CuEq at Beskauga IN Kazakhstan
ARRAS MINERALS INTERCEPTS 689.2m @ 0.76 % CuEq, INCLUDING
120.9m @ 2.35% CuEq WHICH INCLUDES A ZONE OF 17m @ 7.48%
CuEq AT BESKAUGA IN KAZAKHSTAN
September 14, 2022 TSX-V: ARK
Vancouver, British Columbia – Arras Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: ARK) (“Arras” or “the Company”) is pleased
to announce assay results from holes Bg21005 and Bg21006 from the ongoing exploration drill program
at the Beskauga copper-gold deposit and surrounding area (“Beskauga” or the “Project”).
Highlights:
Hole Bg21006 returned a significant intersection of 689.2 metres (“m”) of mineralization grading
0.76 % copper-equivalent (“CuEq”) or 0.92 gram per tonne (“g/t”) gold-equivalent (“AuEq”)
(0.60 g/t gold (“Au”), 0.24 % copper (“Cu”), 1.4 g/t silver (“Ag”) and 12.8 ppm molybdenum
(“Mo”)) starting at 43.0 m from surface to end of hole.
o Including 120.9 m grading 2.35 % CuEq or 2.84 g/t AuEq (1.95 g/t Au, 0.69 % Cu, 3.8 g/t
Ag and 15.7 ppm Mo) from 348.9 m depth down-hole.
o Including an exceptionally high-grade interception of 17 m grading 7.48 % CuEq or 9.05
g/t AuEq (6.77 g/t Au, 1.78 % Cu, 8.8 g/t Ag and 24.5 ppm Mo) from 446.0 m depth down-
hole.
o And including 99.9 m grading 1.11 % CuEq or 1.34 g/t AuEq (0.85 g/t Au, 0.38 % Cu, 1.9
g/t Ag and 25.8 ppm Mo) from 493.1 m depth down-hole.
Hole Bg21005 tested, for the first time, an approximately 400 x 500 meter circular magnetic high
immediately west of the Beskauga deposit. The hole returned 903.6 m of mineralization grading
0.16% CuEq or 0.20 g/t AuEq (0.16 g/t Au, 0.09 % Cu, 1.2 g/t Ag, and 43.5 ppm Mo) starting at 49
m from surface and hosted within a strongly potassic-altered monzodiorite.
Diamond drilling is ongoing at Beskauga with further assay results expected in the coming months. The
Company has recently changed drilling contractors to have the option to drill deeper, as required.
Tim Barry, CEO of Arras, commenting on these latest results, stated, “The Company is pleased to deliver
more exceptional drill results with hole Bg21006 confirming historical drilling and further increasing the
continuity and dimensions of the highest-grade ore shoot to the south and to depth at Beskauga. With
each new drill hole, we are improving our understanding of the deposit geology and controls on
mineralization. Bg21005 is an exploration hole aimed at identifying the cause of a prominent bulls-eye
magnetic high, identified in our airborne magnetics survey, west of the main deposit. We have now
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identified the anomaly as a strongly potassic-altered monzodiorite intrusion. Despite being weakly
mineralized, there are several lines of geochemical and structural evidence that support our favoured
hypothesis that the monzodiorite is not the causative intrusion for the copper-gold mineralization at
Beskauga Main. We believe that the potassic core of the porphyry responsible for the mineralization at
Beskauga Main has yet to be found and is the focus of our continued drill program. Nevertheless, the
recognition of a potentially separate mineralized intrusion revealed in Bg21005 may support the clustering
of two or more porphyry centers and is a reminder of how much more there is yet to discover at Beskauga.”
A summary of the results announced in this news release is outlined in the table below.
Table 1. Summary table for holes Bg21005 and Bg21006.
Notes: Copper Equivalent (“CuEq”) grades reported for the drill holes at Beskauga were calculated using the following formula: CuEq % = Copper
(%) + (Gold (g/t) x 0.8264) + (Silver (g/t) x 0.0107) + (Molybdenum (ppm) x 3.3333). Gold Equivalent (“AuEq”) grades reported for the drill holes
at Beskauga were calculated using the following formula: AuEq g/t = Gold (g/t) + (Copper (%) x 1.2100) + (Silver (g/t) x 0.0129) + (Molybdenum
(ppm) x 4.0334). Assumptions used for the copper and gold equivalent calculations were metal prices of US$3.00/lb. Copper, US$1,700/oz Gold,
US$22/oz Silver, US$10/lb. Molybdenum, and metallurgical recoveries were assumed to be 100%.
