Bluejay Mining plc (AIM:JAY) ('Bluejay' or the 'Company'), the AIM, FSE-listed and OTCQB traded exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland, is pleased to announce that it has commenced a diamond drilling programme (the 'Programme') at the Company's 100% owned Hammaslahti Copper-Zinc-Lead-Gold-Silver ('Cu-Zn-Pb-Au-Ag') Project ('Hammaslahti' or the 'Project') located approximately 35 kilometres ('km') southeast of the city of Joensuu in Eastern Finland.
Highlights
- The first phase of the Programme will consist of 1500-2000 metres ('m') of diamond core drilling focussed on the "E-lode" ('E-lode'), a high-grade Cu-Zn-Pb-Au-Ag ore lode discovered in 2014 by Bluejay's 100% owned subsidiary, FinnAust Mining Finland Oy. The E-lode is located approximately 200m east from underground infrastructure of the former Hammaslahti mine and is comparable in grade and style of mineralisation to the ore-lodes that were mined historically.
- A series of planned drill fences will test the up-plunge and up/down-dip extensions of the E-lode, whilst also providing infill drilling, with the purpose of delineating a maiden resource estimate for this target.
- The previously announced discovery hole at the E-lode (refer to FinnAust Mining RNS dated: 21 July 2014) returned:
- 8.65m grading 2.2% Cu, 2.0% Zn, 0.5 % Pb, 47.5 grams per tonne ('g/t') Ag, 0.5 g/t Au starting from 194.35m depth down-hole in semi-massive to massive sulphides hosted at the contact between strongly hydrothermally altered rocks and sulphidic black shales.
- including 5.60m @ 3.2% Cu, 3.2% Zn, 81.1 g/t Ag, 0.9 g/t Au.
- The historical Hammaslahti mine was operated by the Finnish state mining company, Outokumpu Oy from 1971 to 1986. The open-pit and underground Hammaslahti mine, also held by Bluejay, produced a total of 7 million tonnes grading 1.16% Cu, 1.55% Zn, 0.59 g/t Au and 5.2 g/t Ag.
- The polymetallic mineralisation at Hammaslahti is interpreted to be a partially re-mobilised volcanogenic massive sulphide ('VMS') type deposit. All known previously mined ore lodes at Hammaslahti (namely, the Z-, N- and S-lodes) remain open down plunge to the South.
Bluejay Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bo Møller Stensgaard, commented:
"The commencement of drilling at our Hammaslahti Project is aligned with the new strategy that we announced in a recent Strategic Review by Bluejay's Executive Chairman, Robert Edwards (see Bluejay RNS dated: 14 February 2023). It marks an important step towards a more balanced focus between our Finnish and Greenlandic assets and our intention to drive value creation across the entire Bluejay project portfolio. At modest expenditure we expect to be able to fast-track the near-mine exploration at Hammaslahti into a Mineral Resource Estimate for this brownfields site. The project benefits from excellent modern infrastructure, including high voltage power, heavy rail, and a double-lane paved highway adjacent to the former mine.
"Building a resource on the undeveloped E-lode only 200m east of the former Hammaslahti mine has the potential to support the redevelopment of the down-plunge continuations of the formerly mined Z, N and S-lodes. These lodes were only mined down to a maximum depth of 450m due to internal regulations on the maximum permitted depths for development that were imposed by the previous operator during the 1970/80's. The mined ore lodes were therefore left open at depth - this has been confirmed in later drilling by Bluejay. In a future mining scenario, the shallow E-lode could provide an access point for the underground development of the down-plunge parts of the historically mined ore-lodes which would add significantly to the commercial viability of any near-mine discoveries".
