Empire Metals (LSE:EEE) — Investor Presentation

0:01 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the EMPIRE METALS LIMITED investor presentation. Throughout this presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time by the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen.

0:30 And we'll notify you by email when these are ready for your review. I'd also like to remind you that this presentation is being recorded. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. And I'd now like to hand you over to Sean Bunn and Greg Kunzel. Good morning to you both. Good morning. And Morning. Welcome welcome to to those who've been able to join us today. I appreciate the time that people are making to to receive this update on EMPIRE METALS and I guess we should just start with rolling through some of the presentation. We'll, as discussed, be answering questions as they come through and there are a number of questions we've already received that will endeavor to answer as best we can.

1:24 So to kick away, I think, obviously, the disclaimer would just comment on any forward looking statements and any anything related to the geology and the resources that we've put out in this announcement.

1:47 So EMPIRE METALS, now one of the key things I think we're getting the message across now is that we are we are very much now focused at moving the exploration team and building a portfolio of projects here in Western Australia and our prime focus is on these two projects one being the Eclipse Gold Project which is located not far from the old mine site of Jindalbi. That's about 55 kilometers northeast of Kalgoorlie and the new project that we've acquired or in the process of looking at acquiring is the Central Menzies gold project and that's located just 10 kilometers south of the, again, an old gold mining site at Menzies, an old gold mining town and we're currently working that project.

2:44 We'll get to a brief summary of that shortly. I think a key part of the transition is that we're building expertise here in in Western Australia, but we we're still backed by a very strong and experienced board. We still have the previous CEO, Mike Struthers, as a non exec and Neil O'Brien as as our chairman. So we built a a strong management team around that. And I think we're quite capable if we do make a discovery of taking that through to development. And that's our focus. Think that's a good point to leave this slide on is that, you know, whilst we are an explorer, you know, we have ambitions to become a producer. We're we're not, you know, we're not looking for real estate, you know, just to buy and sell. We're looking to discover and we're looking to transition into a quality junior gold producer.

3:55 I mentioned the strength of the board and with Neil and Mike still very much involved in the in the strategic direction of the company's going. But we're also very happy that, you know, both Peter and Greg bring a lot of financial and commercial acumen to the board and myself, I've only just joined, you know, the last five months but I'm based here in Perth, a metallurgist by background but predominantly been working in development projects around the world particularly in the gold mining sector and I'm very much looking forward to building another development company.

4:47 One of the key things that we need to or needed to do is start to build an expertise base here that was familiar with the West Australian gold industry and to build the capability in house to evaluate and to arrive at exploration programs built on science and on the facts rather than just simply rely on consulting or third parties that quite frankly are just making their money by supervising drilling programs or or for that matter, trying to get small mining operations up and running.

5:36 So I'm was very pleased in the last month or so that we were able to secure the services of both Ed Boultis and Louisa Stokes. Ed has a long experience in the Eastern Goldfields working with the likes of Goldfields and also previously Western Mining Corporation here. Louisa is currently studying a PhD at the Curtin University so what we are able to do is tap into the facilities and the team there as well using Louise's expertise in basically exploring and starting to look at what the origin of some of these gold deposits might be based on our drilling.

6:28 We also continue to utilize Jesus who has been working with the company as a consultant now for some years, particularly looking at the projects in Georgia and in Austria, but now he's paying much more attention to what we have here in the goldfields.

6:52 Just a very quick snapshot of our capital structure and major shareholders as it currently stands with $336,000,000 odd shares on issue at 1.7p, our market cap is only just under £6,000,000 So that's a concern, I guess, to all of us. It's certainly a concern of mine that we we now need to start to translate our our business plans and our acquisitions here in Australia and, you know, start to get a track or attract some investment that and enthusiasm in the market so that we can we can grow the market cap. And that leads me to just raise or discuss very briefly some of the operational issues and targets and challenges that we face, but also to to highlight some of their successes and I think we'll start with the Eclipse project.

7:54 So as everyone's aware, we hold a 75% interest in the high grade Eclipse project. It's, as I said previously, located Northeast Of Kalgoorlie and it sits within what is referred to as the Kanopy Terrain. So it's a different geological event. There's a major fault line running very close to eclipse called the Okabeeri Fault and that separates the Kalgoorlie Terrain from the Kanopy Terrain and there's a lot of, I guess, alteration and interest around the area that we're operating as a result of that major fault line. So what we're looking for here is

8:43 Gold loads mineralization that might be controlled by shear zones or faults that are running off the major fault zone. There's a major dike system, dollar rate dike system running right adjacent to our license which has come in late and then it cross cut some of the original geological structures that we've been looking to track so we have to understand the location and nature of this system and we have to start to look at what is controlling the mineralization at eclipse. So some of the important work that we've done recently here is to go back and look at the historical, you know, take a bigger point of view on this and look at some of the historical finds in this area and particularly when I draw your attention to the fact that, you know, within a few kilometers we're sitting adjacent to the Lindsay's Gold Project, which has produced over 200,000 ounces but we're also sitting in a region that is quite prospective for nickel, copper and gold deposits such as the Black Swan nickel deposit which was discovered only 12 kilometers West Southwest of us and also another nickel deposit which was located at Carr Boyd about 33 kilometers to the North Northwest.

10:14 One of the interesting things about Eclipse at this point in time is that we just simply continue to view this as an under explored region and we need to take a good hard look at the area before we launch in and start drilling further and I'll just move on to the next slide to demonstrate this. So when you zoom in at Eclipse, what quickly becomes apparent is that around the old historical shaft at ECLIPSE, a shaft that produced seven fifty four oz at 24.6 gs per tonne, so a high grade shoot that was developed back in the early nineteen hundred's.

