LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Europe-focussed lead-zinc and silver developer Europa Metals announced initial assay results from its pre-feasibility study diamond drilling programme at its wholly-owned Toral lead, zinc and silver project on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said the current infill drilling campaign was seeking to improve its understanding of the deposit to assess the potential for increasing future production in the early years of the planned mine life, thus enhancing the project's pay-back period and profitability.

It reported significant intersections from holes TOD-028, 029, 030 and 031, including 2.4 metres at 10.58% zinc equivalent on hole TOD-028.

At hole TOD-029, it reported 20.45 metres at 2.68% zinc equivalent, including 3.8 metres at 8.87% zinc equivalent, with the hole also featuring significant widths over 20 metres which would be suitable for metallurgical ore sorting testwork.

Europa said the drilling campaign's objectives were being achieved in the upper zone of the deposit with regards to both drillhole spacing and metallurgical sample collection.

The campaign area was providing results that could support the ore sorting processing route identified in the 2020 independent preliminary economic study, with significant widths of a 4% cut-off grade being intersected.

Both siliceous and carbonate styles of mineralisation were intersected as expected, and detailed geotechnical data was captured to contribute to the pre-feasibility study-level mine design.

As it had previously reported, four daughter holes were drilled from TOD-029. designated TOD-029 a, b, c and d, following pre-assay inspection of the intersections.

The assay results supported the decision to target a meaningful mineralised sample from the TOD-029 daughter holes to undertake further ore-sorting testwork for the pre-feasibility study.

Drilling was ongoing, and Europa said it would provide further updates once additional results were received, with a resource update to be commissioned at the "appropriate time" for input into the planned pre-feasibility study.

The company said its hydrogeological campaign was on schedule, with completion of the main bore hole work to test water levels and conditions within the proposed mining area being the next key component.

Piezometer work to monitor local water conditions was also ongoing.

Europa added that its current drilling campaign was focussed on the 100 to 800 metre horizon, with initial drilling on the upper siliceous material zone that would potentially host the early years of future production.

It said it was targeting gaps within the current JORC resource model to enhance its understanding of the block model, retrieve geotechnical information for mine design, and identify opportunities to gather further metallurgical samples from within substantive intersections encountered.

The collation of data would inform development of the early years of potential future production at Toral, and refine the pay-back period in the current economic model.

Drilling data was also being used to progress the company's innovation partnership with the University of Salamanca, facilitated by the grant of €0.47m (£0.4m) received through a loan from Spain's Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology.

"Today's assay results are excellent and we look forward to incorporating a new resource zone into the early years of potential future production at Toral," said chief executive officer Laurence Read.

"This will clearly be dependent on the results of an independent JORC resource update to be commissioned in due course, however the campaign's findings to date are supportive of us meeting this objective.

"It is particularly pleasing to see the team's decision to initiate daughter holes off TOD-029, pre assay, being supported by today's results."

Read said that by securing "meaningful metallurgical samples" for pre-feasibility study-level work, the company could build on its existing metallurgical testwork findings, as well as further assess the implementation of ore sorting within the upper siliceous zone of the project.

"Further enhancement of the early pay-back and economics for the Toral Project at a pre-feasibility study level remains one of our key objectives."

At 1259 BST, shares in Europa Metals were flat at 11p.

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