Trigon Metals CEO Jed Richardson says they can now confirm that copper mineralisation continues 15km east of the main Kombat mining licence 73B in Namibia.
Richardson said this after a drilling campaign intercepted 7.0m at 3.52% copper and 43.09 g/t silver at Schlangental, a key prospect within the more expansive Kombat property.
According to Richardson, it is over 25 million tonnes of combined tonnes over 2% copper, almost all contained in just 2.1 km.
Richardson said the expanse of the Copper King Extension, specifically Schlangental, has long been an area of interest for management and the exploration team.
Richardson added that these results bolster the belief that Otavi Valley still has plenty of new copper to be discovered.
“In 45 years of mining, about 12.5 million tonnes were mined at 2.6% copper plus associated silver, and we still have a measured and indicated resource of another 13.3 million tonnes at 2.2%,” Richardson said.
The drilling at Schlangental is the first campaign testing mineralisation outside of the main Kombat mining license on the Copper King Extension exploration prospect.
Only two of the planned 36 holes, totalling 4000m, have been drilled to date, both of which intercept mineralisation at modest depths.
Surface mineralisation attracted Trigon geologists to the Schlangental area, where reports of historic drilling indicated that mineralisation continued at depth, but no cores or detailed logs were available.
Trigon said the mineralisation was largely chalcocite (sulfide) and malachite (oxide) with associated higher-than-average silver compared to the main mineral resource at the Kombat mine and compared to the bornite and chalcopyrite copper sulfides predominant at the Kombat mine.
The company added that given the encouraging start, deeper drilling would now be undertaken to confirm if this pattern continues in the new area.