Ivanhoe Electric’s TyphoonTM Technology Quickly Proves its Power with Discovery in Saudi Arabia Drilling Intersected Copper Mineralization in Three Holes to a Depth Beyond 700 Meters and Remains Open The Joint Venture Has Three TyphoonTM Units Active in Saudi
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January 13, 2025
Ivanhoe Electric’s TyphoonTM Technology Quickly Proves its Power
with Discovery in Saudi Arabia
Drilling Intersected Copper Mineralization in Three Holes to a Depth
Beyond 700 Meters and Remains Open
The Joint Venture Has Three TyphoonTM Units Active in Saudi
Arabia
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (“Ivanhoe Electric”) (NYSE American:
IE; TSX: IE) Executive Chairman Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive
Officer Taylor Melvin are pleased to provide initial drill results from the Company’s
50/50-owned joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma’aden (“Ma’aden”)
(Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul: 1211). The Joint Venture’s initial drill program focused
on the Umm Ad Dabah prospect, near Ma’aden’s existing Al Amar gold-copper-zinc
mine. The Joint Venture is using Ivanhoe Electric’s advanced TyphoonTM geophysical
surveying systems and Computational Geosciences Inc.’s (“CGI”) industry-leading
inversion software to guide exploration activities.
Mr. Friedland commented: “The rapid drill results achieved by our Joint Venture with
Ma’aden illustrate the powerful capabilities of Ivanhoe Electric’s technology-driven
exploration platform. The power and accuracy of our TyphoonTM geophysical surveying
technology and Computational Geosciences’ software and algorithms enabled us to
discover quickly a new copper zone near the Al Amar district. Imagine what would
happen if we took the power of our technologies to explore all of Saudi Arabia for
copper, gold, nickel, lithium and other metals.”
Mr. Melvin commented: “Our Joint Venture has the right people and technologies to
explore rapidly and accurately for new sources of copper, gold, and other minerals at
depths exceeding one kilometer. We are excited by the initial results at Umm Ad
Dabah.”
Ma’aden CEO Bob Wilt commented: “Ivanhoe Electric’s TyphoonTM technology has been
a significant asset to our exploration program and these initial surveys and drill results
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demonstrate that these cutting-edge technologies are the right tools to unlock the vast
mineral potential of the Kingdom.”
TyphoonTM and CGI technologies allow for successful, rapid, large-scale and
deep-penetrating geophysical surveys
The Joint Venture’s first TyphoonTM survey covered 76 square kilometers near
Ma’aden’s Al Amar gold-copper-zinc mine. It was completed in March 2024. Subsequent
TyphoonTM surveys have covered an additional 162 square kilometers of the Al Amar
exploration licenses.
Ivanhoe Electric’s 94%-owned subsidiary, Computational Geosciences Inc., is
headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, near the University of British Columbia. CGI
offers world class geophysical data processing capabilities to model a broad range of
surveys in three dimensions. The world-leading performance of its superior algorithms
is driven by adaptive meshes and the ability to identify relevant structures in high
resolution to support geological interpretation and drill hole targeting. Through
advanced research and development, CGI uses machine-learning methods to develop
innovative quality assurance and quality control tools that have been fully integrated
with the TyphoonTM system.
These tools have revolutionized workflow efficiency, enabling CGI to complete tasks
that previously took weeks in just minutes. Importantly, CGI is now able to deliver
complex three-dimensional inversion results within 24 hours of receiving terabytes of
raw data from TyphoonTM geophysical surveys.
The image below highlights the first three areas quickly identified for drilling by the
Joint Venture team, using TyphoonTM and CGI. The Joint Venture team will be seeking
similar and larger anomalies as exploration activities expand across the 48,500 square
kilometers of prospective land included in the Joint Venture.
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Figure 1. Plan view map of the Umm Ash Shalahib license area, showing TyphoonTM
chargeability anomalies at Umm Ad Dabah, Area B, and Area C.
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Copper mineralization intersected at Umm Ad Dabah associated with significant
TyphoonTM anomaly
The Umm Ad Dabah prospect is located 6 kilometers to the northeast of Ma’aden’s Al
Amar Mine. The prospect was identified during the initial 76 square kilometer
TyphoonTM survey. CGI rapidly processed and inverted the TyphoonTM geophysical data,
identifying two significant chargeability anomalies that span approximately 4.5
kilometers in length. The southern anomaly, beginning around 200 meters below the
surface and extending beyond 1,000 meters in depth, has a strike length of 1.8
kilometers (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Cross-section through Umm Ad Dabah, looking west, showing the southern
TyphoonTM chargeability anomaly, the location of Joint Venture drill hole collars, their
traces, and total sulfide minerals abundance.
Exploration drilling commenced in August 2024, with a total of 5,490 meters drilled
across eight completed holes (Figure 2). Three of the drill holes intersected copper
mineralization in the southern anomaly, including:
• Hole UAD-005: 13.1 meters @ 1.31% copper and 4.5 grams per tonne of silver
from 717.9 meters
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• Hole UAD-006: 5.9 meters @ 0.79% copper and 1.9 grams per tonne of silver from
374.5 meters
Mineralization is present as semi-massive to massive accumulations of precious metal-
bearing iron and copper sulfides hosted in altered volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks.
Drilling to date has defined a mineralized system extending over 250 meters in strike
length and 400 meters down dip.
Photo 1. Drill core from discovery hole UAD-005 at Umm Ad Dabah from 725.7 to 729.1
meters showing semi-massive to massive brassy pyrite (an iron sulfide mineral) and
brassy-yellow chalcopyrite (a copper sulfide mineral that is approximately 35% copper
by weight) detected by TyphoonTM.
2025 exploration activities will focus on Al Amar district, Wadi Bidah, and Bir
Umq license areas
Drilling will continue in the Al Amar Belt to explore for additional accumulations of
massive sulfide mineralization, guided by results from an ongoing TyphoonTM survey
and receipt of outstanding assays. Drilling has now moved to Areas B and C south of
the Al Amar Mine (Figure 1).
There are three TyphoonTM systems operating in Saudi Arabia. Two units in the Al Amar
Belt, and the third unit at the Gehab prospect in the Wadi Bidah Belt.
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Figure 3. Plan view map of southwest Saudi Arabia, showing the Umm Ash
Shalahib, Al Amar, Wadi Bidah, and Bir Umq license areas.
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Highlighted new drill intercepts from Umm Ad Dabah at the Umm Ash Shalahib
exploration license.
DRILL HOLE LOCATION FROM
(m)
TO
(m)
INTERVAL
LENGTH
(m)
COPPER
(%)
SILVER
(g/t)
UAD-005 Umm Ad
Dabah 699.0 704.0 5.0 0.67 3.4
AND 717.9 731.0 13.1 1.31 4.5
UAD-006 Umm Ad
Dabah 344.6 347 2.4 0.51 1.0
AND 351.0 353.2 2.2 0.41 0.8
AND 374.5 380.4 5.9 0.79 1.9
* Reported intervals are calculated at a cut-off grade of 0.3% copper.
*True width is approximately 50% of interval length.
*Some rounding errors may occur.
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Photo 2. TyphoonTM deployed on the Umm Ash Shalahib exploration license.