11:05 When we start to look at the structures around Eclipse, we can see that there's a very strong trend on this North Northwest structure and what we're looking for here is whether these things are continuous through to the area that we now refer to as Jack Stream, where the parallel system that sits at Twin Shaft is somehow linked to the Eclipse or is this a separate system? What you'll see from the image on the right is that a lot of our drilling, particularly the 2020 RC program and the 2021 first phase RC program was predominantly looking at tracking around the Eclipse shaft itself and along strike of Eclipse.

11:55 So we haven't really been able to get out and test these targets at Jacked Stream or Twin Shafts as much as we would like to. So that will be the focus of further work. When you look at this from a plan sort of view, again on the right hand side, we're seeing is these structures have sort of splays that there's a sort of coalescing swelling of the ore loads and then it shrinks back and then it coalesces again. What we're very interested in is trying to map now is how is these how are these deposits related? How is how does the mineralization what's controlling the mineralization here along this on this strike length?

12:47 And, where would we be best served to go and drill next? So one of the things I'm very keen to look at is the extensions around the Eclipse Shaft, the high grade zones, particularly at depth and along strike and I think that's an area that to this date we still haven't put enough drill holes down deep enough yet to fully understand that part of the system. So one of the things that we now learn is that mineralized load at ECLIPSE is a strongly altered shear zone and in terms of tracking where that shear zone moves to the north and to the south and at what depths do we need to drill, will focus our attention on where we might get the best high grade intercepts.

13:47 And again just to further illustrate our current understanding of ECLIPSE, what we're seeing is the original area around ECLIPSE shaft which was drilled very extensively in our 2020 program. What we started to observe is that the shallower drilling, anything drilled within the oxidized zone, was only giving us very marginal grades. We weren't seeing the nice sweet high grade zones that we were seeing further at depth and in part this is due to the state of the oxidation, so there's been clearly some mobilization of gold in the oxidized zone and where we reach the interface between the heavily oxidized zone into transition and then into fresh, we are seeing much higher grade intercepts and what we now need to do is start to look at well do these high grade intercepts, do they form high grade shoots that are extending at depth and also if we go deep enough will we develop continuity along strike and particularly I want to come back and look towards Jack's Dream and head further north because there are some indication of grades further north from Jack Stream both along Strike and also in parallel.

15:16 So we have or starting to put together a portfolio of drill targets that I think will make a very compelling argument to go back in and put a deeper set of holes into the fresh ore rock that sits beneath the eclipse shaft but also around the Jack Stream and twin shaft areas.

15:45 As a consequence of the work we've been able to complete, after 9,000 meters of drilling and 200 meters and three diamond holes that we've drilled, what we can point to now is that this highly altered shear zone, whilst quite narrow is high grade, we've certainly hit and continue to hit once we get down at depth very good grades in the altered zone. Now we now have to focus on how does the how do these zones, how does this alteration zone hang together over the length of our tenement, the strike length and then having done that, we hope to be able do is go back and revisit the mining studies that we've already commenced and to reevaluate the concept of a starter pit but predominantly we also want to look at whether or not we can justify pursuing this ore body at depth and hence we'll be looking at putting together some underground mining studies as well if we start to develop a high grade resource within the fresh rock.

17:05 So it's a very exciting prospect I still feel that we've got a lot of upside at Eclipse.

17:17 Just touching upon the work program, we certainly plan to do a further exploration drilling program in early twenty twenty two. There's a potential, as I said, to connect Jack Stream to the Eclipse area. There's potential to extend the gold mineralization load around the Jack Stream and twin shaft areas and once we've been able to demonstrate some continuity between those loads then we can go back and look at whether that supports a larger scale open pit or whether we should be pursuing the ore body at depth. More work to be done at ECLIPSE in the first quarter of twenty twenty two.

18:08 I'll just move on to central Menzies. Obviously the central Menzies gold project, which we only have an option to acquire 75% at the moment, this is the area that's currently getting most of our focus. The option agreement will expire towards the end of February next next year, so in effect, we've only had a few more months to make a decision on taking up the option and hence all of our energy and focus at the moment will be going into completing the assessment from our first drill program and to form a view of whether or not you know, the potential that we think there is at Central Menzies is justified, know, justifies the company taking up the option.

19:03 One of the things about Central Menzies is that and we've mentioned this on a number of occasions now is that it's an excellent address, it's an excellent location and recent announcements have highlighted the potential not only to find, reasonably large gold loads but to convert them into production. Kings West just to the north of us at Yadanga have entered into a joint venture to go underground to build a decline at Yadanga to pursue the high grade loads there and they'll be toll treating that material through a gold processing plant near Kulgadi.

19:57 But also I think just recently announced in the last few days is

20:03 the team at Resources and Energy which also just sit slightly north of us who are mining Granny Ven, they've started to process ore, a toll treat ore from Granny Bend that goes through the Lakewood Mill. So clearly this is an area that not only has potential for

20:26 high grade ore shoots but is still within an area that is economic to haul to some of these toll treatment facilities. We're very excited about the prospect that Central Menzies brings to the table but we have to do the work obviously before we can form a view of whether or not we have a discovery of size at Central Menzies.

