JORC Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate At Horden Lake Deposit (Quebec), Delivers An Outstanding 27.8Mt At 1.49% CuEq.

Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX:RFR) (‘Rafaella’ or the ‘Company’) announces completion of the JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’) at the Horden Lake Cu-Ni-Pd-Au Deposit (the ‘Project’), as prepared by Caracle Creek International Consulting (‘Caracle Creek’). The Horden Lake Deposit is subject to a binding acquisition agreement as announced on 13 September 20221. The outcome is an outstanding resource that immediately becomes the focus of the Company’s portfolio, particularly with the substantial upside still available.

Highlights

• JORC compliant pit shell constrained MRE of 27.8 Mt of 1.49% CuEq (0.3% CuEq Open Pit cut-off and 1.12% CuEq Underground cut-off applied), with 55% currently classified in the Indicated Resource category and 45% Inferred.
• This is the first Estimate utilising data from all previous drilling, comprising 96 drill holes completed by INCO (1963-1969), 72 holes completed by Southampton (2008) and 12 drill holes completed by El Condor Minerals (2012).
• Drilling is planned to further extend and upgrade the mineral resources, focusing on higher-grade Cu ore-shoots and on those areas only drilled by INCO, where assay data is only available only for Cu and Ni.
• Gold mineralisation was estimated solely for the areas drilled in 2008 and 2012 (approximately 40% of the resource covered by this Estimate) and then diluted across the full resource offering substantial upside from gold credits.
• The planned drilling is also aimed at subsequent inclusion of other metals such as Ag and Co, as highlighted in the recent announcement on the high-grade assays from the 2012 drill holes2, to be included in later iterations together with the remainder of the gold and further boost the CuEq grade.
• The Company is moving swiftly to finalise its 2023 programme to deliver a PFS. Delivery of the pit shell constrained resource estimate has advanced the understanding of the project and greatly assisted in the PFS planning.
• The Company has agreed with the vendor to extend the closing date for the acquisition to 23rd December 2022.

Managing Director, Steven Turner said: “Caracle Creek conducted an extensive resource assessment utilising the entirety of the raw data. The resource has been modelled by detailed domaining of each of the metals, accounting for the 2012 drill hole data and updated commodity price forecasts. This has allowed the Company to formulate a pit constrained mineral resource estimate, presenting a more realistic assessment of the resource assuming an open pit for the shallower ore, followed by an underground operation. The 2023 PFS program will look to provide sufficient data to finally include the entirety of the contained gold as well as adding the cobalt and silver. Horden Lake, with new road infrastructure, HV power lines from the Le Grande hydroelectric station and supportive jurisdiction, is a top class polymetallic deposit.”

Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX:RFR) (‘Rafaella’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to announce the results of the recently completed JORC compliant resource estimation for the Horden Lake Cu-Ni-Pd-Au Deposit, located in the James Bay District, Province of Québec, Canada, carried out by Caracle Creek International Consulting Inc., as independent consultants. Table 1 shows the global total Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Horden Lake Deposit, as of 14 November 2022.

CuEq parameters and recoveries were determined by assessing the metallurgical reports from INCO and from benchmarking with other polymetallic deposits and magmatic Ni-Cu projects with similar characteristics to the Horden Lake Deposit.

The current MRE has produced a 3D geological model interpretation based on lithology and mineralisation style for the overall sulphide domain (Cu domain) and, particularly for the higher-grade Cu sub-domain corresponding to the semi-massive to massive sulphides, at the bottom of the deposit, resulting in a significant increase of tonnes and Cu average grade for the Horden Lake deposit.

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