Drill Program
In October 2021, Arras announced the start of the initial phase of a permitted 30,000-meter diamond drill
program targeting the extensions of the Beskauga deposit both laterally and at depth (Figure 1). The drill
program is being conducted under the Option to Purchase Agreement (“Option Agreement”) executed on
January 26, 2021, with Copperbelt AG (“Copperbelt”), a private mineral exploration company registered
in Zug, Switzerland.
In addition to testing the extents of the Beskauga deposit, the drill program is also targeting a series of
previously undrilled targets in the wider area. These wider targets are supported by both ground and
recently flown airborne geophysics, as well as in-situ geochemistry, derived using “KGK” drilling (a drilling
method akin to 'wet' reverse circulation drilling, that recovers a 1 to 3 m core sample from the top of the
underlying bedrock which is used by Arras to efficiently map lithology, alteration, and geochemistry across
the property beneath overburden).
Interval Au Cu Ag Mo Cu Eq Au Eq
Easting Northing RL From (m) To (m) (m) (g/t) (%) (g/t) (ppm) (%) (g/t)
587790 5739673 124 180 -70 952.6 49 952.6 903.6 0.16 0.09 1.2 43.5 0.16 0.20
272 324 52 0.19 0.25 1.0 121.1 0.45 0.55
399 433 34 0.16 0.22 1.3 120.1 0.41 0.49
856 882 26 0.20 0.23 1.0 82.9 0.43 0.52
588248 5739313 124 348 -70 732.2 43 732.2 689.2 0.60 0.24 1.3 12.8 0.76 0.92
303 334 31 0.63 0.29 1.6 9.6 0.83 1.00
348.85 469.8 120.95 1.95 0.69 3.8 15.6 2.35 2.84
446 463 17 6.77 1.78 8.8 24.5 7.48 9.05
493.1 593 99.9 0.85 0.38 1.9 25.8 1.11 1.34
Intersection
And includes
includes
And includes
Bg21006
Hole_ID
Coordinates (UTM)
Azi Dip Hole
depth (m)
And includes
Bg21005
And includes
Includes
And includes
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For both the diamond and KGK drilling, Arras has been using the local company “Tsentrgeolsemka LLP”.
Arras has recently changed drilling contractors to “GRK Iskander Ltd” and mobilized a diamond drill rig
with the capacity to drill deeper holes, if required, as well as improved core orientation through triple
tube core barrel drilling. GRK Iskander Ltd is one of the leading drilling companies in Kazakhstan, with
clients including Rio Tinto, Kazzinc (Glencore), ESAN, and Kazakhmys. Both Tsentrgeolsemka LLP and GRK
Iskander Ltd are both independent of Arras.
Results of Bg21005 and Bg21006
Bg21005: (see Figure 1) was designed to test, for the first time, an approximately 400 x 500 metre “bulls-
eye” circular magnetic high immediately west of the Beskauga deposit and surrounded by a >500-meter
zone of demagnetization. The hole was collared outside Arras’ current Mineral Resource Estimate (see
Figure 1) and drilled at an angle of -70 o towards the south to a final depth of 952.6 metres. The hole
intersected a highly magnetic, potassic altered intrusive body of monzodiorite that is inferred to dip
steeply towards the south. Alteration comprises k-feldspar, secondary (“shreddy”) biotite, magnetite, Mg-
rich chlorite, and epidote, with minor argillic overprint comprising phengitic illite and smectite localized
around faults and fractures (confirmed by Arras using TerraSpec SWIR/NIR spectroscopy). Mineralization
occurs as vein and fracture-controlled zones of magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, bornite, and molybdenite.
Generally, the intrusion is weakly mineralized but high tenor veins up to 1.27 g/t Au, 1.62 % Cu and 27 g/t
Ag do occur. Compared to the diorite that hosts the bulk of the known mineralization at Beskauga, the
monzonite hosts significantly higher Mo grades, up to 2290 ppm Mo. Two minor dykes comprising weakly
mineralized potassic-altered xenolithic porphyritic diorite and fresh post-mineral andesite were
intersected at depths of 793.2 to 809.4 and 886.3 to 891.1 metres, respectively.