20:58 The project here is located in the Kalgoorlie terrain so as know we talking earlier about the difference in these terrains, the Kalgoorlie terrain is the most prolific gold producing area within the Eastern gold fields and up and down this area is where we predominantly see these northwest trending greenstone belts. Effectively, the gold horizon is hosted in quartz. The mineralization is quartz bearing veins, they sit between the sediments and the basalts. Basalts generally sitting in the footwall. These sheared contacts had allowed these fluids to come up bringing up the minerals. So it's not only very prospective for gold, it's also highly prospective for nickel.

21:55 And, you know, it's a very exciting geological region to be exploring in. And, you know, very you know, considerable number of very significant gold mines were developed in this particular area around Menzies over the last hundred or so years. So we know that we're in an area that could produce

22:18 a very significant discovery. Currently, we're working through a sequence of exploration steps to build up a plan to build up a strategy for Central Menzies so we've completed the historical geological database review, we've completed aerial drone surveys. We've taken a view of all the original rotary air blast drilling that was undertaken in the mid-90s, which sort of forms a geochemical pattern across the licenses. And we've also been looking at the reverse circulation drilling work that was done by the current owner and prospector Mr. Mel Della Costa who around an area called Teglio the Teglio shaft he drilled a number of holes which had a quite significant intercept so we're very keen to go back and investigate just exactly how large that shoot is and how far that trend around Tegilio extends.

23:41 So what we've been able to put together in the last couple of months is a geochemical pattern, a soil sampling program that we undertook over six eighty eight samples were collected particularly across areas that had very little previous data. We've also commenced and completed in August our own reverse circulation drilling program. We drilled just under 2,400 meters. These drilling targets were actually around the Teglio Shaft which was quite close to where Della Costa originally drilled but we also stepped out over a strike length of 500 meters so we

24:29 really wanted to try and establish whether or not that this trend that runs up through the Teglio area had significant extension both north and south of the Teglio Shaft. The other area that we focused on in our drilling campaign was an area that we call Nugget Patch. Now this is the area that

24:51 a large number of nuggets were unearthed just near the surface. There's a fair bit of regolith here, there's a fair bit of soil coverage, so we don't really see any outcropping. But we know that the area is perspective and we also know that that is due south of the Dunga strike. So what we're looking for there is whether or not we've got an extension down from the, you know, the Menzies Shear coming down through and that we picked up, you know, an anomaly around this this area that we call the nugget patch. So that work, as I said, 2,400 meters worth of sea drilling has been has been undertaken.

25:37 And as we speak, we are still collecting and collating all the assays. So we're still waiting for for the suite of assays to come through, and the database can then be updated. And an announcement will come out, you know, very shortly after that regarding, you know, the grades and intercepts that we've that we've obtained.

26:03 One thing that we can highlight in this particular point in time is that the results from our surface sampling were very encouraging. So I just again draw your attention to the fact that you know, this is the area in the middle here, the Teglio Shaft, red diamond here was the high grade zones that we were hitting. We drilled two or three, probably five holes within close proximity to that area, and we stepped out 500 meters. But the geochem sampling that we've undertaken has actually identified quite significant anomalies both to the north and to the south of where we've drilled.

26:50 And interesting enough, that's a strike length of about 1.8 kilometers. So it's it's quite a substantial gold anomaly and that something that we will need to go back in and consider drilling. If not prior to taking up the option, it will certainly form some of our main drilling targets should we take up the option and decide to go back in and explore those areas. The prime target here, which we've just simply called T1 target one, is immediately parallel and adjacent to Nugget Patch, so we're quite interested to see whether or not this is a you know, how these two structures relate. We've picked up anomalism in the very top Northwest corner of the license as well as an indication of some gold anomaly to the South to the Southeast.

27:47 What's quite interesting about the Southeast is that the entire tenements to the Southeast are very much largely covered by soils, the depth of which we still are yet to fully determine, you know, a lot of these anomalies that we are seeing, even though they're quite low grade, given the depth of soil, we think are quite significant. Again, I'm quite keen to get a dual program down here onto the base of the license to see if we've picked up an extension of one of these gold mineralized trends. That would extend then the 1.8 kilometers considerably, know, create a much bigger overall target.

28:36 So the basics at Menzies is that it's very early phase of exploration, but remains very exciting for us to see how our drilling results come together.

28:53 Just a reminder on the terms of the option agreement, as we just mentioned, the option agreement will have to be taken up by February next year. We've already paid a a nominal fee for taking up the option or for for acquiring the option, sorry, but we've we've also spent or will have spent the $500,000 Australian by the end of the nine month period. We're we're well and truly committed to that. So taking up the option will require us to to purchase both the cash and shares to the value of $3,000,000 Australian. So it's it's obviously a very expensive exercise if if if we're not certain about the the prospectivity of the area, you know, we'll obviously consider the, you know, whether or not this option should be taken up. At the moment, we we remain quite quite enthusiastic about Central Menzies.

29:56 Sean, if I could just jump in there. I think it's important to note that that option option consideration can be made out of existing cash resources. We announced our interim accounts a month or so ago, and our cash number was was two point just over just under £3,000,000. So the company is still very well funded even if we make the decision to exercise this this option. Yeah. Thanks, Greg. Which good thing you jumped in because I've just flipped over the slides to to Australia, and that's probably a good technical view. A break. Thanks, Sean. I I guess if if you were at the last presentation, we were we're moving the company's focus to Western Australia as Sean's detailed up to this point. At that stage, we had two additional projects, Georgia, which we've now disposed off, But we're still left with some legacy assets in Austria.

