31st May 2024
Kavango Resources
("Kavango" or "the
Company")
BOTS - Priority KCB Targets
identified
Kavango Resources plc (LSE: KAV), the Southern
Africa focussed metals exploration company, is pleased to announce
the first high priority targets have been identified for Phase 1 of
the drilling on the Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB) Karakubis Copper
Project in Botswana.
Highlights
·
Specialist geophysical consultant Emergo Srl has completed
Inversions on Airborne ElectroMagnetic ("AEM") data over the
central portion of Survey Block 1A of the Karakubis
Project.
o Kavango interprets
this area is underlain by lower D'Kar Formation ("DKF").
o The contact point
between the lower DKF and Ngwako Pan Formation ("NPF") is known to
coincide with major copper/silver ("Cu/Ag") deposits in the
region.
·
Kavango has identified five high priority target areas for
immediate Gradient Array Induced Polarisation ("IP") surveys to
refine drill targets.
o The high priority
target areas are interpreted to be underlain by lower DKF
stratigraphy, occupying a faulted block within the Kara Antiform,
which lies along a gravity high believed to represent a basin
margin setting.
o A large number of
potential drill targets have been identified, which will be ranked
according to results of the IP surveys.
·
First phase of drilling, totalling approximately 5,000 m,
designed to test trap site structures associated with doubly
plunging fold targets and anticlines identified initially from
modelling of AEM data as being relatively shallow, at
~200-300m.
·
Diamond core drilling of selected targets will be undertaken
by Mitchell Drilling, commencing in June.
·
Further priority targets anticipated as data processing and
interpretation are completed for survey results from Survey Blocks
1A and 1B.
Ben Turney,
Chief Executive Officer of Kavango Resources,
commented:
"Kavango
holds in excess of 6,200 km2 of highly prospective
ground in the Kalahari Copper Belt. This is a very large land
package with the potential to host multiple, large-scale copper
silver deposits.
Over the last
18 months, our team has completed the painstaking task of compiling
a wide array of exploration data to maximise our chances of drill
success. This work has generated more target areas than we
anticipated, which is especially positive for the overall potential
of the Karakubis Project.
Although we
still have further airborne data to process, the targets we have
identified are already strong enough to be classed high priority.
As such, we have decided to push ahead with
drilling.
Our primary
objective will be to prove that our target areas cover a copper
mineralising system. We had previously reported the identification
of favourable structural geology for possible trap zones. If we can
now prove that copper mineralised fluids passed through the region
our chances of success should increase
significantly.
We look
forward to the results of the IP surveys to refine final target
selection and then to commence drilling in the coming
weeks."
Karakubis
Exploration Targeting Results
A comprehensive compilation and analysis of all
available data has so far identified five high priority targets
interpreted to be underlain by favourable lower DKF, (Figure 1)
with more priority targets anticipated as data processing of
inversions is completed and interpreted.
Survey lines are currently being cut in
preparation for Gradient Array Induced Polarization ("IP") with
additional Insight section surveys anticipated. The large number of
prospective targets identified by modelling of the AEM will be
prioritized with the IP and then will then be selected and ranked
by Kavango. The highest ranked of these will be drill tested,
starting in June.
The lower DKF lithologies have been identified
from Kavango geological mapping in conjunction with systematic
detailed lithological and structural logging of historical
exploration and water boreholes together with examination of
handheld portable X-ray fluorescent ("pXRF") measurements of drill
cores and drill chips, supported by magnetic susceptibility
measurements.
The interpreted lower DKF setting
is supported by coincident AEM (Figure 2), magnetic, gravity and
Sentinel 2 satellite data (Figure 3) which clearly define doubly
plunging fold hinge targets (domes/basin highs) in the interpreted
underlying DKF.
Figure 1, Locality map
highlighting the 5 priority areas to be covered by IP surveys,
located within the NRG survey block 1A, together with the current
progress of AEM Inversion processing. Geology base map compiled by
Kavango shows interpreted prospective lower D'Kar Formation
underlying the target areas.
Figure 2, Oblique view of AEM
mid-time data image, with structural overlay. Lower D'Kar Formation
is interpreted to underly the areas in blue, with middle &
upper D'Kar Formation interpreted to underly the areas in red. A
NE-SW trending structure appears to define a break between the
lower and middle D'Kar, with evidence from borehole logging data
supporting this.
Figure 3, Oblique view of the
Sentinel 2B 16bit_20231020_0000000_2500mm_multispectral image over
part of the Karakubis area, clearly showing well defined fold
patterns that appear coincident with interpreted faults and fold
displayed in the underlying AEM Inversions.
Helicopter-borne gravity also clearly defines a
WSW-ENE trending ~9 milliGal gravity high underlying the Kara
Antiform, believed to represent a basin margin. Such basin margin
positions along the KCB are considered prospective sites for the
focus of Cu-Ag mineralisation and host the two existing mines and
numerous known deposits.
Closer inspection of the Karakubis Project
gravity data appears to show a thinner package of DKF lithologies,
(lower DKF) underlying the central portion of the Karakubis
Project, while increasingly thicker packages of D'Kar lithologies
(middle and upper DKF) occur along strike to the northeast and in
the fold closure towards the southwest, Figure 4.
Figure 4, Oblique view of the
NRG bouguer gravity image with structural overlay. Central portion
of the image appears to show small domes (green through
yellow-brown) possibly representing folded packages within the
lower D'Kar sequences and possibly thicker packages (red through to
white) of folded middle and upper D'Kar sequences in the SW and
NE.
The five high priority target areas all appear
in the gravity data to be located above a series of small,
interlinked domes separated by embayments. These same domes appear
as tightly folded doubly plunging fold structures in the magnetic
tilt derivative TDR data supported by the Sentinel 2 satellite
imagery.
The first phase of drilling, totalling
approximately 5,000m, is being designed to test for mineralisation
within trap site structures associated with doubly plunging fold
targets and anticlines identified initially from modelling of AEM
data, refined with results from the IP surveys, like those shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 5, Plan view of the
magnetic TDR image with structural overlay and preliminary drill
targets. Note the doubly plunging fold structures located within
the IP block outlines.
The preliminary set of holes target "washout"
structures in the AEM Inversions that appear coincident with
structural breaks in anticlinal folds. Such washout features have
been seen elsewhere on the KCB to be associated with
mineralisation. These preliminary holes will be refined when IP
data becomes available and further prioritised.
Figure 6, Sectional view of
AEM Inversion image with preliminary drill targets. In this example
one hole is sited to intersect a "washout" on the northern limb of
a small anticlinal fold close to the southwest plunging fold
closure while the second hole targets the potential trap site in
the core of the fold.
The central portion of Block 1A was selected
for the first phase of drilling as the target trap sites above the
DKF/NPF contact are interpreted as being located at a relatively
shallow depth, around 200m below surface.
The exploration and drilling strategy aims to
validate the interpretations made to date by establishing the
stratigraphic position, verify the presence of structural trap
sites and prove the presence of a mineralising system through
identification of path finder minerals.
Further work will be undertaken based upon
interpretation of the results.
For further information please
contact:
Kavango
Resources plc
Ben Turney
+46 7697 406 06
First Equity (Broker)
Jason Robertson
+44 207 374 2212
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'. Mr Grist is an
employee of Kavango Resources plc.
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.