European Metals Holdings Limited ORD NVP (DI) (LON:EMH) has today announced that the planned core drillhole programme was completed on time and budget, without time loss incidents. In total 17 drillholes were drilled to a summary depth of 6081 meters. Analytical results for the CIW-10 and CIW-23 are reported in this announcement.
The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of a highly experienced mining executive to the role of Country Manager.
Key Points:
- Analytical results for further two drillholes at Cinovec Main confirmed or exceeded the expected lithium content and mineralization widths.
- One drillhole is located at the western edge of the deposit near the contact of the mineralisation. The other drillhole is located in the central part of Cinovec Main. This hole has returned the best lithium interval to date.
- Hole CIW-23 recorded an interval of 261.1m averaging 0.50%Li2O (including high-grade intervals [email protected]%Li2O, [email protected]%Li2O, [email protected]%Li2O, [email protected]%Li2O, and [email protected]%Li2O. In addition, significant tin and tungsten mineralisation is recorded: 11 meters averaging 0.081% tungsten, 5 meters averaging 0.14% tin and 1 meter averaging 1.2% tin, and 2 meters averaging 0.088% tungsten.
- Hole CIW-10 reported an intercept of 223.9m averaging 0.43% Li2O.
- All core samples for the remaining 5 holes have been delivered to the analytical laboratory with results expected to be delivered by the end of January.
- Geological information from all 17 drillholes has been compiled into the Cinovec database and serves to update the geological model for Cinovec Main. The geologic model will be used to constrain and update the current block model. The block model will be updated in early February when all analyses will be received. The block model and resource calculation will be part of the Pre-Feasibility Study planned for release in April 2017.
- The Company welcomes the appointment of Mr Richard Pavlik to the position of General Manager of the Company’s Czech subsidiary Geomet s.r.o.
Geomet holds the licences for the Company’s 100% owned Cinovec Project in the Czech Republic. Mr Pavlik holds a Masters Degree in Mining Engineer from the Technical University of Ostrava in Czech Republic. He is the former Chief Project Manager and Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at OKD. OKD has been a major coal producer in the Czech Republic. He has almost 30 years of relevant industry experience in the Czech Republic. Mr Pavlik also has experience as a Project Analyst at Normandy Capital in Sydney as part of a postgraduate programme from Swinburne University.
Mr Pavlik has held previous senior positions within OKD and New World Resources as Chief Engineer, and as Head of Surveying and Geology. He has also served as the Head of the Supervisory Board of NWR Karbonia, a Polish subsidiary of New World Resources (UK) Limited. Mr Pavlik’s primary responsibilities will be to manage the in-country aspects of the Cinovec development programme, coordinate technical work and liaise with Government authorities on permitting and licensing of the project.
European Metals Holdings Limited ORD NVP (DI) CEO Mr Keith Coughlan said: “I am very pleased that we have finished the drilling programme on time and without any accidents. These latest results highlight the substantial mineralisation at Cinovec and the opportunities available to target higher grade areas within these zones.
When all results are received, we will upgrade the block model and finalise the resource estimate for the Pre-feasibility study. We expect further conversion of inferred to indicated resources to occur as part of this re-modelling.
I would also like to welcome Richard Pavlik as our Country Manager. Richard has extensive experience in the Czech Mining Community and will be a huge asset in providing in-country knowledge and capability during the feasibility, permitting and development process.”
Drill Programme
The CIW-10 and CIW-23 were drilled at the western edge, and in the central part, respectively, of the Cinovec Main sector of the deposit (see Figure 1).
The current drill programme at Cinovec Main has been planned to confirm and delineate near surface lithium and tin mineralisation that would provide initial feed to the mill. Other goals are the conversion of resources from the Inferred to Indicated category, and delivery of material for metallurgical testing. So far, ten diamond core holes have been completed, and three are underway. Visual inspection and logging indicates that the geology in these holes is as expected. Drill details are listed in Table 1 below.
