Alien Metals unveils plans at Donovan project

Alien Metals (UFO FOLLOW) unveiled that since its earn-in agreement with Capstone Mining Corp (TSX:CS) over its Donovan Copper-Gold project in Mexico, Capstone has completed its initial 2020 obligation of exploration expenditures and will advance to the next phase of the agreement.

2020 Obligations

Capstone conducted a detailed close spaced surface Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical survey across the majority of the tenement to both add infill detail to the northern anomaly already defined by Alien and as an extension to historic geophysical work undertaken.

Figure 1: Location of Donovan 2 Project, Zacatecas Region, Mexico in relation to Capstone Mining’s Cozamin Mine and the San Nicolas VMS deposit (Source: Alien Metals)

The IP survey was completed for 27.3-line kms and the data capture took 24 days. The work saw no reportable safety or environmental incidents and Capstone, as agreed, kept Alien updated on every step of the work with the Alien team offering support as required.

Figure 2: Donovan 2 provisional resistivity 2D inversion sections in a 3D view looking north, Capstone, January 2021 (Source: Alien Metals)

The IP survey results confirm and extend the anomalies that Alien had identified in the north and east-central areas of the claim block. Additional new features are also observed along the western and southern limits of the claim block. The original drill plan designed by Alien is subject to change upon Capstone’s review of the finalised geophysical data.

Donovan 2 provisional chargeability 2D inversion sections in a 3D view looking north, Capstone, January 2021 (Source: Alien Metals)

The minerals exploration and development company said Capstone completed this work in December 2020 and that final reporting and interpretation is currently being completed.

Plans for 2021

Capstone said it has planned an initial 2,500m drilling program as part of their required $0.45m expenditure commitment for 2021 as part of the earn-in. Drill locations are not finalised until the final IP report is received, but provisional planning is already underway.

Commenting on the plans, Bill Brodie Good, Chief Executive & Technical Director of Alien Metals said the company is “extremely encouraged by the speed of progress by the excellent Capstone technical team to push ahead quickly on exploration of the project.”

“Capstone considered that commissioning a more detailed ground IP survey to compliment historic work done by Alien while awaiting the necessary drill permitting would refine or reaffirm the existing drill targets,” he commented.

Brodie Good noted that Capstone have been managing the main elements of the program while Alien provide “the necessary early stage on the ground support and help as required.” 

He added that, “Alien has managed to get the previous drilling permit granted on Donovan 2 (Figure 1) at the end of 2020 and with Capstone now ready to move into the next phase of the earn-in agreement drilling can finally start to fully test this exciting project.”

Shares in Alien Metals have increased by over 450% since the beginning of August 2020 and investors will be pleased to hear Capstone have completed their obligations in 2020 under the earn-in agreement. Whilst the final reporting and interpretation of the results are currently being carried out, it is particularly encouraging that Capstone have already announced their US$.45m commitment to drilling in 2021.

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Reasons to Follow UFO

UFO’s portfolio of exploration stage assets includes volcanogenic massive sulphide style mineralisation (copper, zinc and lead), high-grade silver projects in Mexico and a 51% interest in two highly prospective iron ore projects in the Pilbara region in Australia. 

The company said its portfolio may be expanded to include other minerals such as iron ore and lithium, and jurisdictions within Africa and Asia where its management has demonstrable expertise advancing assets in line with international reporting standards. 

Expanding License Areas

In recent weeks, the company was granted a 208 km2 exploration licence by Ironbark Zinc surrounding the Citronen zinc-lead project, a high-grade metal project located in northern Greenland which is believed to be one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc-lead projects.

The minerals exploration and development company said the project holds a JORC resource of 131.1m tonnes @ 4.5% zinc and lead for 13bn pounds of contained zinc and lead metal.

The licence is valid until 31 December 2023 and continues UFO’s strategy of identifying counter-cyclical opportunities in first class mining jurisdictions with ‘excellent upside potential.’ 

Location of Ironbark Zinc Ltd Citronen zinc-lead deposit and permit area, Greenland 

"The Company and its advisers continue to assess new projects and identified an opportunity to secure an exploration footprint in northern Greenland on strike and adjacent to the world class undeveloped Citronen zinc-lead project,” said CEO, Bill Brodie Good.

IBK believes the projects offer an attractive entry into one of the world's premier silver belts and will soon start marketing them to a range of potential investors and project partners.

UFO said it will continue its efforts in exploring and developing the projects and simultaneously consider third party funding options to develop and mine the projects.

In other recent news, the company has also recently completed a detailed geological mapping and sampling programme at the Hamersley iron ore projects in Australia with field observations indicating that two of its prospects may be part of the same larger system.

The two projects, which have demonstrated “great potential” are located in the Hamersley Province which is known as one of the premier iron ore producing regions of the world. 

Preliminary handheld XRF results are consistent with those observed in the 2019 field programme, with reported ranges of between 40% and 70% iron.  

Alien Metals has now commenced preparing a Program of Works ("POW") for submission ahead of drilling.

Meanwhile, North American advisor firm IBK Capital has commenced the marketing process for the Company's San Celso and Los Campos silver projects which are located in Mexico. 

The process for the silver projects follows the successful earn-in transaction with Capstone Mining announced earlier in October 2020 regarding UFO’s Donovan 2 copper-gold project.

Location of Ironbark Zinc Ltd Citronen zinc-lead deposit and permit area, Greenland. 

Complementary Acquisitions 

Alien Metals has executed an acquisition-led strategy headed by a high-quality geological team to build a strong portfolio of diversified assets including two recent acquisitions in 2019. 

These include the Brockman and Hancock Ranges high-grade iron ore projects and the Elizabeth Hill Silver projects both located in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.

In addition to progressing its portfolio of assets and following its strategic review of its portfolio of silver and precious metals projects in Mexico, Alien Metals has identified priority exploration targets within its 9 mining concessions which it is working to advance systematically.

The Company’s silver projects are located in the Zacatecas State, Mexico’s largest silver producing state which produced over 190m oz of silver in 2018 alone accounting for 45% of the total silver production of Mexico for that year.