Golden Deeps has intersected a 90-metre-thick zone of silver-copper sulphide mineralisation at the Khusib Springs deposit.
The Khusib Springs Mine was a high-grade project in the Otavi Mountain Land near Grootfontein in Northern Namibia.
The deposit was discovered early in the 1990s through mapping and drilling and went into production in 1995.
Approximately 300,000 t at 10% Cu, 584 g/t Ag, and 1.8% Pb were mined from the deposit.
The mine closed in the early 2000s, and infrastructure is still in place, including the portal, previous buildings, and haul roads.
The new mineral resource estimate contains 1.9 Moz of silver equivalent metal in the indicated and inferred mineral resource category.
Work in 2020 by Shango on behalf of Golden Deeps highlighted the potential for remnant, open-pitiable mineralisation above the mined Khusib Springs deposit.
An evaluation by mining consultants Bara Consulting indicates the Khusib Springs Mineral Resource has a reasonable prospect of eventual economic extraction through underground mining via mechanised cut and fill for processing.
The new Khusib Springs mineral resource is in addition to the recently announced Nosib and Abenab vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, and silver deposits.
The silver-copper sulphide deposit discovered at Khusib Springs and the copper with silver sulphide deposit at Nosib has been converted to initial mineral resources to demonstrate potential economic viability so that drilling of these thick sulphide deposits can be continued to grow substantial silver-copper sulphide resources at both projects potentially.
The company intends to establish a mining license application over all three project areas while continuing exploration under the renewed EPL 3543 and 5496 to substantially grow the mineral resource base for long-term operations.
The mineral resource estimate used historical Gold Fields of Namibia drill holes and RC and diamond drilling from 2021 to late 2022.
Golden Deeps CEO Jon Dugdale said the increasing silver price had triggered a review and new mineral resource modelling targeting the new mineralisation discovered below the very high-grade Khusib Springs deposit.
Dugdale said the initial mineral resource modelling had shown potential for the thick zone of silver-copper mineralisation to extend west of the previous drilling, where the zone may re-develop into a massive sulphide zone, similar to the deposit previously mined. “Further drilling will be planned based on this new Mineral Resource model, offering the potential for discovering further high-grade silver-copper resources for development at Khusib Springs,” Dugdale said.
