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Aterian issues operational update from the Jebilet Est Project

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review,


Aterian Plc, the critical and strategic metal-focused exploration and development company, has announced results, including 4.43% Cu and 3.11% Cu from brecciated vein samples from geological work completed on the Company's Jebilet Est Project. The Project, which covers an area of 45.2 km2, is located north of Marrakech within the Marrakech-Safi Region of Morocco.

The Project is one of 15 copper, silver and base metal projects owned by Aterian which cover a total area of 762 km2 in Morocco.

Highlights:

  • High-grade copper reported from outcrop sampling.
  • Results include 4.43% Cu and 3.11 % Cu from brecciated vein samples.
  • Extensive vein system identified on Eastern Licence.
  • 3 km long vein zone mapped on the Western Licence.
  • The Project is located 15 km east of the historic Bir N'Hass copper mine.
  • Project located close to good infrastructure.
  • The Company holds 15 highly prospective projects in Morocco, totalling 762 km2.
  • The Company's Moroccan projects are located in established current and historic mining districts.

Charles Bray, Chairman of Aterian, commented: "These results from the work on the Jebilet Est Project are highly encouraging and further demonstrate the strong potential of our portfolio of copper-focused targets in Morocco. We firmly believe that our asset portfolio will deliver value potential to the Company, its shareholders and other stakeholders. We will continue to press ahead with the exploration of this Project and the other assets within our portfolio, all of which show significant upside potential. I look forward to updating shareholders with the results from these programmes in due course."

Simon Rollason, CEO of Aterian, commented: "The identification of the presence of a significant network of copper-bearing veins and breccia zones within the project is a very positive start to our exploration efforts at Jebilet Est. We will continue to map out and sample the vein system which occurs close to a historic copper mine which appears to have similar controls to what we are seeing on the ground. This project is excellently located, close to power and rail links and is only 35 km outside of the city of Marrakech."

Project Summary: The Jebilet Project comprises three licence blocks, covering an area of 45.3 km2, situated in western Morocco. The Project lies approximately 200 km south of the capital Rabat, 35 km northeast of Marrakech, and 15 km from a rail line to the port of Casablanca. The Project lies approximately 15 km east of the historic Bir N'Hass copper mine with several other known base metal and copper deposits and occurrences identified within the district (mineralisation hosted at Bir n Hass is not necessarily indicative of mineralisation at Jebilet Est). Access to the Project is via asphalt roads and a network of smaller tracks. The Company holds a 100 % interest in the project and is targeting a quartz-carbonate vein system which hosts copper mineralisation.

The Jebilet project is underlain by Palaeozoic metamudstones and quartzites proximal to Hercynian-age granite and mafic intrusive bodies. An initial reconnaissance programme, which involved the verification of targets generated by remote sensing and sampling of prospected outcrops has been completed. Multiple parallel quartz-carbonate veins with a general ENE orientation have been observed across the licences with the largest vein zone, up to 10 m wide, striking discontinuously for over 3 km.

Aterian Reconnaissance Exploration Results Geological work has focused on mapping and sampling a quartz-carbonate vein network crossing the entire western licence with an ENE-WSW trend of variable widths (0.2 to 10 m wide), and traceable along strike for over 3 km. On the eastern licence, mapping has targeted a vein system outcropping in the eastern part of the licence which has revealed the presence of quartz-carbonate veins with variable quartz contents, quartz veins and/or breccia. These structures display dominant NE-SW to ENE-WSW trends. No work has been undertaken on the northern licence. Mineralised outcrops are generally discontinuously exposed along strike. The mineralisation observed to date consists of malachite with visible sulphides such as pyrite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite and rarely bornite. These sulphides usually show hematite stains on the surface of the vein.

A total of 81 samples (77 rock chip and 4 float samples*) have been collected from the Project. From these, 46 samples (57% of this batch) reported greater than 0.3% Cu, and 13 (or 16% of the batch) were greater than 1% Cu.

The maximum sample returned reported 4.43% Cu from a float sample of quartz-carbonate vein material hosting malachite, primary sulphide and iron oxides. Other results include:

  • 3.11% Cu reporting from a 1 m wide brecciated quartz vein.
  • 1.80% Cu from NNW-SSE trending, 1.5 m wide carbonate-quartz vein.
  • 1.79% Cu from a brecciated, vuggy quartz vein.
  • 1.72% Cu from an NNE trending, 2 m wide quartz-carbonate vein with later quartz vein overprinting.
  • 1.51% Cu from a 5 m wide quartz-carbonate vein with quartz vein overprint.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/17032023/aterian-issues-operational-update-from-the-jebilet-est-project/

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