East Star Resources discovers potential new copper and gold reserves in Kazakhstan
ASTANA. Feb 4 (Interfax) - East Star Resources Plc has made significant progress in its exploration efforts in Kazakhstan, uncovering potential new reserves of copper and gold, the company said in information posted on its website.
Drilling at the Verkhuba copper deposit in East Kazakhstan has identified mineralization beyond existing ore bodies, indicating additional copper deposits outside explored areas. Core samples have been sent for analysis, with results expected by the end of February 2025, the company said.
Satellite spectral data also revealed a large soil gold anomaly (4 km by 1 km) at the Snowy (Snezhny) site in the Balkhash-Ili volcanic belt, 230 km from the Kounrad mine, indicating "a significant epithermal gold target worthy of follow-up work."
"Recent exploration is delivering encouraging results across both our current work streams. Results at Verkhuba show we are advancing this already substantial copper asset, while refining other targets including Talovskoye for near-term drilling. At Snowy, the emergence of a large epithermal gold target bookended by old artisanal gold pits is undeniably exciting given the typically very large size of these deposits," East Star CEO Alex Walker was quoted as saying.
East Star Resources started the next phase of drilling at the Verkhuba deposit in the East Kazakhstan region at the beginning of November 2024.
East Star Resources is focused on the discovery and development of copper and other minerals. It holds eight licenses covering more than 1,000 square km in three mineral rich districts of Kazakhstan. East Star is undertaking an intensive exploration program, applying modern geophysics to discover minerals in levels that were not previously explored. East Star's most advanced project is the Verkhuba copper deposit on the Rudny Altai VMS Belt where the company delivered a JORC compliant inferred resource of 20.3Mt at 1.16% copper, 1.54% zinc and 0.27% lead close to infrastructure. Drilling in Q4 2023 confirmed high copper and zinc mineralization.
According to open source information, mineral exploration in the area of the village of Verkhuba in the Eastern Kazakhstan region was carried out in the second half of the 20th century. An open pit was later closed.
In 2021, East Star Resources acquired 100% of Discovery Ventures Kazakhstan Limited (DVK), a private Kazakh company involved in gold and base metals exploration in the Chu-Ili and Rudny Altai regions.