Talisman Metals PLC has awarded a 3,000-metre drilling contract for its Tirzzit copper-silver project in Morocco, with work due to start in early September. The London-listed company said that Geosond Maroc SARL would carry out the reverse circulation drilling programme, which is expected to last about six weeks.
The drilling will target the basal series, a mineralised horizon that Talisman says extends for at least 4km. The company plans to use step-out holes to test whether the mineralisation continues beyond the areas identified so far.
Talisman expects to publish the first assay results towards the end of the drilling campaign, with further results to follow in the following weeks.
The programme follows three reconnaissance campaigns announced in May, July and August. In the latest results, six of seven trenches sampled over 300 metres returned copper grades above the company’s 0.3% cut-off.
The grades ranged from 0.60% to 2.62% copper, with true widths of between 0.90 and 2.78 metres.
Two samples recorded the highest grades. Sample TZ-CH009 returned 1.69 metres at 2.62% copper and 41.54 parts per million silver, while TZ-CH014 returned 2.78 metres at 2.16% copper and 41.76 parts per million silver.
Talisman chief executive Tim McCutcheon described the results as outlining “a vast area of interest” across a target horizon of at least 4km.
Earlier work in May covered seven channel samples across about 700 metres. The company reported a weighted average intersection of 1.25 metres at 1.21% copper and 12.25 parts per million silver.
One sample, TZ-CH001, returned 2.65 metres at 1.71% copper and 22.25 parts per million silver.
Reconnaissance work announced in July also identified a mineralised outcrop containing malachite about 2km east of historic drill hole TT6. McCutcheon said the project showed “scale potential previously unknown”.
Historic drilling between 1972 and 1976 recorded intersections including 2.5 metres at 3.16% copper and 11.4 metres at 0.60% copper, according to archives from Morocco’s Bureau de Recherches et de Participations Minières.
Talisman has said these historical results need to be verified under modern resource standards.
Tirzzit is located about 225km east of Agadir in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas region. The project covers 16.5 sq km across two exploration permits and hosts a sediment-hosted stratiform copper-silver system.
Talisman agreed in February to acquire the permits from an Aya Gold & Silver subsidiary for MAD 200,000 ($20,000). Aya, which owns 4.7% of Talisman, remains involved in the administrative transfer of the permits.
