GSCU Great Southern Copper Plc

CERTAIN INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN DEEMED INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO 596/2014 ("MAR") WHICH HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO UK LAW BY THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 UNTIL THE RELEASE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

3 December 2024

Great Southern Copper plc

("GSC", the "Company" or the "Group") 

Interim Results

Great Southern Copper plc (LSE: GSCU), the Company focused on copper-gold exploration in Chile, announces its results for the six months ended 30 September 2024.

HIGHLIGHTS

Especularita Project

·     Expanded footprint with acquisition of options for the Artemisa and Cerro Negro concessions providing immediate drill targets and expanding the footprint of the Company's Especularita Project

·      Cerro Negro project:

o  Includes the Mostaza Mine, where historical mining and drilling has indicated presence of high-grade Cu-Ag mineralisation

o  Initial exploration at the Mostaza Mine identified an increased target area with strong indications of mineralisation with potential to significantly increase size of the deposit

o  Sampling at Cerro Negro yielded copper concentrations up to 4.64% and silver up to 177 ppm, demonstrating high-grade mineralisation

o  Commenced the permitting process for drilling, expected to conclude in coming weeks

·    Added 1,665 ha of concessions with the Artemisa option purchase which strategically expands the scale of GSC's Victoria and Lipa prospects and the permitting process for drilling has begun for the Viuda, Victoria, and Lipa prospects

·    Exploration at Viuda prospect identified a porphyry style exploration target, further enhancing GSC's pipeline of drill targets

·      Scout drilling at Teresita and Abundante confirmed intrusive-related and breccia-hosted mineralisation systems with all drill holes intersecting anomalous gold and copper mineralisation

·      Post-period on 19 November, surveys at Viuda identified targets for initial scout drill testing, permitting and approvals for which have already been received and drilling commenced

San Lorenzo

·    Reconnaissance exploration targeting Landsat 8 spectral anomalies confirms high sulphidation style alteration at Hualcuna and Colorada

·    The Doncella prospect was also reviewed where Cu-Au mineralisation associated with small-scale mines may represent the structurally-controlled upper portions of a porphyry system

Corporate

·   Raised £1.25m in June, through a conditional placing and subscription to fund drilling and exploration work at Especularita

·   Post period on 7 November, secured an additional £0.78 million investment to help accelerate the Company's exploration activities

Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer of Great Southern Copper, said: "This has been a significant period of progress at Great Southern Copper, having continued to advance exploration work at our projects, validated by excellent results received from a number of highly prospective targets. We have also continued to expand our concession footprint at Especularita with the addition of the Cerro Negro and Artemisa projects. These additions add significant value to Especularita and we are progressing our exploration work at these prospects rapidly.

"The two fundraises we have completed were well supported and mean that GSC is well funded for its initial drilling campaign at Especularita. This is particularly satisfying given the difficult environment junior explorers have recently faced when raising money on equity markets and is a testament to the strength of GSC's offering. We are now ready to further explore the potential of our portfolio at Especularita as we begin to commence drilling across several of our prospects. The success of our last six months of exploration activities have continued to validate the Board's confidence in GSC's strategic direction and our ability to generate value for all of our shareholders."

Enquiries:

Notes for Editors:

About Great Southern Copper

Great Southern Copper PLC is a UK-listed mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of copper-gold and lithium deposits in Chile. The Company has the option to acquire rights to 100% of two projects in the under-explored coastal belt of Chile that are prospective for large scale copper-gold deposits. In addition, the Company has the option to acquire rights to 100% of a lithium project located in the Salar de Atacama district of Chile. Chile is a globally significant mining jurisdiction being the world's largest copper producer and the second-largest producer of lithium.

The two, early-stage Cu-Au projects comprise the San Lorenzo and Especularita Projects, both located in the coastal metallogenic belt of Chile which hosts significant copper mines and deposits, including Teck's Carmen de Andacollo copper mine, and boasts excellent access to infrastructure such as roads, power and ports. Significant historical small-scale and artisanal workings for both copper and gold are readily evident in both exploration project areas.

The Company's Monti Lithium project is strategically located in the pre-Andean region of Salar de Atacama which is Chile's premier lithium-producing region with well-established lithium mining operations and infrastructure.

Great Southern Copper is strategically positioned to support the global market for copper and lithium - both critical battery metals in the clean energy transition around the world. The Company is actively engaged in exploration and evaluation work programmes targeting both large tonnage, low to medium grade Cu-Au and Li deposits as well as high-grade Cu-Au deposits.

Further information on the Company is available on the Company's website: https://gscplc.com

INTERIM MANAGEMENT REPORT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

During the six months to 30 September 2024, GSC has made excellent progress across its projects, where exploration work has shown highly promising results at the Company's prospects and identified further targets throughout the period under review, which GSC is now advancing towards drill ready status. The Company is also pleased to have completed two successful fundraises, one during the period and one post period, which together raised over £2m to continue to fund exploration activities.  

Great Southern Copper's projects are all located in Chile, a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction. Chile is the world's largest producer and exporter of copper, as well as the second largest producer of lithium. With a long history of mining and metal processing, the country boasts one of strongest economies in South America. Not only does it enjoy a strong mining culture, but the region also benefits from an experienced and educated mining workforce, first-class infrastructure and a robust legal framework, which includes provisions for foreign companies to own 100% of mining assets.

Especularita

Exploration work at Especularita advanced rapidly during the period, with a number of exploration campaigns highlighting promising results and identifying new prospective targets that continue to validate the Group's confidence in the value waiting to be unlocked within the project.

