ASX

11 April 2022

Announcement

Material upgrade in Steam Engine Resource to 196,000 oz Au with 80.6% increase to Measured and Indicated categories

KEY POINTS:

  • 2021 resource drilling program results in a material upgrade to the Steam Engine Mineral Resource (JORC, 2012):

    Lower Grade Owner Operated Processing Plant Model (lower cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au)1

    • 60.7% increase in total Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource to:

      4.18 Mt @ 1.5 g/t Au for 196,000 oz Au

    • 80.6% increase in total Measured and Indicated Resource to: 2.22 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 121,000 oz Au

    High Grade Toll Treatment Model (higher cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t Au)2

    • 40.2% increase in the total Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource to: 2.72 Mt @ 2.0 g/t Au for 171,000 oz Au

    • 65.7% increase in total Measured and Indicated Resources to: 1.61 Mt @ 2.2 g/t Au for 111,000 oz Au

  • Resource envelope developed to shallow depths along 1.3 kms of lode strike: at least 14 kms of additional lode potential identified by recent studies

  • 2022 drilling programs to target Resource expansion

Superior Resources Limited (ASX:SPQ)(Superior, the Company) is pleased to announce a substantial Mineral Resource upgrade for its 100%-owned Steam Engine Gold Project, located 210kms west of Townsville, Queensland (Figure 1). On an owner-operated processing plant basis, incorporating lower grade ore than considered under a toll treatment model, the Mineral Resource stands at 4.18 million tonnes @ 1.5 g/t Au for a total of 196,000 ounces Au, representing a 60.7% increase in total Resources and an 80.6% increase in the total Measured and Indicated categories (JORC, 2012). The revised Mineral Resource reflects the highly positive effect of infill and expansion drilling completed during 2021, focussed mainly on the Steam Engine Lode. Conversion of lower confidence Resources to Indicated and Measured was the primary objective of the 2021 program.

The Company recently reported3 significant upside potential for the project, expanding the total additional lode potential to over 14 kilometres in areas surrounding the known lodes and within a 6 km corridor between Steam Engine and the Bottletree Prospect. Considering that the upgraded Resource has been developed over only 1.3 kilometres of lode strike, the Company will focus on aggressively drilling the lode extension zones during 2022.

  • 1 Comparison is made at a lower block grade cut-off of 0.25 g/t Au compared to the previous (March 2021) Mineral Resource Estimate, which applied a block grade cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au.

  • 2 Comparison is made at a higher block grade cut-off of 1.0 g/t Au compared to the previous (March 2021) Mineral Resource Estimate, which applied a block grade cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au.

  • 3 Refer ASX announcement "Rock chip assays up to 65.9 g/t Au and mapping at new Windmill East/Origin Prospects confirm expanded, very large-scale gold potential for Steam Engine Project", dated 18 January 2022.

Superior's Managing Director, Peter Hwang, said:

"This latest upgrade is a significant outcome, considering that the 2021 drilling comprised predominantly infill holes. The Resource has more than doubled since we started resource definition drilling in mid-2020, when it stood at 94,000 ounces. The robust and continual growth of the Resource has prompted us to undertake high-level conceptual mining studies as part of a pre-feasibility and strategy development process.

"The updated Resource relates to 1.3 kilometres of lode strike. Recent mapping, soil geochemistry and ground magnetics have identified at least another 14 kilometres of additional strike potential with mineralised lode cropping out at surface in several places.

"Together with the continued Resource expansion at the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge lodes, we will shortly commence an aggressive program to drill out potential lode extensions in the newly identified areas.

"As demonstrated over the course of 2021, Steam Engine shows significant deposit potential and the options that are opening up for us in terms of its development sit well in supporting the advancement of several additional porphyry copper and nickel-copper-PGE prospects that we aim to bring on-line this year. In addition to technical and planning work on Bottletree, a substantial amount of geological and preparatory work is being undertaken to establish drill programs on three other porphyry prospects that are showing enormous potential. These are Cockie Creek, Galah Dam and Wyandotte.

