CHARLESTOWN, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Jan. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IG ASIA LLC ("IG Asia” or the "Company”), a private Nevis based company, is pleased to announce encouraging exploration results from an initial reconnaissance drilling program within two out of three prospective areas identified thus far within the greater Pribrezhniy project license area, a cluster porphyry copper system, and outside of the known "Pribrezhniy Copper Deposit”, in the Republic of Kazakhstan. These include the Prikounradskiy II prospect area, located 15-20km NW from Pribrezhniy's large Cu/Mo porphyry system, and Yuzhnaya Ploschad Prospect located approximately 10km WNW of Prikounradskiy II and 5-10km east of the Kounrad Cu/Au/Mo Mine (mined out) that contained a pre-mining reserve of 800Mt @ 0.62% Cu (Fig.1). The initial recon drilling results at two of three identified targets within the Pribrezhniy Project License are highly encouraging and attest to the fertility of the 40km long Kounrad-Pribrezhniy NW-SE trend ("KP Trend”) and the opportunity to discover new concealed Cu/Mo/Au porphyry systems within our 75% owned Pribrezhniy Project License.
Figure 1: Prospective areas locations within Kounrad-Pribrezhniy trend. The Pribrezhniy Project License area is shown in red.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- In October 2024 IG Asia acquired a 75% majority interest in the Balkhash-Saryshagan Partnership ("The Pribrezhniy Project” or "Project”) from Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited. The Project is located in the most prolific porphyry mineral belt in the Republic of Kazakhstan containing several large copper, gold and molybdenum porphyry deposits such as Aktogay (2.2Bt @ 0.37% Cu), Aidarly (>1.5Bt @ 0.38% Cu), Kounrad (800Mt @ 0.62% Cu), and Koksay (736Mt @ 0.42% CuEq). (Fig. 2).
- The Project license area (Fig. 1) covers 754 km2 of exploration ground with the exploration stage of the license being valid until February 2029. During the Exploration Phase of the license, IGA working in concert with our JV Partner will produce a feasibility study on the currently defined resources on the large Pribrezhniy Cu/Mo Porphyry system while concurrently advancing four additional prospects within the JV, three within the Pribrezhniy Project License area named "NE Kounrad”, "Prikounradskiy II”, "Yuzhnaya Ploschad” and the 67 sq.km "Shabigon” License area, located 120 km to the West from the Pribrezhniy License area. The Shabigon Prospect represents an additional Cu porphyry prospect (Fig 1,2). These four areas were outlined as prospective for the occurrence of porphyry copper deposits during Soviet exploration programs conducted in the 1950s and 1970s. Most porphyry-type occurrences have been poorly studied through sparse drilling to depths of 200-300 meters or have only been studied at the surface by soil sampling, trenching, and shallow map drilling through post mineralisation alluvial cover that is locally up to 70 meters deep.
- The Project area hosts the Pribrezhniy Cu/Mo porphyry system with a currently defined mineral inventory of 1.38Bt @ 0.37% CuEq (See previous May 1, 2024 press release (Link to release)). The geology of Pribrezhniy comprises typical A, B, and D veins in a porphyry system, encompassing high grade (~0.7% Cu) breccia zones and alteration hosted by monzogranite porphyry and tonalite. The alluvial cover at the Pribrezhniy Deposit is up to 70m thick resulting in a "blind” mineral system, which limits the utility of surface geochemical prospecting.
- The Pribrezhniy Deposit is located at the eastern end of the Kounrad group of copper + Mo +/- Au deposits and boasts excellent mining infrastructure with access to power, water, a dual line railway and an existing smelter and processing plant (with excess capacity) (Fig. 3).
Figure 3: Infrastructure in the district
EXPLORATION HIGHLIGHTS
- The Oct-Dec 2024 exploration drilling program focused on evaluating the potential for additional copper-molybdenum +/- gold porphyry systems within the Pribrezhniy Project License. The program involved drilling twelve holes, totalling 2,424.4 meters, to test two historical prospective target areas within the Pribrezhniy-Kounrad porphyry Cu/Mo/Au trend, "Prikounradskiy II” and "Yuzhnaya Ploschad” (Table 1). Results from the drilling indicate the presence of Cu/Mo +/-Au mineralization, grading ≥0.1% Cu across 9 out of 12 widely spaced drill holes. Notably, several higher-grade intersections were identified, providing strong support for further exploration programs to define the intersected mineralization and to discover other additional mineral systems. These findings indicate an excellent opportunity exists for expanding the already identified resources within the Pribrezhniy Project License.
