Cobre Ltd (ASX:CBE) has completed an additional injection and pumping well at the Ngami Copper Project in the Kalahari Copper Belt of Botswana designed to add further hydrogeological understanding of fluid flow along the project’s primary mineralised target zone.
Combining this additional well with completed injection and monitoring wells, Cobre has established a reciprocal injection-pumping circuit.
This has demonstrated hydraulic connectivity between injection and pumping wells along the main mineralisation; and sufficient permeability in less fractured, deeper, moderate-grade portions of the mineralised contact to support natural injection for an in-situ copper recovery (ISCR) process.
Importantly, the program further demonstrates the viability of an ISCR process for extraction of copper-silver from the significant strike of mineralisation of between 103 and 166 million tonnes grading 0.38% to 0.46% copper — and builds on previously reported successful hydrogeological injection tests.
Locality map (plan above and oblique 3D view below) illustrating the position of the test study on the Southern Anticline of the NCP.
The company says that this phase of work completes the field test work for 2024 and will provide the basis for ongoing fluid flow modelling. The hydrogeological model forms a key component of the ongoing engineering and financial scoping study.
“Developing a robust hydrogeological model provides the foundation for our ISCR program. Successful completion of the pumping-injection study provides another milestone in our ISCR development journey,” Cobre CEO Adam Wooldridge said.
Groundwater response curves during injection and pumping with levels illustrated for both large diameter pump-injection wells. Results illustrate the hydrogeological connectivity between the wells.
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