"We are fully funded to make significant advances this year on several high potential prospects across our expanded Greenvale Project. We look forward to releasing full details of the programs in due course."

Figure 1. Map showing the locations of the Greenvale Project tenements and select Greenvale Prospects. The Steam Engine Project, Gregory Highway, Kidston Clean Energy Hub and associated power corridor infrastructure are also indicated.

Mineral Resource Upgrade

The updated JORC, 2012-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Steam Engine Gold Project (Project) incorporates data from all reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond drill holes completed by Superior during 2020 and 2021, including data from historic RC holes. The total drilling comprises 314 holes for 22,733 metres, with the Steam Engine Lode accounting for 16,182 metres and the Eastern Ridge Lode, 3,983 metres.

The estimation process considered two scenario models, requiring the modelling of two separate MREs:

  • 1. High Grade Model - Toll treatment model; and

  • 2. Low Grade Model - Owner operated processing plant model.

The two scenarios were selected on the basis of preliminary studies indicating that lode intersections of 1.0 g/t gold and above would likely be viable for a toll treatment operation and that lode intersections of 0.3 g/t gold and above would likely be viable for a SPQ owned and operated processing plant operation. The low-grade model would only be viable if a sufficient amount of additional open-pit ounces can be defined from further drilling. The purpose for assessing the two scenarios was to assist in determining the most beneficial development pathway for the Project. A project strategy study that is examining a range of scenarios, including Mineral Resource targets for the low-grade model, is currently in progress.

The upgraded JORC, 2012 Measured, Indicated and Inferred MREs total (Table 1):

  • 4.18 Mt @ 1.5 g/t Au for 196,000 oz Au (Low Grade Model; 0.25 g/t Au cut-off); and

  • 2.72 Mt @ 2.0 g/t Au for 171,000 oz Au (High Grade Model; 1.0 g/t Au cut-off).

Table 1. Steam Engine Gold Project updated JORC, 2012 Mineral Resource Estimates

Model

Classification

Tonnes

Grade (g/t Au)

Ounces

(Au)

OWNER OPERATOR MODEL

(0.25 g/t Au block grade cut-off)

MEASURED

800,000

2.1

53,000

INDICATED

1,420,000

1.5

68,000

INFERRED

1,960,000

1.2

75,000

TOTAL

4,180,000

1.5

196,000

TOLL TREATMENT MODEL

(1.0 g/t Au block grade cut-off)

MEASURED

590,000

2.6

49,000

INDICATED

1,020,000

1.9

62,000

INFERRED

1,110,000

1.7

60,000

TOTAL

2,720,000

2.0

171,000

Compared to the March 2021 MRE, the upgraded MRE represents an 80.6% increase in total Measured and Indicated Resources under the low-grade model and a 65.7% increase in total Measured and Indicated Resources under the high-grade model (Figure 2).

The Resource estimations were conducted using inverse distance-weighted block modelling of the gold mineralisation zones.

Grade top-cutting of greater than 50% was applied to three multi-ounce per tonne intersections (135 g/t Au, 184 g/t Au and 115.2 g/t Au) for the purpose of normalising the very high grade intersection values to 60 g/t Au. These very high-grade ounce per tonne assays suggest a new high-grade population that is likely to indicate the existence of high grade gold shoots within the mineralisation zone.

Figure 2. Chart showing growth of total contained Au metal from Resource Estimations of the Steam Engine Gold Project.

Figure 3. Oblique 3D view (from above GL) of the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge lode high-grade block models (1.0 g/t Au cut-off) viewed towards grid south easterly showing block grade categories.

Figure 4. Oblique 3D view (from above GL) of the Steam Engine and Eastern Ridge lode high-grade block models (1.0 g/t Au cut-off) looking towards grid south easterly showing JORC, 2012 Measured, Indicated and Inferred confidence categories.

Figure 5. Aerial view of the Steam Engine Gold Project 2021 Resource drilling program, looking south east.

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Superior Resources Limited published this content on 10 April 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 10 April 2022 23:28:02 UTC.