After geological logging, drill core is cut in half with a diamond saw. Quarter core samples are selected (honouring geological boundaries) and dispatched to ALS (Romania) for preparation and assay; the 3/4 of the core is returned to the core box and stored securely on site. Samples are being prepared and analysed by ALS using ICP and XRF techniques following standard industry practice for lithium and tin deposits. Strict QAQC protocols are observed, including the insertion of a Li standard in random fashion for every 10 core samples, as well as the insertion of blank and duplicate samples.
Table 1 – Completed drillholes, Cinovec Main
| Hole ID | North | East | Elevation (m) | Depth (m) | Azimuth | Dip | Comments |
| CIW-11 | -779300 | -966098 | 867.4 | 444.4 | 40.1 | -77.86 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-20 | -778811 | -965638 | 837.5 | 257.6 | 336.7 | -84.6 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-13 | -779176 | -966127 | 862.8 | 429.3 | 76 | -80.4 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-19 | -778811 | -965692 | 837.8 | 271.6 | 332.1 | -89.58 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-08 | -778791 | -965800 | 837.6 | 274.9 | 156.85 | -89.3 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-18 | -779019 | -966183 | 855.47 | 395.7 | 210.6 | -89.05 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-14 | -779056 | -966093 | 854.46 | 417.8 | 323.3 | -89.07 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-07 | -778867 | -965841 | 840.99 | 300 | 333.6 | -89.57 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-26 | -779215 | -965937 | 865.33 | 430.5 | 248 | -89.38 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-17 | -778957 | -965521 | 847.07 | 238.2 | 332.1 | -89.58 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-21 | -778812 | -965952 | 841.33 | 320.6 | 42.68 | -89.02 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-10 | -779215 | -965938 | 865.35 | 455 | 303.4 | -74.47 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-23 | -779009 | -965994 | 848.91 | 376.1 | 222.3 | -89.4 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-22 | -779009 | -965993 | 848.88 | 420.6 | 287.9 | -70.43 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-06 | -778995 | -965845 | 846.77 | 296.3 | 11.7 | -80.18 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-25 | -778994 | -965902 | 847.04 | 382.4 | 281.1 | -69.89 | confirmation/infill |
| CIW-27 | -779152 | -965817 | 861.5 | 370 | 271.9 | -89.53 | confirmation/infill |
| Hole locations are recorded in the local S-JTSK Krovak grid, all coordinates are surveyed. | |||||||
Mineralized Intercepts and Lithology
The drillhole CIW-10 was located near the granite-porphyry contact, testing lithium mineralisation near the western termination of the deposit. In this location, at the W and NW part of the deposit, the contact is relatively steeply dipping. The CIW-10 drillhole was angled at 75 degrees to the W, and collared in the barren porphyry. At 213 m down the drill axis the porphyry-granite contact was intersected at a depth predicted by the Company’s geologic model. The contact is marked by brecciated pegmatite, and immediately below it the granite is greisenized and mineralized in lithium. The interval from 213m to 429m is formed by variably greisenized granite containing 5 to 15% of zinnwaldite, the lithium-bearing mica. The footwall to the greisenized granite is a low-mica granite, in which the drillhole was terminated at 455m. The core angles of contacts are steeper than usually (about 20 to 40 degrees), and as the core was not oriented, it is impossible to ascertain with certainty the orientation of the mineralized zones. Therefore, the mineralized intercept may not represent true width.
The drillhole CIW-23 was collared in the central part of the Cinovec-Main deposit where the Cinovec lithium granite daylights. First 119m of the core are formed by sericite-albite (locally hematized) granite. Between 116 and 119 the drill intersected a historic backfilled stope after mining high grade tin-tungsten quartz veins in the 1960’s. The interval between 119m and 388.3m is formed by variably greisenized granite that carries zinnwaldite. Locally stopes, narrow quartz veins or massive greisens were intersected in this interval. The footwall to the greisenized granite is a low-mica granite, in which the drillhole was terminated at 376.1m.
