Meridian Expands Drill Program to Target New Prospects along the Cabaçal VMS Belt Re-assaying historic Santa Helena core confirms high-grade Cu-Au-Ag-Zn targets
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Meridian Expands Drill Program to Target New Prospects along the Cabaçal VMS
Belt
Re-assaying historic Santa Helena core confirms high-grade Cu-Au-Ag-Zn targets
LONDON, United Kingdom, May 23, 2023 / Accesswire / Meridian Mining UK S (TSX: MNO) (OTCQX:
MRRDF) (Frankfurt/Tradegate: 2MM) (“Meridian” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce upcoming
drilling programs at Santa Helena and C2A East copper gold targets in the Cabaçal VMS belt. Recent re -
assays of historic drill core confirm high grade Cu -Au-Ag-Zn results at shallow depths (e.g., 5.6m @ 3.4%
Cu, 3.0g/t Au, 82.6g/t Ag, and 7.6% Zn from 38.4m). Additional results are pending. To reach this stage of
Santa Helena's development, the Company has made significant progress in field mapping, surface
geophysical programs, data confirmation studies 1, and the relogging and resampling of historical core
samples. With this upcoming drill campaign, Meridian is among the few companies worldwide advancing
a VMS belt with multiple resource development projects and significant exploration potential.
HIGHLIGHTS REPORTED TODAY
• Meridian launches next resource development and discovery phase at the Cabaçal Project;
• Additional contractor engaged to launch Santa Helena multi pronged drill program;
o Vertical drill program to confirm historical assays and VMS host geology;
o Angled drill program to test high-grade gold over-print;
o Full assaying of available core and new drilling to test for mineralised extensions;
o Meridian Santa Helena’s near mine upside to be tested;
• Meridian receives first assays from Santa Helena re-sampling program; including
o JUCHD-032 resampled: 5.6m @ 3.4% Cu, 3.0g/t Au, 82.6g/t Ag and 7.6% Zn from 38.4m;
▪ Compared to historical result of 5.6m @ 3.4% Cu, 2.8g/t Au, 73.5g/t Ag & 6.0% Zn;
o JUCHD-033 resampled: 16.8m @ 0.7% Cu, 1.0g/t Au, 37.4g/t Ag & 5.3% Zn from 73.9m;
▪ Compared to historical result of 16.8m @ 0.7% Cu, 1.2g/t Au, 39.9g/t Ag, 5.1% Zn;
• Predefined drill targets prepared for twinning historical Santa Helena results2; including
o JUCHD-031: 27.6m @ 1.5g/t Au, 1.6% Cu, 36.3g/t Ag, 4.4% Zn from 24.9m ;
o JUCHD-101: 18.9m @ 1.3g/t Au from 6.3m, including 4.5m @ 4.1g/t Au & 49.1g/t Ag from
10.2m;
o JUCHD-041: 8.0m @ 2.4% Cu, 2.0g/t Au, 62.1g/t Ag & 7.1% Zn from 38.5m;
• Third rig being mobilized to advance Cabaçal resource definition and extension; and
• New drill program to also test C2A East copper-gold target3.
1 See Meridian News release of March 29, 2022
2 Historical results may include areas where mining activity has taken place and voids are present.
3 See Meridian news release June 28, 2022.
Dr. Adrian McArthur, CEO , comments: “We are pleased to announce the and expansion of the Cabaçal
program and the engagement of our contractor for our first exploration and resource delineation drill
program over the high -grade VMS trend that hosts the historical Cu -Au-Ag-Zn Santa Helena mine. We
strongly believe that this deposit has been structurally over -printed by a later-stage gold event ,
characteristic of the Cabaçal belt. The Santa Helena historical resource was only partially mined, and like
Cabaçal, there is much more upside as an open pit prospect than a s a selective underground mine. We
have prepared this program using the exact same preparation and methodology used to expand the now
advanced-stage Cabaçal deposit. With the commencement of the program , Meridian will be advancing
resource development studies on a second VMS open pit target at Santa Helena. In addition, we will test
the copper-gold potential of C2A East, which is a neighboring extension of the Cabaçal deposit."
SANTA HELENA RESOURCE DELINEATION
The Santa Helena deposit is located 9km to the southeast of the Cabaçal Mine area, within the 11km Mine
Corridor trend. The deposit was first discovered by BP Minerals ("BPM") in 1984 , and is associated with
the same host geology as that of the Cabaçal Mine. The former operator at Santa Helena, Prometálica
("PML"), commission ed the underground mine in 2006 with a n historical Measured and Indicated
resource of 1.12 Mt @ 6.2% Zn, 1.3% Cu, 1.3g/t Au, 41.7 g/t Ag. Production commenced in 2006, but the
mine closed well ahead of planning in 2008 with the collapse of the zinc price. Total production amounted
to 439,813t @ 6.65% Zn, 1.62% Cu, 1.77g/t Au & 43.02g/t Ag. A qualified person has not done sufficient
work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the
historical estimate as a current mineral resource.
