Celsius Resources continues to shore up its Sagay project in the Philippines after confirming near-surface copper mineralisation to complement previous discoveries at depth.
Drill hole SGY-036 intersected extensive brecciation, silicified rock and the observable presence of the copper minerals chalcocite, chalcopyrite and covellite, with a best intersection of 44.3m at 0.27 per cent copper.
SGY-038A hit 112.2m at 0.16 per cent copper from 197m and 247m at 0.14 per cent copper from 113m (to the end of the drill hole).
“The copper mineralisation covers a huge area at Sagay at depth, and we are now proving this up at shallower levels,” Celsius executive chair Martin Buckingham said.
“This round of drilling has confirmed that the mineralisation now extends up close to the surface, extending up from the earlier discoveries which had intersected copper mineralisation from around 100m to over 1000m depth.”
Celsius said the results identified extensive geological alteration and other features which are interpreted to be linked to Sagay’s porphyry copper mineralisation.
“The discovery of key geological features and copper mineralisation near surface is an important stepping stone, with further follow-up now required to define the higher grade core to this system also at shallow levels,” Buckingham said.
“This is extremely encouraging as it also allows us to consider lower cost bulk mining methods as part of our next phase of studies at the Nabagia-a Hill project area.”
Celsius has the assistance of historical drilling completed by TMCI (a wholly owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan) between 2012 and 2016, which initially demonstrated Sagay’s copper potential at-depth.
The Sagay project is located in the north-eastern part of Negros Island, which is within the Negros Occidental province in the Philippines.