Could it be that the ground Kavango Resources (LSE: KAV) holds at the Kalahari Suture Zone (“KSZ”) contains not one but two discrete major mineralized zones?
By Alexander Crossing
And that the mineralized events that created them are not only loosely connected but might each make for a viable mine in their own right given time?
That’s what the early data appears to be showing as Kavango pushes on deeper at the KSZ, both with gravity and electromagnetic surveying and with actual drilling.
The prospectivity of the entire structure is encompassed in a geological feature that Kavango has labelled as the ‘Great Red Spot’.
This Great Red Spot is a magnetic anomaly that sports a diameter of around 11 kilometres and a depth that isn’t yet clear, but which probably runs into the several hundreds of metres.
Current drilling is heading towards the top of the Great Red Spot as we speak and aims in the first instance to intercept a 300 metre by 600 metre geophysical body known as the B1 conductor that has returned strong conductivity readings.
On one reading of all the data that’s been assembled so far, and all the activity that’s currently underway, the B1 conductor could be the kernel of a significantly mineralized zone near to the top of the Great Red Spot.
But what happens if you go further down, inside that same geological feature, the Great Red Spot?
Recently acquired gravity data suggests that some way below the B1 conductor lies a second, discrete area of interest, where the density of the rock is much greater than the broader rock setting around it.
Having rock of a greater density could point to a number of possible outcomes, and it’s noticeable that–at this stage–Kavango has been very cautious about pointing directly to any of them.
Nevertheless, the gravity data has clearly raised the interest of the company’s technicians, with the backing of the board, and given that there’s also core from an earlier drillhole available for inspection, it’s going to be intriguing to find out why when more detailed results come out later in the year.
Already, though, Kavango’s chief executive Ben Turney feels comfortable enough to speak openly about the possibility of “stacked” mineralized systems at the Kalahari Suture Zone.
He cautions that the younger, shallower gabbro rocks formed between 359 million and 251 million years ago, which form part of what’s known as the Karoo System, remain the company’s primary target–at least for now.
The deeper target, identified by the gravity survey, is likely to have been formed during the Proterozoic era, which is typically dated at between 2,500 million years ago and 541 million years ago.
So, if there are two distinct mineralized zones stacked one on top of the other at the Kalahari Suture Zone, it seems probably not only that they will be separated vertically by several hundred metres, but also in time by several hundred million years.
Kavango is a small company, so this embarrassment of riches may take a while to sort out. It seems sensible enough, at least in the immediate term, to keep the focus on the upper target, the B1 Conductor, if only because it will be easier to turn into a mine as it’s much nearer the surface.
In the end, though, everything will depend on how rich any respective mineralization that gets discovered turns out to be.
While the early speculation has been that the Karoo-age structure may contain a massive sulphide zone, and as such base or precious metals, talk about the Proterozoic zone deeper down has been much looser.
In short, more work needs to be done.
But if anyone doubted that exploration could be simultaneously exciting, intellectually intriguing, and to a degree mystifying, they need look no further than the Kalahari Suture Zone. At this stage, it looks like this exploration project has got it all.
But whether it really does – and whether it even has anything – only time will tell.
Alexander Crossing