31:05 Now these projects, the company acquired back in 2010, did a number of drill programs up until 2013 when it decided to acquire Georgia. Since then, we've maintained the licenses. The regulatory environment in Austria means that it's relatively cheap. We did a small rock chip sampling program last year on one of the license areas at Altenberg, which allowed us to roll over the majority of licenses for another five years. We are in discussions, and we continue to be in discussions with a number of groups who've expressed interest in acquiring these projects. So look, they are classified as for sale investments.

31:54 We don't currently intend to do any additional work there. One group in particular, and we've mentioned this previously, has done quite extensive due diligence. The only issue they're still faced with is they need to do some site visits and with continued restrictions on travel, That's that's taken a bit longer than anyone had originally hoped. But look, we are we are still advancing discussions there, and we hope to be in a position shortly to announce, hopefully, a deal on on the disposal of these assets.

32:36 Sean, I'll pass back to you. Thanks very much, Greg. The I'll just flick on to think I might have gone one too many. Hold on.

32:51 Yes. So so in terms of wrapping up the the presentation side of things, I I guess there are a number of points that we should just reflect on. Really, the the focus having two exploration fronts, if you like, is extremely positive for us moving forward. We're very keenly focused as we said on getting through this phase at Central Menzies, but we do believe that the ECLIPSE project has significant upside. Closed out the ore body at depth, we haven't closed the ore body out along strike.

33:37 What we've demonstrated through our work is that the mineralization, predominantly the high grade mineralization sits towards the contact of the oxidation, the transition zone and the fresh, and that's where we need to put the majority of our our drilling holes as we go forward. You know, if we look at the 9,000 meters of drilling that we completed, something like 80% of that was within the top 50 to 60 meters. So only 20 meters 20% of our drilling has actually, you know, intercepted some of the fresh rock targets. So Eclipse remains still very much underexplored.

34:25 Now drilling deeper into the fresh rock, and we're only talking about drilling between 80 to one hundred and one hundred and twenty meters from surface. So we're we're not talking about

34:38 pushing down, you know, very deep holes at the moment, but, you know, before we start that drilling program, as I highlighted, I think earlier, we we really wanna understand the structural controls at ECLIPSE. You know, what is what is controlling the mineralization? Where does the shear zone look like it's heading? How does it link up to twin shafts? How does how does these things link to to Jack's stream? You know,

35:09 let's let's be very mindful of of of where we think the best targets are, and then we'll go in and put a program together early, you know, in 2022 and we'll be releasing information over the coming months in relation to that. Central Menzies, as I said, is highly perspective. It's it's it's something that we're really moving as quickly as we can on, and we've already identified, you know, two mineralized trends, particularly extending them now that we've identified the anomalies at surface. We've got six additional drill ready targets identified.

35:55 We do want to get back in there with another RC drill program, hopefully before the end of the year, but until we get the assays back from the first program, we really aren't in the position you know, to pinpoint where we should be drilling, you know, next. So there's a lot of work coming forward at Central Menzies and clearly we're, highly optimistic that we can make a discovery there. Greg mentioned the plan for the Austrian assets is really it's something that we will try to seek value from moving forward. And we continue to be aware that, you know, that we need to focus and sharpen the focus of the company now that we're trying to add more value through the West Australian gold assets.

36:50 You know, so in summary, I guess, you know, we've we've created a foothold here in in the Eastern Gold Fields, know, developed a beachhead based around the Eclipse project and potentially the Central Menzies project will enable us to continue have a continuing flow of of exploration news. There's no doubt that currently operating here in Western Australia, given the the boom that we're going through, we we suffer from delays in getting assay turnaround. We sometimes suffer from being able to secure a drill rig, but we can plan around those things and we've done so.

37:37 So we hope to be able to roll out at least, as I said, two more drilling programs within the next six months. Now we're well funded. I think Greg made a very good point that should we take up the option at central Menzies, we have the the cash reserves to do so, and we would we would look to to advance that that project very quickly should we take up the option in February. One of the key things that I'm very much focused on here is is building a strong talent pool with local expertise. You know, the industry here is booming, but there is, you know, there is opportunities to to bring in people with particular skill sets.

38:29 I mentioned Ed Boultis and Louisa Stokes who have joined the team. One of the new team members that I haven't yet mentioned who helped supervise the Menzies drilling program was an experienced geologist who had worked on the King West targets, particularly Lady Shenton drilling work that they had completed. We're starting to bring in people, I guess, who have, you know, not general expertise, but very much focused on the geology and the and the gold mineralization that we we're looking to, you know, to discover or or the areas that we're looking to discover a new deposit.

39:19 I think there's excellent scope here to expand on the current footprint. There there are numerous opportunities currently in the market that we're exploring. We're looking at further camps to add to the portfolio. If if that turns out that we we can identify something that is highly prospective, we'll we'll certainly be considering it. But we're also looking at growing growing around the two existing operations. So certainly at ECLIPSE, we think there's potential to add to the the licenses in that particular area. And at Central Menzies, whilst it's a it's a pretty well sought after address, The there's opportunities there for further farm ins if if we do take up the option. So I think we can grow I think we can grow at both of our our current beachheads and and build a, you know, build a substantial gold portfolio at both of those.

40:24 But I you know, we continue to look for further opportunities in the in the Australian environment. So so on that note, I'll I'll I'll pause and if you have questions. Sean, Greg, thank you very much for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the q and a tab situated on the right corner of your screen. But just while the company take a few moments to review those investor questions submitted already, I'd like to remind you that a recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A can be accessed via your investor dashboard on the Investor Me Company platform. I would also like to remind you that your feedback is important to the company. And immediately after presentation has ended, you'll be redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the company can better understand your views and expectations.

