Noronex Ltd (ASX: NRX) and its big joint-venture partner, global miner South 32 (ASX: S32), have struck 30m at 1.1 per cent copper-equivalent from a 5000m drill program at their Fiesta prospect, part of the wider Humpback-Damara project in the south-western African country of Namibia.
The project sits along the renowned Kalahari copper belt, stretching 800km in length and up to 250km wide, from northern Botswana into eastern Namibia.
Of the initial four holes from the western lens of the Fiesta prospect, all holes intersected significant copper and silver mineralisation.
The best results from the campaign to date include 30m grading 0.56 per cent copper and 62 grams per tonne silver for 1.1 per cent copper-equivalent from 158m, including 8m going 1.23 per cent copper and 138g/t silver for 2.5 per cent copper-equivalent.
Other noteworthy hits were 8m running at 0.46 per cent copper and 19g/t silver for a 0.62 per cent copper-equivalent grade from 233m and a 4m slice going 0.81 per cent copper and 5g/t silver from 159m for 0.86 per cent copper-equivalent.
The results are in addition to the company’s initial discovery at Fiesta of copper under 80m of sand cover at the reductant-sandstone contact, where 45m at 0.8 per cent copper and 23g/t silver for 1 per cent copper-equivalent was unearthed at a depth of 144m.
The drill campaign is being funded by a South 32 subsidiary under an existing earn-in and joint venture agreement that will see South 32 spend $3 million per year for five years.
The minimum $15m spend will provide South 32, a large, globally-diversified mining and metals company, with a 60 per cent interest in the project, which is being managed by Noronex.
Management says 14 reverse-circulation (RC) drill holes have been completed for 3500m from the 5000m total drilling expected to take place.
Drilling at the Fiesta Prospect continues to intersect significant copper and silver mineralisation, with these results demonstrating the presence of repeated horizons, likely in parallel shears, with the potential to bulk out into thick mineralised horizons. We are continuing to test a number of structural settings, all of which have the potential to host a major deposit within this large system.
Noronex Chief Geologist Bruce Hooper
Fiesta’s ground lies on the western closure of a structure at the prospective NPF-D’Kar contact. The drilling is targeting new mineralised zones across the 4km long mineral system identified at Fiesta.
A series of fence drill-holes running north to south across the western lens tested for parallel shears within the Lower-D’Kar formation. The holes intersected mineralisation across a 300m wide zone.
The company believes the multiple intercepts potentially provide for thicker zones that may be suitable for open-pit mining, which could dramatically increase the economic tonnes at the site.
A westernmost hole was drilled at Fiesta 60m along strike to the southwest, testing for extensions of known mineralisation to the west.
An 8m hit of 0.46 per cent copper and 19g/t silver for a 0.62 per cent copper-equivalent from 233m has extended the strike and further step-out drilling will follow.
The anomalous intersections appear to show similarities with deposits in Botswana that sit some 400km to the east and include Cupric Canyon’s world-class Khoemacau copper-silver project containing a mineral resource of 502 million tonnes grading 1.4 per cent copper and 17g/t silver.
When drilling is complete at Fiesta, the rig will move to the Damara section of the project to drill six RC holes, each to a depth of 250m.
The Damara program will target prominent gravity anomalies across three key prospects in Otjiuapehuri, Otjozondera and Okatumba Gate.
Noronex has an 8500-square kilometre exploration land package within the Kalahari copper belt, with the renowned structure producing 90,000 tonnes of copper per annum and 8 million tonnes of copper resources.
It also holds a 95 per cent interest the Witvlei project in Namibia containing a resource of 10mt at 1.3 per cent copper.
The company believes Namibia provides a favourable permitting regime, with recent project approvals occurring in much quicker timeframes than other copper producing nations.
With much talk about a looming copper shortage and an impending boom for the critical mineral, Noronex appears well-placed to benefit from any surge of interest or demand for the red metal.
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