GSC completed a scout drilling at its Teresita and Abundante prospects in April, confirming intrusive-related and breccia-hosted mineralisation systems with all drill holes intersecting anomalous gold and copper mineralisation. These results validated the Company's IRGS target model for Teresita and Victoria and provided GSC with significant impetus for further exploration. Follow-up exploration at Teresita is now focussing on delineating the vein targets in more detail for Phase 2 prospect-scale drilling programmes. 

The Company also expanded its Especularita project significantly during the period, first through the purchase of options over the Artemisa concession group, and then later with the purchase of the option over Cerro Negro, including the historical Mostaza mine. These represent highly prospective targets, and the Company has been actively advancing exploration work to fully understand the extent of the potential mineralised systems.

In September, the Company announced that it had expanded the scale of the target for the Company's maiden drilling programme at the Mostaza mine at Cerro Negro, in recognition of the significant zones of additional lower-grade Cu-Ag mineralisation in historical drill-hole assays and surface rock chip samples. It is highly encouraging to have identified this additional potential at the Mostaza mine before any metres had even been drilled.

The Company received further validation of the mineral potential at Cerro Negro with exploration results from the mapping and sampling campaign confirming high-grade structurally controlled copper-silver mineralisation up to 1.5km further south along trend of the Mostaza copper-silver mine and up to 400m further to the east than previously thought. Preparations for drilling at Cerro Negro are at an advanced stage and are expected to be finalised in the near future.

Post-period in October, the Company announced that it had completed the initial exploration mapping and rock chip and surface sampling at its Viuda prospect, which GSC acquired earlier in the year, identifying high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation and confirming the potential for a new untested porphyry system. This is significant as it added another significant drill target to GSC's portfolio and further emphasises the excellent potential of the Especularita project to host multiple porphyry mineralisation centres. Further reconnaissance work was then completed in November with the completion of additional mapping, rock chip and surface sampling and drone magnetics which successfully identified targets for a scout drilling programme. Permitting and approvals for scout RC drilling at Viuda have been received and GSC recently commenced drilling.

San Lorenzo

A regional reconnaissance exploration programme following up GSC's Landsat 8 spectral survey targeted anomalies at Hualcuna and Colorada. The Hualcuna anomaly is very extensive and includes some evidence of porphyry style alteration which will require follow-up mapping and sampling.

The Colorada anomaly review successfully identified an extensive outcropping lithocap with high-sulphidation style alteration with no evidence of drill-testing despite historical mining in the area. Follow-up prospect scale mapping and sampling is planned to further evaluate the prospect.

Reconnaissance exploration at the Doncella prospect identified Cu-Au mineralisation hosted in structural zones exhibiting porphyry type veining and disseminated copper mineralisation. Scout RC drilling in the area of historical workings is planned to further evaluate the prospect.

Corporate

GSC completed one fundraise during the period under review, and a second fundraise post period in November 2024.

In June, the Company raised £1.25m through a conditional placing and subscription. The fundraise had strong support from existing, institutional and new investors and Directors of the Company participated.

Following this, post period in November 2024, the Company received an investment of £780,000 before expenses, to support ongoing drilling programmes at high potential targets within GSC's Especularita project. The investment came from a highly experienced investor and a corporate institution, which was then matched by GSC's cornerstone founding investor, Foreign Dimensions PTY Limited. This was particularly pleasing as the Company has managed to raise capital despite the generally capital starved context of equity markets for early-stage explorers, and is a strong indication of positive investor sentiment towards GSC.  

Both fundraises underscore the strength of GSC's value proposition as seen by a varied cohort of both new and existing investors including institutional and retail. GSC is now well funded for its exploration programmes, including drilling, with sufficient headroom to allow the Company to unlock value from its asset portfolio.

Risks and uncertainties

The Directors do not consider that the Company's principal risks and uncertainties have changed since the publication of its annual report and accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2024 on 26 July 2024, which contains a detailed explanation of the risks relevant to the Company and is available at: https://gscplc.com/investors/documents-and-reports

Outlook

These six months have been an exciting period of activity for GSC, with exploration work revealing highly promising results at Especularita, and having identified seven very exciting drill-ready targets, including Viuda where reconnaissance RC drilling recently commenced.

The long-term drivers of the copper/gold markets remain strong, and copper in particular is expected to see substantial growth driven by the ongoing need to power electrification and the green transition. GSC's portfolio is well positioned to take advantage of this context as the Company now has a highly exciting set of exploration prospects with significant optionality advancing towards drilling, all located in Chile, a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction.

Over the next 6-12 months, the Company will continue to advance its drilling programmes and other exploration activities, prioritising the Mostaza mine target with the aim to fast-track the increase of the known high grade Cu-Ag-Au resource. With a highly prospective portfolio of assets, with significant optionality and value waiting to be unlocked, the Board looks forward to the future with great confidence.

Responsibility Statement

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

·   The Interim Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting' ('IAS 34'), as endorsed for use in the United Kingdom;

·   The Interim Report gives a true and fair value of the assets, liabilities, financial position and loss of the Group;

·   The Interim Report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, being an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the set of interim financial statements; and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year; and

·   The Interim Report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, being the information required on related party transactions.

The Interim Report was approved by the Board of Directors and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by

Charles Bond, Chairman

2024

Forward looking statement

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "believe", "could", "should", "envisage", "estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will", or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based upon historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities.

Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based upon information currently available to the Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements, including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory changes, actions by government authorities, the availability of capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward looking statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward looking statements.