41:16 Sean, Greg, investors have submitted a number of pre submitted questions, and I wanted to start off the q and a session with these. The first one reads as follows. Which of the Australian projects will be your primary concern in the short term? Clearly, I think the you know, as we've mentioned, I think we have to put our focus onto central Menzies in the short term. It's it's it's critical, I think, that we we complete the due diligence work or the drilling work that we need to to form an opinion on the prospectivity. And, you know, potential there is is is very high. So the know, it's it's not something we wanna rush into, but it's something that we we need we need to complete the the current program and and bring our collective expertise together to try and form a view whether to take up the option. So that's where we're putting our focus.

42:20 That's great. The next question reads as follows. What does the historic drilling at Eclipse and Central Menti say about grade and scale? The initial block modelling at ECLIPSE, you know, previously done by the company suggested that an open pit mine was feasible. You know, we have announced that we're not proceeding with it at this point in time, predominantly because it was going to be very small scale. You know, we completed a detailed review, you know, based on that 9,000 meters of RC. We've now got the three diamond holes that give us an insight into the, you know, the nature of the mineralization eclipse. We understand now that the load remains open at depth and a long strike and, you know, there are numerous high grade intercepts at depth, you know, that's very encouraging.

43:12 All the signs that eclipse, to me at least, you know, point to, you know, a bigger resource base, a higher grade resource base possibly than was first envisaged And, you know, hence we don't want to rush in and sterilize a whole pile of the countryside by, you know, by trying to establish a very small scale, you know, marginally profitable you know, pit. As to the grade and scale of the overall operation, it's too early to call what we might end up with, but I've got no doubt that the grade at ECLIPSE is sufficient to allow us to pursue the prospect of an underground operation.

44:02 And to draw that to bring that into perspective, know, we mentioned earlier that King West had just completed a joint venture with a group to start a decline at Yodunga. Now, you know, the grades and their resource models are three just over three grams. So and I think the cutoff grade they're applying to to their to their planning is around about two to three grams itself. So I guess the point being is if an underground mine can be brought into production at a three gram head and we're seeing better than three grams at at a clip.

44:50 I'm fully optimistic that if we get a significant resource base there that we can, you know, we we we can bring a, you know, a mine plan together that could exploit it. So I don't think gold mines have to be always open pits. I think we have to look at the best way to extract the value. So it might be a a box cut with a with a decline and eclipse in the longer term if if that makes more sense. At at Menzies, you know, again, the these this whole region along strike down from the King West tenements and, you know, further towards south below us. They've all been quite significant discoveries, upwards of 100,000 ounces in most of these deposits.

45:44 Whilst they're not mega mines, these things are highly profitable loads that we need to would be a great start for the company if we could find a discovery of that magnitude at Central Menzies. So again, I'm I'm remain highly optimistic on both of these these targets. Thanks for that, Sean. Moving on to the next question, what's the mineralization style at the central M and C's gold project? Well, think I mentioned earlier, it's a gold bearing quartz veins that have come up. Thermal fluids have pushed up through contacts between the basalts and the sediments.

46:29 So the sediments sort of sit there in layered sediments that sit there on the footwall, the basalt footwall. You know, they call these areas the green stones, but predominantly, it's a mafic mafic rock in the in the in the footwall and, you know, a mixture in the sediments, so volcanic sediments normally, felsics and the like, but the gold is very much located in around also you see the iron banding. So you see the iron stones in these areas, typically are an indicator of mineralization as well. Thank you. The next question reads as follows. When are the assay results expected?

47:20 Well, the final submissions we've collected and resubmitted a group of assay samples that went in about ten days ago. I would expect on current turnaround, normally we're seeing between two to three weeks if we can fast track the assays. We now we have paid a priority, you know, paid an extra price to the lab to try and treat these as priority, but the best we can hope for in this environment is usually about two to three weeks. So I'm I'm I'm hopeful by the end of the month, we'll have we'll have all the assays in and have the database updated in an announcement. Thank you.

48:07 Will the recommencement of underground mining at the neighboring Yindaga property positively benefit EMPIRE METALS? I certainly think so. I almost certainly demonstrates the viability of these narrow but high grade loads. Even mining at depth, remembering that Yandanga and a lot of the other properties to the north, pits that have been previously mined, so they're large waste dumps adjacent to the pit. King West to have cut back those pits to get ore at the base of the pit is a lot of capital development before you get into ore, so I'm actually quite excited by the fact that they've done this joint venture and decided to go directly into a decline and chase the loads below the pit. I think that's a great indicator of confidence that these high grade zones not only extend at depth but have sufficient grade to cover the cost of hauling all the way to Kilgardi and processing through a toll treatment facility.

49:24 And we would certainly look to, you know, to leverage off that should we find a suitable size ore body. Thank you. The next question asks how the appointments of Ed Bautis and Louisa Stokes have impacted EMPIRE METALS? They've brought, as I said, the key to me is that particularly with Ed's experience is that we now have somebody in the team who is, you know, has decades of experience in identifying exploration targets within the region and that's what he made his living doing. So Ed generally and I have been working on not only identifying the drilling targets at Central Menzies that we wanted to pursue, but we've stepped out and we're starting to look at the broader growth strategy for the region.

50:20 You know, Ed's supporting the team in that sense and giving us strategic direction. Louisa is doing a PhD at Curtin University as I mentioned, so what I'm generally doing with Louise is we're tending to focus on the science that sits behind the geology and try and understand a little bit more about the mineralization, particularly at ECLIPSE. So how is this shear zone, how's the alteration, what form is this alteration at ECLIPSE, what is the gold hosted in and understanding that we hope to be able to pick up possibly indicators for geochemistry like arsenic, like nickel or cobalt, some other indicators that might indicate that the altered zone is controlled by these these events and where does where where is it most prospective to drill next?

