Andrew Bell, Chairman, comments: “Our work in the Congo has exposed us to a number of opportunities, at the time when setbacks in the market and in cobalt and copper prices, combined with the uncertainties related to the elections, had created a market more favourable to buyers than for some time. The low entry cost of this opportunity, and its mineral potential made it worth taking.”
Red Rock Resources Plc, the natural resource development company with interests in gold, manganese and oil production, announces commencement this week of a soil sampling programme on a license in the Copperbelt in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) near the Zambian border. The license is considered prospective for copper and cobalt mineralisation, and was recently acquired from a private seller.
80% of license PR13513 was acquired together with a nearby license and a gold-prospective license in the northern DRC adjacent to the licenses containing Randgold’s Kibali mine, at a cost of US$60,000. The balance of 20% of the licenses is retained by the vendor, Congo Geologist Galaxy.
Following a visit to the license by the Company’s consultant geologist, indications of mineral sequences found in the Zambian Copperbelt were identified, as well as interesting structural features and evidence of copper mineralisation. This visit is being followed up by a soil sampling programme on grids of 100m by 100m and 100m by 200m in different parts of the license. The method used is termite mound sampling (échantillonage termitière), which has been found an effective tool for soil sampling in the DRC.
The programme seeks to test the hypothesis that copper and cobalt mineralisation is present and has been concentrated by the local geological structures.
The Company’s local contractor, Minex Consulting SA, has mobilised a 14 man team to the site and expects to complete a 17 day programme before the rainy season begins.
Elsewhere in the DRC, Red Rock continues to move towards finalitisation of its joint venture with VUP, where it last updated the market on 28th September.
