hill Silver Project, which consists of the Elizabeth Hill Historic Mining Lease and the 115km² exploration tenement around the mine.

In March 2022 the Company acquired 100% of the former joint venture interest in the Munni Munni Platinum Group Metals and Gold Project in the West Pilbara, Western Australia, one of Australia’s major underexplored PGE and base metals projects. Munni Munni holds a historic deposit containing 2.2Moz 4E PGM: Palladium, Platinum, Gold, Rhodium.

The Company also holds silver, copper and base metal projects in various locations around the world however is currently looking at the best way to divest these for the benefit of shareholders.