Arc Minerals (LON: ARCM), an exploration company forging partnerships to discover and develop Tier 1 copper deposits, is pleased to provide an update on drilling activities at its Virgo Project within the highly prospective Central Structural Corridor of the Kalahari Copper Belt (‘KCB’) in the Republic of Botswana.
Highlights
· First phase exploration drilling campaign completed on licence PL135/2017
· Eight holes completed for 3,023 metres of Reverse Circulation and Core Diamond Drilling on budget and on time
· A total of 562 kilograms of sampled core consisting of 309 samples shipped for assay
· Drilling activities relocated to licence PL162/2017 following completion of first phase of drilling at PL135/2017
Nick von Schirnding, Executive Chairman of Arc Minerals, commented:
“I am very pleased with progress made at our Botswana licence and look forward to providing shareholders with a more comprehensive update once we receive the assay results. In line with our original plan we have now relocated drilling to our second license.”
Further Details
The first phase to the maiden exploration programme in the central part of licence PL135/2017 consisted of eight holes totalling 3,023m, of which 1,978m were drilled by reverse circulation (‘RC’) and 1,045m by core diamond drilling (‘DD’) methods. The drilling was completed on budget and on time.
The DD core was split into 309 samples with an aggregate weight of 562.45kg and has been shipped by road to ALS Global in Johannesburg for analysis with results expected around the end of October 2024.
Drilling activities have now relocated to licence PL162/2017, where scout drilling in 2022 intersected 3m @ 1.45% Cu and 9.33 g/t Ag. The first phase to this maiden exploration drilling program is expected to comprise approximately six holes, with the possibility of additional holes depending on observations from core resulting from the initial holes.
Qualified Persons
Mr Vassilios Carellas (BSc (Hons), MAusIMM) is the Chief Operating Officer for Arc Minerals and has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined under the JORC Code (2012). Mr Carellas consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the technical matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
For further information contact:
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Arc Minerals Ltd Nick von Schirnding (Executive Chairman)
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c/o Benchmark Communications |
Background on the Virgo Licences
Licence PL 135/2017
The Company’s prospecting licence PL135/2017 is surrounded on three sides by the prospecting licences of Khoemacau Copper Mining Limited (“Khoemacau”), who have recently been acquired by MMG for c.$1.9 billion.
This licence is located towards the south-eastern margin of the Kalahari Copper Belt occupying a similar geological setting to that recently drilled by Khoemacau at their recent Mawana Fold Discovery and the Zone 9 exploration target, where economic grades of copper mineralisation have already been intersected by drilling. These discoveries are located at the north-western and south-eastern margins of the Company’s prospecting licence, respectively.
Khoemacau’s Mawana fold discovery has defined a possible economic zone of copper mineralisation that appears to trend towards and into the Company’s licence PL 135/2017 (Figure 1.). The Company’s recent scout drill holes intersected anomalous grades of copper mineralisation close to this apparent trend and confirmed an east-west trending DKF-NPF contact position approximately 5km long running through the licence.
Fig 1. Image showing Khoemacau licence holding, targets and drilling results in relation to PL 135/2017.
In November 2021, Arc Minerals Limited acquired a 75% interest in Alvis-Crest (Proprietary) Limited, the holder of two prospecting licences (PL 135/2017 & PL 162/2017) in Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt (“KCB”), colloquially called the Virgo Project/Licences. Licence PL 135/2017 is approximately 10km south-east of the large underground Khoemacau Copper mine recently commissioned by Cupric Canyon Capital LP.
A map of the licences is available here:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3027T_1-2021-3-24.pdf
The Virgo Licences cover an area of over 210km2 and lie within (PL 165/2017) and adjacent (PL 135/2017) to the highly prospective Central Structural Corridor and within 10km and 50km of the Zone 5 and Banana Zone copper projects respectively, known as the two largest copper projects on the KCB.
Historically, two copper-nickel soil anomalies have already been recorded on PL 135/2017 and PL 162/2017 and are approximately 3km and 2.5km in strike length, respectively. The largest of the two anomalies, located on PL 135/2017, overlays an interpreted DKF-NPF contact, while a second, more intermittent, anomaly may be linked to extensional faulting around the dome edge. The large coherent anomaly on PL 162/2017 also appears to overlay the interpreted DKF-NPF contact on the northern limb of a syncline.