Whilst the monzodiorite discovered in Bg21005 is strongly potassic-altered and hosts mineralization,
there is lithogeochemical and structural evidence supporting the monzodiorite may not be the causative
intrusion for the copper-gold mineralization at Beskauga Main. Arras considers the potassic core of the
causative porphyry to be located at depth and has yet to be intersected in drilling. Arras plans to test this
hypothesis through deep drilling in the coming months. Recognition of the monzodiorite as a potentially
separate mineralized intrusion supports the clustering of two or more porphyry centers. In addition to
ongoing petrological and lithogeochemical studies, Arras has submitted samples for Re-Os (molybdenite)
and U-Pb (zircon) geochronology at Durham University, UK, and the Mineral Deposit Research Unit,
University of British Columbia, Canada to discriminate whether there is a distinguishable age difference
between the two mineralizing systems.
Bg21006: (see Figures 1 to 3) was collared 250 metres west of Bg21002 (for results of Bg21002, refer to
Arras’ press release dated February 23, 2022), and drilled at an angle of -70 o towards the NNW to a final
depth of 732.2 metres. The hole confirmed the continuity of the exceptionally high-grade mineralization
observed in historical hole Bg-63 which was re-assayed by Arras in 2021 (for further details, see Figures 2
and 3, as well as Arras’ press release dated October 7, 2021), extending the ore shoot to the south and to
depth. The mineralization observed in hole Bg21006 is hosted within a diorite with moderate, to very
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strong, argillic alteration comprising illite and smectite (confirmed by Arras using TerraSpec SWIR/NIR
spectroscopy) inferred to have overprinted an earlier sodic alteration, as reported by Arras in earlier holes.
Mineralization occurs as a mixture of disseminated, vein, and fracture-controlled zones of chalcopyrite,
tennantite, and pyrite with minor bornite and covellite (see Figure 3). Zones of sheeted and/or intense
stockwork quartz-Cu sulfide veins correlate with the highest-grade gold and copper assays up to 12.4 g/t
Au and 3.39 % Cu, respectively.
Two unmineralized post-mineral dykes comprising argillic-altered xenolithic porphyritic diorite and fresh
basalt were intersected at depths of 334 to 348.9 and 469.8 to 493.1 metres, respectively. The dykes are
enveloped by the highest-grade intercepts, with assays up to 13.8 % CuEq or 16.70 g/t Au adjacent to the
dykes. These dykes are therefore interpreted to have filled pre-existing E-W and NW-SE trending fault
zones that earlier controlled the copper-gold mineralization. When removing the grade dilution resulting
from the unmineralized dykes, it leaves a residual intercept of 651.1 metres of mineralization grading 0.80
% CuEq or 0.97 g/t AuEq within the mineralized diorite.
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Figure 1. Location of the holes completed to date as part of Arras’ planned 30,000-metre drill program on the Beskauga Main
deposit and wider area.
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Figure 2. Cross-section showing hole Bg21006 in relation to several historical holes drilled by Copperbelt. Also shown are
grade contours based on the Beskauga block model for copper (only) developed for the purposes of the current Mineral
Resource Estimate for Beskauga (for further details, please see Arras’ press release on June 20, 2022). CuEq grades of key
intercepts in Bg21006 and historical holes are shown. The cross-section demonstrates the steep, southwest dipping high-
grade copper-gold-silver trend observed through Arras’ exploration to date. This trend is observed beginning at the paleo-
bedrock surface (43 m in depth), to average between 200-300 m wide and to be consistently mineralized down to at least
1000 metres.
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Figure 3. Cross-section showing hole Bg21006 in relation to several historical holes drilled by Copperbelt. Also shown are
grade contours based on the Beskauga block model for gold (only) developed for the purposes of the current Mineral
Resource Estimate for Beskauga (for further details, please see Arras’ press release on June 20, 2022). AuEq grades of key
intercepts in Bg21006 and historical holes are shown. The cross-section demonstrates the steep, southwest dipping high-
grade copper-gold-silver trend observed through Arras’ exploration to date. This trend is observed beginning at the paleo-
bedrock surface (43 m in depth), to average between 200-300 m wide and to be consistently mineralized down to at least
1000 metres.
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Figure 4. Photos of the diamond drill core from Bg21006 showing the typical styles of veining, mineralization and alteration
observed throughout the hole.