Kopore Metals expands footprint in Kalahari Copper Belt with Namibia acquisition
Kopore Metals has acquired eight prospecting licenses over an area of 5,705km2 on the Kalahari Copper Belt in Namibia.
Africa-focused mineral explorer Kopore Metals (ASX: KMT) has expanded its footprint in the Kalahari Copper Belt with the acquisition of eight prospecting licences in Namibia.
This is the first time the copper-silver explorer has pegged ground in Namibia, although it holds existing tenements under two project areas within the belt – Ghanzi West and Senyetse Group, located in Botswana.
The Nambian Department of Mines and Energy delivered a notice of preparedness to grant each of the licences for a three-year period. Kopore said it has accepted the terms and conditions and is now awaiting issue of the final documents.
The licences span an area of 5705sq km and are located about 350km northeast of the nation’s capital of Windhoek. They join to Kopore’s Ghanzi West tenements, providing a consolidated 14,363sq km project area.
Kopore managing director Grant Ferguson said the company was excited by this extensive land package and would continue its aggressive exploration programs.
“The recent exploration success in Botswana on our contiguous licences compelled the company to apply and secure these licences that sit on clear structural trends from existing deposits, further expanding our potential success for discovery on the Kalahari Copper Belt,” he said.
According to Kopore, limited exploration has been conducted in the area over the last decade, including diamond drilling, reverse circulation drilling and soil sampling, with a number of copper prospects identified.
Funding for maiden drill program
Kopore kicked off a maiden drilling program in the Ghanzi West project area almost a fortnight ago.
The initial 3000m program will target the KM3 and GW3 targets that have been identified by surface soil geochemistry assays and an airborne electromagnetic survey.
To fund this work, the company also today announced it has completed an oversubscribed share placement to raise A$2.67 million. Following completion of the placement, Kopore’s net cash will sit at A$3.9 million.
“Kopore is now well capitalised to accelerate the current program over the highly- prospective targets, with initial drilling to focus on KM3 and GW3 prospects,” Ferguson said.
“We continue to define further targets that will be prioritised accordingly for future drilling.”
While Kopore has stated its priority remains with the Botswana drill program, it is concurrently collating data in Namibia as part of the environmental clearance process. The company is aiming to have an environmental management plan approved by the 2018 fourth quarter.
“The company will reprocess historic data in parallel with its maiden drill program on its first of multiple regional-scale coincident copper soil anomalies and airborne electromagnetic conductor zones,” Ferguson said.
Kopore shares jumped up 18.5% to A$0.32 following the news but had slipped back down to A$0.028 by early afternoon trade.