Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (NYSE American: IE; TSX: IE) and the Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma’aden (Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul: 1211) have achieved significant results from their joint venture in Saudi Arabia. The initial drill program focused on the Umm Ad Dabah prospect, near Ma’aden’s existing Al Amar gold-copper-zinc mine, and utilized Ivanhoe Electric’s advanced TyphoonTM geophysical surveying systems and Computational Geosciences Inc.’s industry-leading inversion software.
The joint venture's first TyphoonTM survey covered 76 square kilometers near Ma’aden’s Al Amar mine, and subsequent surveys covered an additional 162 square kilometers. The results demonstrated the rapid and successful application of the TyphoonTM and CGI technologies, allowing for large-scale and deep-penetrating geophysical surveys.
Exploration drilling at the Umm Ad Dabah prospect resulted in intersecting copper mineralization in three holes to a depth beyond 700 meters. Notably, hole UAD-005 intersected 13.1 meters at 1.31% copper and 4.5 grams per tonne of silver, while hole UAD-006 intersected 5.9 meters at 0.79% copper and 1.9 grams per tonne of silver. The mineralization was found as semi-massive to massive accumulations of precious metal-bearing iron and copper sulfides hosted in altered volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks.
Looking ahead, the joint venture will focus on the Al Amar district, Wadi Bidah, and Bir Umq license areas, with continued exploration activities guided by ongoing TyphoonTM surveys.
The joint venture is utilizing a comprehensive industry-standard quality assurance/quality control program, with all samples analyzed by ALS Minerals Laboratory in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025.
Following these announcements, the company's shares moved -5.0%, and are now trading at a price of $6.52. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.
