Meryllion Signs Option Agreement in Mt Turner Copper-Molybdenum with Essex Minerals

Meryllion Resources Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement with Essex Minerals Inc. for an arm's length option and revenue joint venture on the Mt Turner copper-molybdenum and Drummer Fault gold projects in northern Queensland, Australia.

“Copper is expected to play a key role in the electrification of the global economy and the transition to green energy," said Paul Loudon, president, and CEO of Essex Minerals. “A separate report by Goldman Sachs last year noted that worldwide demand for copper solely for the transition to green energy will increase from less than 1 million tonnes in 2020 to approximately 5.4 million tonnes in 2030 (16 percent of total global copper demand)."

Richard Revelins, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Meryllion, said, "Initial exploration conducted by Essex has demonstrated the potential for a large copper-molybdenum (silver and gold-bearing) deposit at Mt Turner and Meryllion is very pleased to have reached this option agreement with Essex. The Mt Turner Copper-Molybdenum and Drummer Fault projects represent new exploration opportunities for the Company following the completion of its 2021 restructuring and recent capital raising."

In addition to the exploration program, Meryllion will pay Essex a $25,000 option and $75,000 to exercise the option. The Turner Mountain property is located to the west of the Georgetown property, which forms the bulk of the declared Etheridge gold property. It consists of differently metamorphosed and deformed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Paleozoic to Mesozoic age, intruded by Mesozoic granites.

The Proterozoic rocks were intruded by granites of the Siluro-Devonian age during a period of subduction and subsidence that is thought to have occurred during the Tabberabberan cycle of Tasman genesis (ca. 430-380 Ma).

The property was initially examined by geologists from the Australian Government's Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience Australia) and the Queensland Geological Survey during the 1975 field season, following the discovery of extensive hydrothermal alteration around Mount Turner.

In a subsequent report, the intrusive complex was described as a porphyry copper-molybdenum system with zoned polymetallic mineralization. The report was based on 11 widely distributed shallow vertical drill holes at depths less than 100 m and four diamond drill holes, only one of which was located near the center of the intrusive complex.

A portion of Mt Turner Copper-Molybdenum was held by Kidston Gold Mines from 1994-1998 for gold only, then by Mega Uranium from 2006-2007 for uranium. The porphyry copper-molybdenum potential discovered in the 1970s was not followed up until 2019 when KNX Resources Limited (an Australian exploration company, now 100% owned by Essex) developed on the land.

A regional airborne magnetic survey was conducted at Mega Uranium in 2006-7, also covering Turner Mountain (100 m flight line.) The data were reprocessed by Essex's geophysical consultants, yielding a series of magnetic highs (interpreted to be associated with potassic alteration) flanking the magnetic lows. Anomalous copper soil geochemistry closely follows the magnetic highs. Depth slices show that the magnetic highs follow a ring to a depth of over 800 meters.

In 1977, the Queensland Government drilled a 295 metre hole (NS4) on the periphery of the porphyry target area, which eventually intersected near ore grade mineralization with 0.187% copper, 0.075% molybdenum on an assayed 2 meter section.

The core from this hole was re-recorded by Essex Minerals and shows multi-lithologic intrusive debris in breccia at depth, which also indicates a multi-phase intrusive and mineralized history. The next phase of exploration will involve detailed ground geophysics to define targets prior to the initial drilling program.

The Drummer Fault is a 14 km long east-west structure that is readily visible on LiDAR and satellite imagery of the Mt Turner Copper-Molybdenum site. The fault has been active throughout geological time, displacing Proterozoic granites and gneisses and being disrupted by Carboniferous feldspars and magmas associated with the North Queensland Kennedy Igneous Association (genetically related to major gold mines in North Queensland).

The structure is influenced by the Turner Mountain multiphase intrusive porphyry copper system 1.4 km south of the Drummer Fault. A number of shallow oxide pits were mined in the 1980's. The northeast-trending structures intersect the Drummer Fault in numerous places and these structures may form higher grade mineralization locally or as yet undiscovered mineralized subsidiary oblique faults.

In 2021, Essex drilled six widely spaced diamond and remote-controlled drill holes below two pits at the eastern end of the Drummer Fault, confirming lower level gold mineralization below shallow oxide pits.

The western 5 km of the structure appears to be dominated by uranium mineralization in the form of tuffs associated with apatite and sulfides (mainly pyrite) and magma in the steeply dipping magma to the west.

Meryllion Resources is a junior exploration company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The company underwent a corporate restructuring and financing in early 2021. Since that time, the company has been investigating a number of exploration opportunities with drillable targets.

In July 2021, the Company announced an option agreement for the Oldham Range copper, nickel, cobalt, PGE, and zinc project located 320 km west of Wiluna, Western Australia. The technical survey was successfully completed in December last year. The option has been extended to December 2022. the Mt Turner Copper-Molybdenum and Drummer Fault projects provide Meryllion with additional new and promising opportunities to expand its exploration portfolio. Essex Minerals is an exploration and development company focused on mineral exploration and mine development and financing opportunities.

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