THE COUFLENS PROJECT
The Couflens Project comprises an exploration licence that covers 42km2 in the Pyrenees region and includes the historic Salau mine, which was one of the world’s highest grade tungsten mines when it operated from 1971 to 1986. In addition to tungsten, the project contains significant gold values up to 24.5g/t Au in rock chips at surface.
Highlights:
- Salau is a historical high-grade tungsten mine recorded to have produced approximately 930,000 tonnes at 1.5% WO3 for around 13,950 tonnes of WO3 in concentrate prior to closure, with production grades of up to 2.5% WO3 in the mine’s latter years.
- Significant gold grades demonstrated and associated with tungsten mineralisation, with results of up to 8.9g/t Au in tailings samples, 8.5m @ 3.4g/t Au and 2% WO3 in partially sampled historical core and 8m @ 9.5g/t Au and 2.4% WO3 in channel samples deeper in the mine being recorded.
- Rock chip samples confirmed the presence of widespread high grade tungsten mineralisation at surface, with grades up to 8.25% WO3.
- Deposit remains open at depth, with previous drilling below the base of the existing underground development that confirmed the continuation of the mineralised system.
- Potential exists for shear hosted gold mineralisation to be associated with large regional fault structures extending along a 5km corridor to the west of Salau, with the presence of gold confirmed down to depths of 600m, highlighting significant scale opportunity.
- Couflens combines opportunities for the potential reactivation of the high grade Salau tungsten mine coupled with significant untapped regional exploration potential.
- Tungsten is a strategic commodity, with essential applications in green technologies, aerospace and defence. Concerns over security of supply of tungsten have resulted in the European Union categorising tungsten as a top-tier “Critical Raw Material” and the British Geological Survey including tungsten in its ten most critical materials.
The Company is in a process of re-assessing historical exploration data, designing programs, and developing an effective strategy to unlock shareholder value at Couflens.
Figure 1: Target regions within the Salau mine area, displaying material rock chip and drilling samples with tungsten and gold
Figure 2: Couflens Project / Salau Mine Location