On Dec 10, 2024, the Company has announced a new Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) prepared in accordance with the National Instrument 43-101 - Standard for Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) for the 100% owned Tepal Gold-Copper Project
Micon’s QPs, have classified the mineral resources for the Tepal Project in the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories for the Tepal North Zone resources and the Indicated and Inferred categories for Tepal South Zone and Tizate Zone resources (as defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves incorporated by reference into NI 43-101) .
Table 1 summarizes the MRE, and Figures 4 to 7 show various plan views and cross sections of the new block model and/or optimized pit outlines. Tepal North Zone, Tepal South Zone and Tizate deposits are all part of the Tepal Project; the three deposits have been estimated separately to honour their geometry and grade characteristics.
Open Pit Model | Resource Category | Weathering Zone | Average Grade | Content Metal | |||||||
Tonnage | NSR | Cu | Au | Ag | NSR | Cu | Au | Ag | |||
Mt | $/t | % | g/t | g/t | million $ | thousand lb | thousand oz | thousand oz | |||
In-Pit Tepal North Zone | Measured | Oxide | 2.71 | 31.16 | 0.31 | 0.45 | 1.03 | 84 | 18,818 | 39 | 90 |
Sulphide | 21.21 | 38.04 | 0.24 | 0.39 | 0.92 | 807 | 111,170 | 269 | 627 | ||
Indicated | Oxide | 3.85 | 17.51 | 0.19 | 0.25 | 0.80 | 67 | 16,508 | 31 | 99 | |
Sulphide | 28.51 | 25.35 | 0.18 | 0.23 | 1.22 | 723 | 110,322 | 213 | 1,114 | ||
M+I | Oxide | 6.56 | 23.15 | 0.24 | 0.33 | 0.90 | 152 | 35,327 | 70 | 189 | |
Sulphide | 49.72 | 30.77 | 0.20 | 0.30 | 1.09 | 1,530 | 221,492 | 481 | 1,741 | ||
Total | 56.28 | 29.88 | 0.21 | 0.30 | 1.07 | 1,682 | 256,818 | 551 | 1,930 | ||
Inferred | Oxide | 2.60 | 12.91 | 0.15 | 0.18 | 1.17 | 34 | 8,750 | 15 | 97 | |
Sulphide | 26.73 | 23.82 | 0.17 | 0.21 | 1.21 | 637 | 101,909 | 177 | 1,040 | ||
Total | 29.33 | 22.86 | 0.17 | 0.20 | 1.21 | 670 | 110,659 | 192 | 1,137 | ||
In-Pit Tepal South Zone | Indicated | Oxide | 1.22 | 28.27 | 0.22 | 0.40 | 1.29 | 34 | 5,922 | 16 | 50 |
Sulphide | 10.78 | 36.63 | 0.24 | 0.36 | 1.13 | 395 | 57,569 | 124 | 392 | ||
Total | 11.99 | 35.78 | 0.24 | 0.36 | 1.15 | 429 | 63,492 | 140 | 443 | ||
Inferred | Oxide | 1.48 | 10.25 | 0.11 | 0.14 | 0.87 | 15 | 3,635 | 7 | 41 | |
Sulphide | 35.84 | 35.02 | 0.18 | 0.41 | 1.29 | 1,255 | 145,779 | 477 | 1,481 | ||
Total | 37.32 | 34.04 | 0.18 | 0.40 | 1.27 | 1,270 | 149,414 | 484 | 1,523 | ||
In-Pit Tizate Zone | Indicated | Oxide | 4.10 | 11.50 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 1.79 | 47 | 11,493 | 21 | 236 |
Sulphide | 39.30 | 22.52 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 2.35 | 885 | 142,057 | 214 | 2,970 | ||
Total | 43.40 | 21.47 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 2.30 | 932 | 153,549 | 235 | 3,206 | ||
Inferred | Oxide | 4.55 | 9.58 | 0.14 | 0.12 | 2.19 | 44 | 14,450 | 18 | 321 | |
Sulphide | 53.16 | 21.15 | 0.15 | 0.17 | 1.67 | 1,124 | 176,488 | 292 | 2,853 | ||
Total | 57.71 | 20.24 | 0.15 | 0.17 | 1.71 | 1,168 | 190,938 | 310 | 3,174 | ||
In-Pit Total Tepal+Tizate | Measured | Oxide + Sulphide | 23.92 | 37.26 | 0.25 | 0.40 | 0.93 | 891 | 129,988 | 308 | 717 |
Indicated | 87.75 | 24.52 | 0.18 | 0.22 | 1.72 | 2151 | 343,872 | 618 | 4,861 | ||
M+I | 111.67 | 27.25 | 0.19 | 0.26 | 1.55 | 3,043 | 473,860 | 926 | 5,578 | ||
Inferred | 124.36 | 25.00 | 0.16 | 0.25 | 1.46 | 3,109 | 451,011 | 985 | 5,834 |
Resource Estimate Notes:
Silver has been included in the current NSR estimation for the first time as it was not reported in any of the previously released mineral resource estimates. Molybdenum has not been included as part of the current NSR calculation for the MRE due to insufficient metallurgical testwork to determine the applicable process recovery. However, molybdenum grades are significant, and the Company will aim to included this in any future MRE or Preliminary Economic Assessment.
The current mineral resource estimate focuses exclusively on an open pit resource. However, the Tepal South Zone mineralization is dipping sharply towards the south at the south-east end of the deposit The high-grade material within the low-grade envelopes also follows a similar trend, and it is believed that there could be underground resource potential for this area and the Company will performing a study using a combination of open pit and underground mining methods in future resource estimates.
The mineralization is hosted in three distinct deposits: the North Zone and South Zone with relatively high-grade copper and gold, and Tizate with relatively lower-grade copper and gold, but higher-grade molybdenum.