Shallow oxide gold mineralization is recognized in an historical trenching area to the east of the resource
limit , which was not previously considered in SRK's historical 2007 estimate for the deposit. Along with
unmined res ources, Meridian sees potential for resource additions here, and in testing for potential
extensions to the mineralized envelop in unsampled core intervals. Numerous historical holes have not
been sampled to conclusively demonstrate the limit of mineralization (or analysed for the full suite of
elements). Of the 39 PML holes, gold assays are not available for 12 of the holes (~31%), and in an
additional 9 of the holes, the first recorded sample starts within the mineralized halo (grades of 0.1 –
1.0g/t Au). The sampling approach in the original BPM holes (for which data is available in the JUCHD
series) is similar, with an average starting depth of 22.4m. Whilst some angled holes were drilled by BPM,
historical drilling was overwhelmingly vertical, and unsuited to testing the late stage overprinting vertical
gold structures now recognized in the belt. The Company has reviewed the historical drill database that
supports the presence of a gold -overprint. Original Santa Helena drill core photos illustrate similar vein
textures to that seen at the Cabaçal deposit ("Photo 1").
Photo 1: Example of auriferous quartz vein in JUCHD031 (Sample JUF33596; 6.7 g/t Au, 97.6g/t Ag, 7.6%
Cu, 7.0 % ).
The resampling results reported today are part of the Company's QAQC program to verify the historical
information with modern laboratory check assays. Results repeat well, within the expected margin of
variation for sampling duplicate intervals of core.
Figure 1: Location of Santa Helena within the Cabaçal Belt.
Meridian also concluded surface geophysical surveys 4, detecting three shallow dipping EM plates
interpreted to be bedrock conductors ("Figure 2"). The EM plates have a typical conductivity thickness for
Cu-Zn sulphides of 4 Siemens. The leading edge of the two most eastern plates aligns with the position of
the resource envelope and extend outwards a further ~200 – 250m to the north-northwest into sparsely
drilled areas. The response from a gradient array IP survey also aligns well with the Cu-Zn-Au-Ag sulphide
system, and remains open over extensions to the east. This suggests some sulphides are present in the
shallower up-plunge sector of the deposit beyond the historical resource limit. The peak chargeability
response follows the strike of the deposit in the eastern sector, reaching ranges of 30 mV/V (millivolts per
volt) – characterized as a moderate to strong response for VMS mineralization. Initial scout drilling will be
conducted to evaluate IP and EM anomalies for potential repeats or extensions of the Santa Helena
mineral system.
Figure 2: Vie w to the west of Santa Helena drilling and the EM plates and IP anomalies. Drill holes are
coloured by Cu grade (light grey unsampled). The three Maxwell EM plates dip to the north, with modelled
extents of 500 x 300m, 250 x 300m, 350 x 300m . The higher threshold chargeability inversion shells (21 -
24-27-30mV/V) are shown in the eastern sector of the deposit and remain open.
THE OPPORTUNITY OF REPEATING CABAÇAL’S ANGLED DRILLING SUCCESS AT SANTA-HELENA
Santa Helena exhibits a significant precious metal geochemical footprint 5 with a gold in soil anomaly
extending 350m beyond the limits of its pre -mining resource envelope, which was focussed on the
underlying, but shallow, high -grade massive -sulphide mineralization ("Figure 3 "). These and other
geochemical anomalies are open 100m past the last reported trench results. Additional soil anomalies are
present to the west suggesting structural repeats and/or cross -cutting structures breach the surface in
multiple places. Past BPM interpretations show a folded geometry to the VMS horizon, with cross-cutting
sub-vertical structures in axial positions. The Company's drilling at Cabaçal showed that the gold footprint
can become detached some distance from the VMS base metal response. The Company will be evaluating
where such patterns are replicated more broadly through the Cabaçal belt.
4 See Meridian news release January 24, 2023
5 See Meridian news release March 29, 2022
Figure 3: Gold in soil response at Santa Helena and example of trenching and historical drilling results
showing unexploited near surface mineralization.
SANTA HELENA AND MINE CORRIDOR DRILL PLAN
The planned drill program will be conducted using a low impact portable rig due to the hilly local terrain
of the Santa Helena deposit . The Company has received the required permits to start the program and
final drill tenders have been received. First drill core is expected towards the beginning of July and assays
in Q3. While the mobile rig is on site , it will also test the 2022 copper discovery C2A East ( C2A East is
located 3.0km East of the Cabaçal deposit (“Figure 4”) where local hilly terrain restricts access to the larger
diamond rigs. The C2A East prospect has extensive surface copper gossans up to 0.1% Cu and an
underlying IP and EM anomaly. The C2A East prospect is associated with a 1200 x 650m alteration halo.
The Company sees strong similarities to the Cabaçal deposit’s VMS and gold -overprint at C2A East. An
initial 1,000m program will be undertaken with scope to expand based on results.