The Tables below list the mineralised intercepts from all two drillholes.
Table summarizing mineralised intercepts in CIW-23
| CIW-23 | ||||||
| From | To | Interval (m) | Li2O (%) | Sn (%) | W (%) | Note |
| 8.1 | 35.5 | 27.4 | 0.23 | |||
| 58 | 74 | 16 | 0.21 | |||
| 94 | 357 | 261.1 *) | 0.5 | incl. [email protected]%Li2O (117.1-141m), | ||
| [email protected]%Li2O (133-141m), | ||||||
| [email protected]%Li2O (162-166m), | ||||||
| [email protected]%Li2O (224-228m), | ||||||
| [email protected]%Li2O (296-302m) | ||||||
| 92 | 93 | 1 | 0.37 | 0.2 | 0.033 | |
| 124 | 135 | 11 | 0.83 | 0.02 | 0.081 | |
| 147 | 147.8 | 0.8 | 0.76 | 0.005 | 0.115 | |
| 162 | 164 | 2 | 1.66 | 0.02 | 0.088 | |
| 243 | 248 | 5 | 0.47 | 0.14 | 0.022 | |
| Cut-off: 0.2%Li2O, 0.1%Sn, 0.05%W | ||||||
| *) intercept shorter by mined-out cavities | ||||||
Table summarizing mineralised intercepts in CIW-10
| CIW-10 | ||||||
| From | To | Interval (m) | Li2O (%) | Sn (%) | W (%) | Note |
| 213.1 | 437 | 223.9 | 0.43 | incl. [email protected]%Li2O (213.1-215m), | ||
| [email protected]%Li2O (306-308m), | ||||||
| [email protected]%Li2O (406.2-407.25m) | ||||||
| 447 | 451 | 4 | 0.26 | |||
| 213.1 | 214 | 0.9 | 1.46 | 0.17 | 0.004 | |
| 331 | 332 | 1 | 0.38 | 0.18 | 0.002 | |
| Cut-off: 0.2%Li2O, 0.1%Sn, 0.05%W | ||||||
(Please refer to the announcement on the European Metals Website for the graphic Figure 1 – A geological map showing the Company’s drill holes against surface geology and subsurface greisen bodies projected to surface (in green). Historic UG workings and drill holes not shown – www.europeanmet.com.)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON CINOVEC
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Cinovec Lithium/Tin Project
European Metals owns 100% of the Cinovec lithium-tin deposit in the Czech Republic. Cinovec is an historic mine incorporating a significant undeveloped lithium-tin resource with by-product potential including tungsten, rubidium, scandium, niobium and tantalum and potash. Cinovec hosts a globally significant hard rock lithium deposit with a total Indicated Mineral Resource of 49.1Mt @ 0.43% Li2O and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 482Mt @ 0.43% Li2O containing a combined 5.7 million tonnes Lithium Carbonate Equivalent.
This makes Cinovec the largest lithium deposit in Europe and the fourth largest non-brine deposit in the world.
Within this resource lies one of the largest undeveloped tin deposits in the world, with total Indicated Mineral Resource of 15.7Mt @ 0.26% Sn and an Inferred Mineral Resources of 59.7 Mt grading 0.21% Sn for a combined total of 178kt of contained tin. The Mineral Resource Estimates have been previously released on 18 May 2016. The deposit has previously had over 400,000 tonnes of ore mined as a trial sub-level open stope underground mining operation.
A Scoping Study conducted by specialist independent consultants indicates the deposit could be amenable to bulk underground mining. Metallurgical test work has produced both battery grade lithium carbonate and high-grade tin concentrate at excellent recoveries with the Scoping Study. Cinovec is centrally located for European end-users and is well serviced by infrastructure, with a sealed road adjacent to the deposit, rail lines located 5 km north and 8 km south of the deposit and an active 22 kV transmission line running to the historic mine. As the deposit lies in an active mining region, it has strong community support.
