Kavango Resources plc (LSE:KAV), the Southern Africa-focused metals exploration and gold production company, has announced the discovery of several new gold-bearing structures at the Bill’s Luck Gold Mine, part of the Hillside Project in Zimbabwe. The findings significantly expand the known gold system and strengthen the commercial outlook for the site.
Key Highlights
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Significant Gold Discoveries:
New gold-bearing “reefs” have been identified both along strike and downdip from current mining operations, indicating a potentially much larger mineralised system than previously anticipated. -
Extensive Drilling Campaign:
Over 3,800m of combined diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling has been completed since mining began at Bill’s Luck in August 2024. Drilling targeted near-term development zones and confirmed multiple new gold structures:-
Four possible ore shoots identified along a 245m stretch of the Main Reef, which remains open along strike.
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Two new parallel structures discovered 100m northwest of the Main Reef.
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Additional quartz reef structures found in both the hanging-wall and foot-wall zones.
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Notable Drill Results:
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Diamond Drilling:
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BLDD007:
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1.46g/t over 1m from 43.00m (hanging-wall)
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1.65g/t over 0.4m from 228.90m (foot-wall, up to 4m wide)
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1.90g/t over 0.8m from 249.50m (foot-wall, up to 2.5m wide)
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BLDD006:
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1.38g/t over 3.00m from 196.00m
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2.24g/t over 0.84m from 216.74m (foot-wall, up to 2m wide)
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RC Drilling Phase One:
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BLPD002: 2.69g/t over 3.00m from 44.00m
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BLPD004: 9.26g/t over 2.00m from 22.00m
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BLPD010: 2.65g/t over 1.00m from 53.00m
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RC Drilling Phase Two:
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BLRC002: 1.57g/t over 2.00m from 52.00m
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BLRC008B: 3.61g/t over 1.00m from 34.00m
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Roscor Shaft Developments:
Gold mineralisation intersected at depths of 160m at Bill’s Luck and 180m at the nearby Roscor shaft. Work is underway to bring Roscor into production.
Next Steps
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Kavango’s exploration team will initiate an infill and step-out drilling programme using both diamond and RC methods to further delineate the geometry and continuity of the new gold reefs.
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Geotechnical drilling is expected to begin shortly.
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The company’s mining division is preparing a development plan to assess engineering and processing requirements for scaling up production at Bill’s Luck through the remainder of 2025.
Outlook
The discovery of multiple new mineralised structures at Bill’s Luck has exceeded expectations and materially enhances the mine’s long-term development potential. Kavango is now focused on accelerating exploration and production planning to capitalise on the expanded resource.
Ben Turney, Chief Executive Officer of Kavango Resources, commented:
“Bill’s Luck continues to exceed expectations. Following yesterday’s appointment of Everjoy Ngomamiti as our General Manager for mining operations, we are positioned to move quickly on these excellent results and accelerate our plans to increase gold production at this mine.
It is clear that Bill’s Luck is significantly bigger than we originally interpreted. We intersected gold-bearing quartz veins across many of the holes we drilled. The discovery of new gold mineralised reefs and gold mineralisation running to at least 180m depth highlight the exceptional opportunity in this system.
This was a significant mine development campaign for Kavango. During the first half of this year, we drilled 3,800m of combined diamond core and reverse circulation drilling to test the strike extent and down dip continuity at Bill’s Luck. We also checked the extents of historical voids from previous mining, to define safe mining limits for current operations, and took the opportunity to test targets in the hanging wall and foot-wall of the main reef.
We appear to have identified four separate “ore shoots” that “pinch and swell”. This is in keeping with what we have encountered in mining operations at Bill’s Luck. The grade distribution and discovery of parallel structures, that could extend for 1.5km of strike, make this a highly prospective target for near-term development.
With the potential to add new sources of ore and build out mineable reserves, we are now assessing options to upgrade production significantly at Bill’s Luck over the course of 2025.”
