Lodestar Minerals’ drilling results strengthen IOCG model at Three Saints

• Assays confirm IOCG-style deposit model at Three Saints in Chile
• Copper-sulphides linked to magnetite bearing mineralisation
• Anomalous copper and cobalt values provide significant vector for ongoing exploration
• Los Loros drilling postponed due to current El Nino weather conditions

Lodestar Minerals (ASX: LSR) has received positive final assay results for the second diamond drill hole at the Three Saints IOCG project in the Atacama region in Chile.

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The geochemical response observed in hole L3SDD004, which was completed to a final depth of 611.10m, coincides with zones of sulphide mineralisation and hydrothermal alteration identified by geological logging.

CEO, Coraline Blaud, said these mineralisation and alteration relationships are consistent with the regional geological setting and with alteration styles recognised in IOCG systems elsewhere in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera IOCG belt.

Ms Blaud said importantly, L3SDD004 provides additional geological and geochemical information beneath the project’s extensive cover, increasing confidence in the interpretation of the concealed hydrothermal system and providing new vectors for the next phase of exploration.

“The Three Saints drilling program has delivered an encouraging geological outcome, identifying a previously untested, concealed IOCG-style hydrothermal system. The first two drill holes confirmed copper-gold mineralisation and a strong alteration assemblage consistent with an IOCG system,” she said.

“Importantly, the second hole intersected skarn alteration accompanied by cobalt mineralisation, providing an important geological vector towards potentially more favourable host rocks. This is an exciting development, and we now have a clearer understanding of the system and the geological controls that will help guide the next phase of exploration at Three Saints.”

The assays received from hole L3SDD004 confirm the sulphide mineralisation identified during geological logging, with several copper-bearing intervals identified throughout the hole.

Mineralised intersections in L3SDD004 comprise 4.30m at 0.12% copper equivalent (CuEq) from 333m, including 1.42m at 0.25% CuEq from 333m; 14.82m at 0.10% CuEq from 404.40m, including 1.0m at 0.43% CuEq from 407.0m.

With assay results now integrated with the geological logging the next phase of work will focus on reprocessing, reinterpreting and calibrating the existing geophysical datasets using the newly defined alteration and mineralisation signatures as geological constraints.

Meanwhile, the Los Loros drilling program has been delayed following the severe El Nino weather events that recently affected Chile’s northern regions.

LSR was steady at 0.9¢  with a Mkt cap of $13.10M prior to markets opening.

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