51:25 You know, not just punch a hole deeper because we think it's there, but punch holes into into the area that we think the authorization is gonna follow. So what know, that's really important, think, to understand, you know, the control of that that ore body rather than just chase the grade. So that's that's how I'm utilizing their particular skill sets, you know, and we'll add to that team as we continue to build the portfolio. Thank you, Sean. The next question asks, what percent of total expenditure is spent on exploration drilling, salaries and general administration? Based on our forecast and budgets and most recent work programs, generally, you know, about 65% of whatever we're spending is going into the operational side of the business.

52:21 And then drilling accounts for for at least 45%. So, you know, two thirds of that. So the actual cost of drilling is is is our largest our largest expenditure. Corporate overheads compliance, you know, keeping the, you know, compliance with the with the listing directors and and technical support and admin and and all of that probably accounts for about a third of the expenditure, 35%. So so it's, you know, basically, for every dollar, you know, for every dollar we $2 we spend in the ground, it's it's costing us at the moment about a dollar just to keep the the business running.

53:10 And that's Thank you. That's where we are. The the next question reads as follows. Is the current increase in labor wages a cause for concern? Well, yes. In as much as it will probably have a knock on effect over time again to the drilling costs. So drilling cost per meter will will no doubt drift up a little based on the fact that, you know, this you know, the drillers have to pay their their outsiders. But I think the bigger impact might actually be the increase in fuel cost at the moment, to be honest. You know, we've seen a surge in the oil price that will slowly ricochet through the industry and no doubt, add add, you know, increase the inflation or the inflation effect of that can be quite profound. So I'm I expect prices to continue to be under pressure and be pushing up.

54:16 That said, I think the Australian dollars is reasonably likely no. I think it's likely to remain reasonably weak against The US and the pound. So, you know, we probably have some some natural hedge in the fact that, you know, the Australian dollar is is quite possibly gonna weaken if if the particularly if The US start increasing rates. Thank you. Then the next question really with regards to the Austrian assets, it reads as follows. Is there a plan to exit or invest in the Austrian assets? I think I'll let Greg answer that. Think Yeah. Look. As as I as I said during the presentation, yes. We would have hoped we would have found or been able to complete a divestment by this point given given the amount of time we've been talking to to this this one particular interested party. But, look, they're they're based in Australia.

55:18 They have a suite of projects around Europe, and effectively, a lot of their work is on hold because they can't get people to site. So look, things seem to be opening up or or there are plans for international travel to restart in Australia. So hopefully once that's underway, we'll be able to push things forward quite quickly. Thank you for that, Greg. Moving on to the next question. Is the current drilling at Central Menzies in the same location or proximal to the historic RC drilling actioned by Mel Dalla Costa? If so, would your aim be to replicate and extend those intercepts? Well, we've drilled a series of fence lines, if you like, across the strike length over 500 meters. In that particular area, from memory, it was about 11 holes in total, maybe maybe 13.

56:18 The so it's about five holes that were drilled in close proximity to the Della Costa drilling, but none of the the Della Costa holes have been twinned. So, you know, we're probably drilling within a a 50 meter radius around that area, which may or may not be close enough to to get confidence in the size of that particular shoot that he hit, but we'll be waiting for our assay results to come back and see if we've got a sniff of an extension of that particular target. I think our real objective in in our drilling program is to step out and really try and get a sense of the size of the sink both to the north and the south rather than just, you know, you know, just pepper a whole pile of holes around the preexisting drill set.

57:12 So, yeah, we'll wait and see what we come up with. That's great. Thank you for that. The next question asks, you have mentioned several priority targets at central MNC's. How close are you to commencing further drills at other sites and what level of success would trigger take up of the full license option? Well, I mentioned, I think that we do plan a second drill program before the option expiry date in late February. Whether or not it's executed and all the assays are completed and finalized before we take up the option remains, you know, that's a that might depend largely on the timing of not in the drilling, but also the turnaround of the assays. But I think it's important that we highlight that, you know, that there are multiple targets now appearing on those licenses.

58:04 So just just going back in, as I said, and repeating some of the targets that were previously identified that, you know, drilling close to where Della Costa drill may not give us the the confidence that this this whole area is is, you know, perspective. So I think we need to to wait and see the results of their current campaign and then wisely choose where we put a few extra holes should we wanna test test some of these targets. Thank you once again, Sean. The last of the pre submitted questions read as follows. Shareholders he bought in late twenty twenty slash early twenty twenty one are now significantly down on their investment.

58:50 This is no doubt being caused by the prospect of a shallow open pit mine at Eclipse not being acted on in the timeline alluded to by management in q one twenty twenty one. Given your focus is now on central menses, what's your forward plan for ECLIPSE in 2022? Yeah. So we've we've talked to that, I think, but just to reiterate, I I think whilst we can't spill everything out in particular, you know, news flashes and and and reports is that we're not, you know, we're not walking away from Eclipse and we're not thinking that Eclipse is, you know, won't deliver on a longer term, you know, bring a a longer term value to the company once we've once we've initiated, you know, a further drilling program. I think we can you know, we're very hopeful that we can demonstrate that this thing does have significant upside that that there is connections between some of these targets that previously hadn't been identified and that the high grade shoots do extend down dip in a long strike.

