The latest drill assays from Elementos’ Spanish tin project, Oropesa, intersected exceptionally high-grade tin zones for the project. The findings give Elementos further confidence that it can continue to upgrade its Resource at the project.

Elementos began a nine-hole infill drill program at Oropesa, the company’s flagship project, in June this year.

Results from two holes were previously released; the latest announcement contains assays from a further four. Holes ADD_30 and ADD_32, on the eastern side of the inferred resource, “showed some of the highest grade tin zones yet drilled across the project”. The former recorded 6m at 2.59% Sn, with the latter recording a thicker 17.5m @ 1.06% Sn. Not only are these intercepts much higher than the updated Mineral Resource grade of 0.4% Sn and the global average tin grade of 0.9% Sn, but both holes also reported notable intercepts of copper and zinc.

The other two holes included in this release, ADD_26 and ADD_27 were located to the west of the inferred resource. Similar grades to the previously drilled holes were reported, but – perhaps more importantly – mineralisation occurred in line with the existing geological model.

Three more drill holes remain in this campaign, all of which will target the south-east Inferred Resource zone. Once this work is completed, Elementos will began a new campaign to test possible extensions to the mineral resource, with the four targets identified based on recent work.

Our view: Ahead of its Definitive Feasibility Study for Oropesa (which it hopes to release next year), Elementos is aiming to upgrade as much of the Inferred Resources at the project as possible. Once in the Indicated category, this material is more likely to be converted into Ore Reserves. This is a key step for any junior miner, as these Reserves confirm economic viability.

Elementos will hope that pre-existing trends will continue: mineralization tends to increase in grade towards the south, while more recent drill holes have returned higher grades. This should allow Elementos to upgrade the Resources, which could potentially increase annual output or life of mine at Oropesa.

Elementos is a member of ITA’s Explorers and Developers Group.