Cobre Ltd (ASX:CBE) has begun further soil sampling and preparations for the upcoming 10,000-metre aircore program at its Kitlanya West (KITW) Project on the northern margin of the Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB) in Botswana.
The company had identified several multi-element geochemical anomalies potentially related to copper-silver mineralisation associated with fold limbs and hinge zones at KITW in 2022.
Subsequently, a second phase of soil sampling consisting of 8,600 samples designed to test the lateral extent of existing anomalies is now in progress with results expected by mid-year.
What’s more, the aircore drill rig has arrived in Africa and access clearing is underway in preparation for the program to start in April.
Emerging copper district
Cobre CEO Adam Wooldridge said: “Kitlanya West has all the characteristic geological markers for hosting undiscovered KCB copper-silver deposits.
“The mineral potential of the project is further supported by its potential for a variety of target types including traditional limb, fold-hinge and doubly-plunging fold trap sites.
“Adding several compelling soil geochemistry anomalies into the mix adds further weight to the project’s potential.
“The relatively thin Kalahari cover also simplifies soil geochemistry and provides an ideal environment for aircore drilling which collectively provides a cost-effective means for testing multiple targets across the licence area.
“Results from this next phase of work will go a long way to opening this emerging copper district.”
Work program
Cobre has designed a large-scale aircore drilling program to test the base of the Kalahari cover/top of bedrock in several priority areas at KITW
This will provide valuable information on the position and potential copper enrichment of the important Ngwako-Pan/D’Kar Formation redox contact and overlying stratigraphy.
At Ngami Copper Project (NCP), the ongoing 5,000-metre diamond drilling program is expected to be completed at the end of April with assay results due a few weeks thereafter.
In addition to evaluating several new targets, this program has been able to demonstrate that a combination of detailed ground gravity, partial leach geochemistry and geochemical vectors from drilling can be used successfully to identify higher-grade portions of targets.