Nzuri Copper digs into more high-grade copper and cobalt at Monwezi target
Trenches being excavated at Monwezi 2 ahead of diamond drilling.
Nzuri Copper (ASX: NZC) has dug into more copper and cobalt at its Monwezi target about 5km from the company’s flagship Kalongwe project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the Monwezi 2 prospect, Nzuri pulled out a near surface 20.2m intersection grading 1.85% copper that included a 7.5m interval grading 2.39% copper.
Other smaller 1m intervals were identified with copper mineralisation grading up to 7.7%.
According to the company, the copper mineralisation is evident from near surface to about a 150m depth and extends along 300m of strike. Nzuri claims it believes the mineralisation remains open to the south-west.
Meanwhile, cobalt has been uncovered at the Monwezi 7 prospect with results including 8.6m at 0.17% cobalt, 8m at 0.2% cobalt and 2m at 0.23% cobalt.
These latest results build on early assays that were announced in late January where trenching at Monwezi 7 returned up to 3.7% cobalt.
“Initial drilling at Monwezi has confirmed that this area must be a priority focus for near-mine exploration in 2018 with the potential to yield additional satellite resources on the doorstep of the proposed DMS [dense media separation] plant at Kalongwe,” Nzuri chief executive officer Mark Arnesen stated back in January.
At the recent Mining Investment Conference in South Africa’s Cape Town, Mr Arnesen revealed to delegates the world’s largest cobalt producer China Huayou Cobalt had snapped up a 14.8% slice in the company for US$10 million.
Nzuri owns 85% of its flagship Kalongwe project, which is now fully permitted and has a 12-month development timeline.
A feasibility study on Kalongwe was published in October last year which estimated a seven-year life producing 19,360 tonnes per annum copper and 1,507tpa cobalt concentrate.
Kalongwe has an ore reserve of 6.98mt grading 3.03% copper for 211,494t of contained copper, and 0.37% cobalt with 25,826t of cobalt ore.
Nzuri is also investigating adding further value to the project via a stage two expansion with metallurgical testing underway and a scoping study due for completion by the end of the current quarter.