Figure 4 C2A East copper-gold target
CABAÇAL PROJECT STUDIES
Following the PEA, the Company is now focussed on the next phase of resource development and
extension drilling. A third rig is being mobilized back to site to the accelerate next phase of resource
development, processing and geotechnical studies. Drilling continues to extend coverage into sparely
drilled positions which remained unclassified, or inferred, and to infill areas where modelling may be
impacted by the dominance of historical vertical drilling, believed to be under -representing the gold
overprint. Discussions are underway with key services providers that will support the expansion of
hydrogeological studies, and environmental studies will be supplemented to position the project for
potential expansion studies beyond the 2.5Mta base case projected in the PEA.
ABOUT MERIDIAN
Meridian Mining UK S is focused on:
• The development and exploration of the advanced stage Cabaçal VMS gold‐copper project;
• Regional scale exploration of the Cabaçal VMS belt;
• Exploration in the Jaurú & Araputan ga Greenstone belts ( the above all located in the State of
Mato Grosso, Brazil); and
• Exploring the Espigão polymetallic project in the State of Rondônia, Brazil.
Cabaçal is a gold-copper-silver rich VMS deposit with the potential to be a standalone mine within the
50km VMS belt. Cabaçal’s base and precious metal -rich mineralization is hosted by volcanogenic type,
massive, semi-massive, stringer, and disseminated sulphides within deformed metavolcanic-sedimentary
rocks. A later-stage sub-vertical gold overprint event has emplaced high-grade gold mineralization cross-
cutting the dipping VMS layers.
The Cabaçal Mineral Resource estimate consists of Indicated resources of 52 .9 million tonnes at 0.6g/t
gold, 0.3% copper and 1.4g/t silver and Inferred resources of 10.3 million tonnes at 0.7g/t gold, 0.2%
copper & 1.1g/t silver (at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cut -off grade), including a higher-grade near-surface
zone supporting a starter pit.
The Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report (the “PEA Technical Report”) dated March 30,
2023, entitled: "Cabaçal Gold-Copper Project NI 43 -101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic
Assessment, Mato Grosso, Brazil” outlines a base case after-tax NPV5 of USD 573 million and 58.4% IRR
from a pre -production capital cost of USD 180 million, leading to capital repaym ent in 10.6 months
(assuming metals price scenario of USD 1,650 per ounces of gold, USD 3.59 per pound of copper, and USD
21.35 per ounce of silver). Cabaçal has a low All-in-Sustaining-Cost of USD 671 per ounce gold equivalent
for the first five years, dr iven by high metallurgical recovery, a low life -of-mine strip ratio of 2.1:1, and
the low operating cost environment of Brazil (see press release dated March 6, 2023).
Readers are encouraged to read the PEA Technical Report in its entirety. The PEA Technical Report may
be found on the Company's website at www.meridianminig.co and under the Company's profile on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
The qualified persons for the PEA Technical Report are: Robert Raponi (P. Eng), Principal Metallurgist with
Ausenco Engineering), Scott Elfen (P. E.), Global Lead Geotechnical and Civil Services with Ausenco
Engineering), Simon Tear (PGeo, EurGeol), Principal Geological Consultant of H&SC, Marcelo Batelochi,
(MAusIMM, CP Geo), Geological Consultant of MB Geologia Ltda, Joseph Keane (Mineral Processing
Engineer; P.E), of SGS, and Guilherme Gomides Ferreira (Mine Engineer MAIG) of GE21 Consultoria
Mineral.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Meridian Mining UK S
Dr. Adrian McArthur
CEO and Director
Meridian Mining UK S
Email: [email protected]
Ph: +1 (778) 715-6410 (PST)
Technical Notes
Samples have been analysed at the accredited ALS laboratory in Lima, Peru. Samples are dried, crushed
with 70% passing <2mm, split off to give a mass of approximately 250g, and pulverized to >85% passing
200#. Routine gold analyses have been conducted by Au-AA23 (fire assay of a 30g charge with AAS finish).
High-grade samples (>10g/t Au) are repeated with a gravimetric finish (Au -GRA21). Samples with visible
gold identified during logging are analysed by screen fire assay method Au-SCR21. Samples are held in the
Company’s secure facilities until dispatched and delivered by staff and commercial couriers to the
laboratory. Pulps are retained for umpire testwork, and ultimately returned to the Company for storage.
The Company submits a range of quality control samples, including blanks and gold and polymetallic
standards supplied by Rocklabs, ITAK and OREAS, supplementing laboratory quality control procedures. In
BPM sampling, gold was analysed historically by fire assay and base metals by three acid digest and ICP
finish at the Nomos laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. Silver was analysed by aqua regia digest with an atomic
absorption finish. True width is considered to be 70-80% of intersection width.
Geophysical and geochemical exploration targets are preliminary in nature and not conclusive evidence of
the likelihood of a mineral deposit
Qualified Person
Dr. Adrian McArthur, B.Sc. Hons, Ph .D. FAusIMM., CEO and Director of Meridian as well as a Qualified
Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical information in
this news release.
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Further information can be found at: www.meridianmining.co
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements
for the purposes of applicable securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and
so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in under the
heading "Risk Factors" in Meridian's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com.
While these factors and assumptions ar e considered reasonable by Meridian, in light of management’s
experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, Meridian can give no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as
of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Meridian
disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward -looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or results or otherwise.