Empire Metals to kick off next phase of work at Eclipse

Exploration and development company Empire Metals confirmed on Wednesday that the next phase of works at its Eclipse gold project, 55 kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia was now fully funded, and would begin “very soon”.

The AIM-traded firm said the reverse circulation drilling component of the phase of work was expected to start next week, followed by the diamond drilling in early April.

It said the diamond drilling would generate samples for further studies, including geotechnical logging and metallurgical testing.

Everything planned for the phase of work, including the reverse circulation drilling, resource modelling and pit optimisations, diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork, was fully funded, the board confirmed.

“We are very pleased to be able to start to execute this next phase of fully funded work at Eclipse within the next few days,” said Mike Struthers.

“We believe this phase will allow the company to map out the path to an initial open pit operation, along with improved definition of possible extensions to resources and the scope for additional future open pits and we look forward to providing more information on progress in due course.”

At 1552 GMT, shares in Eclipse Metals were down 7.08% at 2.79p.