Botswana focussed metals exploration company Kavango Resources plc (LSE:KAV) (“Kavango”) is pleased to announce an operational update from the Company’s Kalahari Copper Belt (“KCB”) project area.
Following interpretation of results from the ongoing Controlled Source Audio Magnetotelluric (“CSAMT”) surveys (announced >>> 12 October 2022), Kavango’s exploration team has decided to complete the holes in the current drill campaign at PL082/2018 using diamond drilling. Each hole will now first be drilled with a reverse circulation ‘pre collar’ and then completed with a diamond ‘tail’.
The multipurpose rig can be used for both reverse circulation and diamond drilling equipment. The latter is now being mobilised to site.
Diamond drilling will enable Kavango to test properly the interpretation of the CSAMT data to target depth and retrieve drill core samples to evaluate the target lithology, structure, alteration, geochemistry and mineralization.
Hole KCBRC001 has been pre-collared to 153m using reverse circulation drilling and the multipurpose rig has been moved to the site of Hole KCBRC002.
KCBRC002 will test the Northern Zone target, which is an 8km long soil sampling copper anomaly that coincides with the edge of a magnetic high, which Kavango believes could represent a fault.
Kavango has interpreted the CSAMT inversion over KCBRC001 & KCBRC002 to indicate the presence of the crucial D’Kar/Ngwako Pan formational contact within 150m-300m of surface. This formational contact is the primary control for economic copper-silver deposits across the Kalahari Copper Belt. Kavango is keen to test its interpretation of the CSAMT results with diamond drilling to (i) prove that the inverted CSAMT data is effective in identifying the D’kar/Ngwako Pan contact, (ii) to verify interpreted fault structures, and (iii) determine if these targets are mineralized.
Jeremy S. Brett, Senior Geophysical Consultant to Kavango Resources, commented:
“The CSAMT survey is providing a potential breakthrough in the Kalahari Copper Belt for Kavango. We are fortunate to be able to test this immediately with drilling.
The CSAMT data over 3 test lines has been inverted and interpreted to show the contact between the D’Kar and Ngwako Pan formations, which is the main target horizon in the KCB.
A very high degree of resolution has been achieved with the inversions on the known folding in the belt, and has verified Kavango’s hypotheses on variable wavelengths of the folds and brittle fault accomodations within the fold patterns to accomdate strain. The faults are postulated to have acted as conduits for mineralizing fluids, that could host deposits where they intersect the D’Kar / Ngwako Pan contact.
The results from the CSAMT inversions are providing us with estimated depths for the D’Kar / Ngwako Pan contact in the range of 150m to 300m from surface. This has led to the decision to switch to diamond drilling, in order to reach target depths with confidence and return drillcore for analyses.“
Next Steps:
The northernmost CSAMT Line 4A is currently completed on Kavango’s ground and the geophysical team is ready to deploy across the part of Sandfire’s ground that hosts the Kronos deposit. This calibration point for the CSAMT survey is expected to confirm the signature for the D’Kar / Ngwako Pan contact.
Kavango had mobilised a multipurpose rig to give maximum operational flexibility as the drill campaign progressed. The ability to switch between reverse circulation and diamond core drilling is a strength of this programme and the Company is now able to take full advantage of this. The results of the CSAMT survey necessitate the switch to diamond drill core in order to test the interpreted contact between the D’Kar and Ngwako Pan rocks, which is the critical target horizon in the KCB.
Kavango has now decided to pre-collar its current planned holes on PL082/2018 with cost-effective reverse circulation drilling and then to return to each of them to complete with the diamond tails. The Company’s expectation is that the core samples will provide valuable geological data that confirms the presence of the crucial D’kar/Ngwako Pan formational contact in Kavango’s licence area and, hopefully, copper-silver mineralisation.
Further information in respect of the Company and its business interests is provided on the Company’s website at www.kavangoresources.com and on Twitter at #KAV.
For further information please contact:
Kavango Resources plc
Ben Turney
bturney@kavangoresources.com
+46 7697 406 06
First Equity (Joint Broker)
+44 207 374 2212
Jason Robertson
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
+44 1483 413500
Nick Emerson
Kavango Competent Person Statement
The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to geology and exploration have been read and approved by Brett Grist BSc(Hons) FAusIMM (CP). Mr Grist is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with Chartered Professional status. Mr Grist has sufficient experience that is relevant to the exploration programmes and geology of the main styles of mineralisation and deposit types under consideration to act as a Qualified Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’.
The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to geophysics have been read and approved by Mr. Jeremy S. Brett, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Geophysical Consultant, Jeremy S. Brett International Consulting Ltd. in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Brett is a member of the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society, and the Society of Economic Geologists. Mr. Brett has sufficient experience that is relevant to geophysics applied to the styles of mineralization and types of deposits under consideration to act as a Qualified Person as defined under the Canadian National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.