59:54 Now if we, can successfully pull together a much larger resource, know, target eclipse, then I think people will be generally quite happy that we didn't, as I said, launch in and try and try and make a small scale mine out of Eclipse where, you know, quite possibly, we would have sterilized a lot of the area. I mean, we have to we have to put the waste dump somewhere. We have to, you know And once you start a small pit, it's it's difficult to go back in and and reengineer it. So I I think we've made the right decision. I think it's something that we will come back in in early twenty twenty two and and and do the work that we need to do to to come back and and say whether or not we've got something significantly larger at ECLIPSE.

1:00:51 And that's that's where we'll we'll go. Thank you, Sean and Greg, for answering all those pre submitted questions. Investors have also submitted a number of questions during today's live event, and I wondered if I could hand back to you to simply read out the question, then who who it's from. Thank you. Yes. I'm just pausing my time to look at at that one. So what is the okay. From Andy m. What is the what is the success case for the existing shareholders? How it will work? What is the time frame? Think what we've Andy, I'm hoping on that, I'm getting to the point of the question and maybe Greg, if you feel that you want to elaborate, please do so. But I think for us, the you know, we've we've we've put a now we've put a shingle out now that says, you know, we're a gold explorer.

1:01:47 We're here in Western Australia particularly. We're we're Australian focused. We're looking to secure assets here that are highly prospective for gold. We're very hopeful now that we will be able to demonstrate that the exploration can deliver you know, resources that might develop into economic mines. And we hope people can start to appreciate that, you know, if we do so, the road map, the pathway to go from exploration success to development to milling to pouring gold is a very clear pathway here.

1:02:38 There's lots of opportunities. Are plenty of groups that will take up toll milling and toll treatment, and lots of people would venture in and partner us up if we were to make a discovery. So I think, to me, success for for EMPIRE is is is to start, you know, is to become a junior gold producer. Time frame wise, you know, it it's not gonna be, you know, six to twelve months. It's not a short term process, but, you know, we are working. We are drilling, and, you know, we hope to be able to convert that into a resources and studies over the next twelve to eighteen months. So that's that's Yeah. Where I think I think just just on time frame as well. I think it's important to to to point out again. I mean, only we only finalized the ECLIPSE option in February of this year. So over the past couple of years, there's obviously been a a very heavy focus on the divestment of of Georgia.

1:03:44 And that took up a lot of a lot of management's time. So I think it's quite commendable that in in eight months, we've managed to, you know, and a lot of this goes down to Sean. We brought in a new managing director. We've increased our potential footprint in Western Australia. Sean has put together a very experienced and to be honest, for a company of our size, I think we've the the team, particularly people like Ed and Louise and a couple of the other people, you know, very, very qualified people who I think are going to really assist the company in following this strategy through. So a lot's happened in a short period of time, and I think there's, as Sean's pointed out, there's a lot of work planned for the next six to twelve months. So we're pretty excited about where the company's going.

1:04:39 Yeah. Thanks, Greg. There's a question from Mike, when will the results likely be available? Days, weeks or months? Well, it's it's unfortunately, as I think I mentioned, it's probably another week or so away. I certainly don't think it's months away. We do have to coordinate and consolidate all the data, do the QAQC analysis and bring in all the other data like, you know, the chip logging survey. It's not an instantaneous process to to provide an update to the market, but we are, you know, I'm very much aware that that there are people out there who are really waiting for this news and and I'm very focused on trying to come, you know, to to pull this together as quickly as I can and get this information out because, you know, we need it as, you know, very much to make a decision around the the next drill campaign, and we need it then to be able to decide exactly what we wanna do with the option. So now we're all very much aware of the time issue here.

1:05:45 I got another question or a question from Elias Jay. Looks like a long one. Sorry, Elias. With the decision to exercise central Menzies requiring 1,750,000 in cash and 1,250,000 shares, there will need to be additional funds required to cover twenty twenty two work programs and company overheads. At the current market, 5,000,000 market cap current £5,000,000 market cap, there's very little sentiment currently for the investment, and the space for competitive for investor attention and backing. Creating a foothold is not going to change cinema anytime soon.

1:06:31 With Eclipse, we were led to believe this was going to be a quick route to cash flow. Where is the big breakthrough high impact news event going to come from and when? Well, I've read the question. I don't know that I can answer that directly because as I said, you know, we are fundamentally and foremost a gold exploration company at the moment, and the big breakthrough will come when we, you know, when we're successful in putting, you know, some some holes through a a decent load, and we can get get some news flow around that. So the best thing we can do right now is to continue to to drill out the Menzies targets and and then get back to ECLIPSE to try and extend the target there. If we're successful at ECLIPSE, I've already said that there is potential for us to go back and revisit the opportunity to start up a small scale mining operation, but it may not be entirely built around a small pit. It might be a combination of pit and some underground work.

1:07:43 We're not I don't think the Eclipse option is on the never never. I think it's it's something that we have to just get this next round of work underway and then consider what the next move is. If the underlying question relates to the fact that we may need to raise more money, then I I think what Greg and I are saying at the moment is that we are sufficiently funded to get through this next phase. Jack T, are you looking to explore the nickel potential? Yes and no. So the first thing we have to flag is that at the moment, our focus is obviously on pursuing these current mineralized loads that we've identified at ECLIPSE and Menzies.

