Caerus Mineral Resources plc announced that results from a preliminary drill programme had “significantly exceeded expectations” at its recently acquired Troulli licence, Cyprus.
The miner added that all holes intersected “significant gold and/or copper mineralisation” at the former small-scale mine.
Eight completed holes indicated robust and potentially significant oxide gold and volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper-gold deposit.
“The continuity of gold values in the oxide gold zone indicates pervasive mineralisation with potential for upscaling resulting in a revenue-generating gold resource overlying a VMS copper-gold zone open at depth and in all directions laterally,” said Caerus in a statement.
| Hole | From (metres) | To (m) | Mineralised Width (m) | Gold (g/t Au) |
| TR21DH01 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 5.11 |
| TR21DH02 | 0.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 1.93 |
| TR21DH03 | 0.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 1.20 |
| TR21DH04 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 4.00 | 1.32 |
| TR21DH05 | 0.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 1.18 |
| TR21DH06 | 0.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 2.07 |
| TR21DH08 | 0.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 0.98 |
| Hole | From (m) | To (m) | Mineralised Width (m) | Copper (%) | Gold (g/t Au) |
| TR21DH02 | 14.0 | 22.0 | 8.00 | 0.62 | 2.09 |
| TR21DH05 | 14.0 | 20.0 | 6.0 | 1.41 | 0.10 |
| TR21DH07 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 2.00 | 1.68 | 0.39 |
TARGETS
The company said that, in addition to the known, partially delineated dumps, tailings and ore stockpiles at Troulli, it was confident of gold oxide mineralisation and VMS copper-gold mineralisation from three separate and distinct targets.
These include residual ore in the former open pit, extensions to the former open pit and the recently intersected VMS zone underlying the oxide gold zone.
Tonnage derived from the oxide gold zone, which still has to be defined from further drilling, should also be added.
KOKKINAPETRA
Caerus said that the Kokkinapetra licence, located 1.5km from Troulli, hosts the same style of mineralisation and has returned rock chip and channel samples consistently above 1g/t gold.
Kokkinapetra has not been fully evaluated and offers scope for further oxide gold and VMS copper-gold discoveries.
Chief executive Martyn Churchouse said that the limits of oxide gold and VMS copper-gold mineralisation at Troulli and Kokkinapetra now had to be established.
“As a result, the company is well on the way to defining a resource that may meet the entry criteria for a joint venture project under the terms of the Jubilee Option agreement.”
The Troulli project, particularly the Troulli VMS copper deposit was discovered during Roman times as indicated by the ancient galleries and small remnant ‘slag’ piles on the licence.