Cornish Metals plc (AIM: TIN) has reported positive assay results from the first drill hole of its ongoing Roskear surface drilling programme at the South Crofty tin project in Cornwall.
The programme comprises around 2,400 metres of diamond drilling designed to test extensions to known mineralisation and assess priority exploration targets identified through historic drilling and more recent geological interpretation.
The first drill hole, SDD26_001A, was completed to a final depth of 1,199.1 metres and returned tin mineralisation across multiple intercepts.
High-grade results included 0.79 metres grading 4.18% tin at Roskear 1 South and 0.30 metres at 2.20% tin at Roskear 3 North.
A broader 12.41-metre zone grading 0.43% tin was also intersected in the Roskear Numbered Zone, including 1.90 metres at 1.32% tin.
Other notable results included 0.46 metres at 1.49% tin from a previously unmodelled lode and 0.72 metres at 1.12% tin from another unknown lode located just below the planned ramp.
Cornish Metals said several of the reported intercepts, including two previously unrecorded lodes and structures within the Roskear Numbered Zone, lie outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate.
The company believes this highlights potential for further resource growth to the west, subject to additional drilling.
Lauren Beveridge, chief geologist at South Crofty, said the results were very encouraging and that the drill hole had successfully intersected each of the targeted lodes at grades and positions consistent with the company’s geological interpretation.
She added that the results provide further confidence in historical sample data and underground survey information.
Beveridge said the fact that several intercepts lie outside the current resource estimate strengthens the case for further exploration at Roskear and supports the potential for future resource replacement across South Crofty, which could help extend the mine life.
The company said mineralisation was encountered throughout the granite section of the drill hole and remains open to the west.
A second drill hole, SDD26_002, is currently being drilled approximately 100 metres west of SDD26_001A and is around halfway to its planned final depth.
The hole is designed to test the same mineralised structures further west, with assay results to be reported once received from ALS Laboratories in Ireland.
Cornish Metals is advancing the fully permitted South Crofty tin project towards production. The company says South Crofty hosts the highest-grade known tin Mineral Resource currently not in production and has an initial planned mine life of 14 years.
The project is expected to produce around 4,700 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate annually during its first five years of full production and could become the first primary tin producer in Europe or North America.
The reported drill intercepts are downhole lengths and true widths have not yet been calculated.