1:08:37 At ECLIPSE, we haven't seen any indication of the mafics coming through. The dolerite dike is a mafic dike, but unlikely to be well, we don't think it's going be mineralized. It's light event. So, you know, it would be unlikely to bring up any particular metal sulfides, but we will be considering within our overall portfolio, particularly around Menzies into the South, whether or not some of the tenants could be prospective for nickel or or other base metals, and whether or not we would also look to extend into a third, you know, into a third camp to explore for nickel in that area.

1:09:24 I'm a bit of a nickel buff, so I'm quite happy to look for nickel. And I know and, again, I think it's more likely to be found around the Central Menzies area. More questions. From Andy M, there are a large number of gold micro caps for investors to choose from. Why should they select EMPIRE METALS? Think and we'll probably flag this again in the wrap up, I think, you know, we've touched upon a number of issues relating to how you build a gold company up and obviously exploration success is critical.

1:10:12 We've got a strong board. Neil O'Brien, the chairman is, you know, was the ex senior VP of London Mining as, you know, exploration vice president. We've got people on our books now that have excellent credentials in terms of exploration strategy. You know, we've built a team that is fundamentally looking, you know, good at looking, you know, for these targets. The areas that we've acquired Central Menzies and Eclipse are both good addresses for gold, and I think we're well placed to make a discovery should these systems be coming through on our licenses? Sure. I think yours No.

1:11:01 No. Carry on. Sorry. I think I Address to you Yeah. This Yeah. Look. Think there's there's one last question. I'll I'll grab this one from Warren R. Could you please give me your thoughts on the performance of the company over the past five years? Some of us are here that long. Find it hard to expect things to happen as is being presented. Not an association to Sean and the new team. Look, Warren, yeah, we we moved into Georgia back in 2014. We had a fifty fifty joint venture with a with a existing mining company, a a Russian a Russian partner. We spent an initial $6,000,000 to earn earn our our in the joint venture. We made a discovery.

1:11:51 And then, look, let's be frank. Our joint venture partner decided that they didn't want to contribute, and they wanted the asset back. So look, the company spent the next three years in certain levels of litigation. I think we've made it very clear to the market in the announcements that were made over that period. And also in the, I think, the quite detailed announcement that was made when we agreed to sell our 50% back to our joint venture partner. We had a lot of hurdles. We had problems with the government. But, you know, in summary, we had an uncooperative joint venture partner in a country where it was going to be very, very difficult for us to make any advances.

1:12:43 So having spent a lot of time fighting our corner and battling to get our 50% joint venture recognized, the company made the decision to divest. Now even that process took took, God, almost twelve months once we had come to an agreement with CMG. So it was only early this year that we managed to extract ourselves from that. We made the decision to focus on a new area. We managed to pick up the ECLIPSE project. We brought Sean on. So look, it's a it's a new it's a new story. It's a new strategy. I think Sean's made it very clear what that strategy is and and also how he thinks we're gonna get there with the team that's been appointed and the work that's been done to date.

1:13:30 I don't think there's much else to say about that history. I mean, was disappointing for all of us, but, you know, unfortunately, in these jurisdictions, in the early stage market that we operate in, these things sometimes happen. But we came out the other side. We've now found the company fully funded. So I think we're in a in a strong position for Sean and and his new team to to really advance the the company. So hopefully, that answers that question. Sean, Greg, I'd just like to thank you. You've been very generous to your time. Actually gone fifteen minutes over, and you've answered all the questions from investors today. And, of course, the company will review any further questions submitted and publish responses where it is appropriate to do so. Sean, just before redirecting investors, was just going to ask if I could ask you for that closing snapshot. Thank you.

1:14:25 Certainly. Well, once again, you all the people that have provided their time and patience to sit through the presentation. I think from EMPIRE METALS point of view, what we've now creating is, as I said, a new front, if you like, for the company to explore upon. So we were established here in the goldfields of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. We've got two extremely prospective projects already under exploration. We're drilling, we're putting the money that we've got to good value, we're putting it to the best use that we can, which is to drill these targets that we've identified both at Menzies and then come back at ECLIPSE. So I think what's really important is that the difference between where we sit now in terms of news flow, where we sit now in terms of explaining to shareholders where they're going to bring value to the company really lies in the next few drilling programs that we do.

1:15:36 We're targeting ECLIPSE very carefully, we know where we need to explore at ECLIPSE, we know what we're looking for now and I'm very optimistic that with Eclipse, with the next phase of drilling at Eclipse that we'll be able to extend the known mineralization and come back to the table with what I hope will be a more effective and more profitable mine plan. At Menzies, you know, it's sufficient to say that the sky is the limit. There are gold discoveries being still found in that area. There are deals being done in the last two weeks. There's been two deals announced to the market by two different groups in our area.

1:16:22 They're all small scale but high grade gold operations. That's exactly what I think we can be looking for at Central Menzies, and that could be the real start of us moving into production in the next you know, into the short term. So I think, you know, my message to the shareholder to the market is that if we do the work properly, if we're successful in identifying our drill targets, if we're fortunate enough to hit the sort of loads I expect to hit, then we've got the capacity in this company. We've got the experience in this company to to develop them into a into a producing asset.

1:17:09 And and we're in the right area, the right jurisdiction, you know, to be allowed to do that. We've got government support. We've got gold milling facilities within tracking distance, I think we can very quickly bring an exploration discovery into production, you know, when we find them. So now I'm very certainly very positive that we we've got two great assets at the moment. Sean, Greg, thanks again for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session as you'll now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations.

1:17:55 This will only take a few minutes, however, is of great value to the company. On behalf of the management team of EMPIRE METALS LIMITED, we'd like to thank you for attending today's session. That now concludes the presentation, and good morning to you all. Good morning.