Wadi Al Junah VMS-Style Copper-Zinc-Gold-Silver Project in Saudi Arabia

Metal Bank Limited (ASX: MBK) (‘Metal Bank’, ‘MBK’ or the ‘Company’) is pleased to announce further details regarding the Wadi al Junah Copper-Zinc-Gold-Silver Project (‘Wadi al Junah’ or ‘the Project’), which has been awarded to Consolidated Mining Company (CMC) following a highly competitive Saudi government exploration licensing Round 6.

Highlights

• As announced on 6 November, MBK’s Saudi Arabian JV company, has been awarded the Wadi Al Junah Project as part of the Saudi Government’s Exploration Licensing Round 6
• Wadi Al Junah is prospective for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper-zinc- gold-silver mineralisation and for shear zone gold-silver, with several untested priority targets
• The Project is 35km east of the Al Hajar Au-Ag-(Cu-Zn) deposit previously mined by Ma’aden and is proximal to the regional centre of Bisha, and close to major access routes, local towns and workforce
• Saudi exploration strategy is supported by a well capitalised in-country JV Company in CMC and significant Saudi government incentives to de-risk and fast-track exploration
• Metal Bank continues to assess new potential project areas in Saudi Arabia prospective for copper, gold and other critical minerals – several tenement applications in progress

CMC is a Saudi Arabian limited liability company owned by MBK (60%) and Central Mining Holding Company (‘CMH’, 40%). CMH is a member of the Al Qahtani Holdings group, and was the JV partner of Citadel Resources which, under the leadership of Inés Scotland as Managing Director, was responsible for the exploration and development of the Jabal Sayid copper project in Saudi Arabia (prior to its acquisition by Equinox). CMC will be responsible for managing and implementing the work program for the Wadi Al Junah project utilising the technical expertise of MBK, as the exploration JV partner, in combination with the KSA expertise of the Al Qahtani Group. CMC has a current capitalisation of SAR5m (~AUD2.1m).

Wadi al Junah with an area of 427km² was the largest of the projects offered in Round 6 and is proximal to the major regional centre and airport of Bisha, with major access routes passing through the license area and local towns and workforce close by. The Project is located in the prospective Wadi Shwas Gold Belt, a region under-explored for shear zone gold, VMS copper-zinc-gold-silver and intrusion-related gold and base metal deposits. It is supported by several mineral occurrences with encouraging geological observations, and gold, silver and copper grades in historic regional- scale reconnaissance mapping, which have not been followed up by modern work.

MBK’s technical team has prepared a comprehensive two-year work program, with an initial focus on following up the previous limited and surface based exploration for mineral occurrences of copper, gold and silver. MBK is aiming to be drill-ready within the next six months.

Commenting on this acquisition, Metal Bank’s Chair, Inés Scotland…