- Drilling confirmed historic copper mineralization discovered during Soviet exploration programs and identified a new previously unknown mineralized zone at "Yuzhnaya Ploschad” (YP).
- Initial recon results indicate low-to medium grade copper zones (>0.1% Cu to 0.35% Cu) extending for significant (up to 200m) intervals, associated with disseminated Cu oxides at shallow depths that are underlain by Cu sulfides within hydrothermally altered rock and the existence of higher grade zones (>1% Cu) such as the 50m (not true width) interval at the Yuzhnaya Ploschad prospect.
| HOLE_ID | Azimuth | Dip | Depth, m |
| PKN2401 | 0 | 90 | 214.3 |
| PKN2402 | 0 | 75 | 202.1 |
| PKN2403 | 0 | 90 | 156.5 |
| PKN2404 | 0 | 75 | 265.1 |
| PKN2405 | 0 | 75 | 247.1 |
| PKN2406 | 0 | 75 | 295.1 |
| PKN2407 | 0 | 75 | 126.4 |
| PKN2408 | 0 | 75 | 166.1 |
| UPL2401 | 320 | 70 | 166 |
| UPL2402 | 320 | 70 | 202 |
| UPL2403 | 320 | 70 | 300 |
| UPL2404 | 35 | 70 | 83.7 |
| Total | 2424.4 | ||
- Significant intercepts include:
- Hole UPL2402: 1.01% Cu over a 50 m interval (1.16% CuEq), including 15m @ 2.62% Cu, 317ppm Mo & 0.25ppm Au (3.03% CuEq)
- Hole PKN2405: 0.26% Cu over the entire core 181.9 m interval (0.31% CuEq), including 62m @ 0.34% Cu (0.4% CuEq)
- The total length of mineralized intercepts with grades exceeding 0.2% CuEq in 7 out of 12 drilled holes in QIV 2024 was 559 meters, averaging 0.3% CuEq (Table 2). Only three of the twelve first pass recon holes, PKN2401, PKN2407 and UPL2404 did not intercept significant copper mineralization.
| Drillhole N° | Entire hole, excluding overburden | Lithology | Alteration | Min Type | ||||||
| From | To | Interval | Cu, % | Mo, % | Au, ppm | *CuEq, % | ||||
| PKN2402 | 64 | 202.1 | 138.1 | 0.14 | 0.0131 | N/A | 0.21 | |||
| Including | 66.9 | 83 | 16.1 | 0.22 | 0.0001 | N/A | 0.22 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Oxide |
| 83 | 101 | 18 | 0.16 | 0.0162 | N/A | 0.25 | Sulphide | |||
| PKN2403 | 58.3 | 156.5 | 98.2 | 0.10 | 0.0040 | N/A | 0.12 | |||
| Including | 93.5 | 125 | 31.5 | 0.17 | 0.0082 | N/A | 0.21 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Sulphide |
| PKN2404 | 47.1 | 265.1 | 218 | 0.11 | 0.0101 | N/A | 0.16 | |||
| Including | 91 | 123 | 32 | 0.19 | 0.0090 | N/A | 0.24 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Sulphide |
| PKN2405 | 65.2 | 247.1 | 181.9 | 0.26 | 0.0100 | N/A | 0.31 | |||
| Including | 158 | 220 | 62 | 0.34 | 0.0119 | N/A | 0.40 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Sulphide |
| PKN2406 | 60 | 295.1 | 235.1 | 0.14 | 0.0073 | N/A | 0.18 | |||
| Including | 78 | 96 | 18 | 0.23 | 0.0008 | N/A | 0.23 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Sulphide |
| PKN2408 | 46.4 | 166.1 | 119.7 | 0.09 | 0.0076 | N/A | 0.13 | |||
| Including | 130 | 150 | 20 | 0.18 | 0.0149 | N/A | 0.26 | Granodiorite porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite±illite | Sulphide |
| UPL2401 | 0 | 166 | 166 | 0.14 | 0.0074 | N/A | 0.18 | |||
| Including | 70 | 157.2 | 87.2 | 0.18 | 0.0109 | N/A | 0.24 | Breccia Intrusive | Hornfels (biotite-chlorite-magnetite) | Sulphide |
| UPL2402 | 0 | 202 | 202 | 0.32 | 0.0074 | N/A | 0.36 | |||
| Including | 0 | 13 | 13 | 0.59 | 0.0027 | N/A | 0.60 | Quartz Diorite Porphyry | Biotite-chlorite±sericite | Oxide |
| 13 | 32 | 19 | 1.17 | 0.0178 | 0.104 | 1.36 |
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