An independent technical report on Ongwe Minerals’ Khorixas Gold Project in Namibia has recommended a C$4.3 million two-phase exploration programme, including 5,000 metres of diamond drilling, after reviewing exploration that has identified a more than 10km mineralised corridor at Belmont and a large, undrilled copper-gold-silver target at K17.
The NI 43-101 technical report, filed by Ongwe this week and prepared by independent mining consultancy MSA Group, assesses exploration undertaken at Khorixas since 2021 and concludes that the project has sufficient geological merit to justify further staged exploration.
MSA recommends 2,500m of diamond drilling at Belmont and another 2,500m at K17, supported by magnetic, induced-polarisation and gravity surveys, bedrock sampling and reverse-circulation drilling to refine targets before deeper drilling.
The proposed two-phase programme carries a total budget of C$4.3 million.
The report does not establish a Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve at Khorixas and cautions that the property remains an exploration-stage project. Instead, it independently reviews the work completed so far and identifies the next steps required to determine whether the mineralisation can be developed into more advanced exploration targets.
Belmont is the principal exploration focus and covers roughly 12km by 6km, within which 10 targets have been identified from calcrete, soil, and rock-chip sampling.
The technical report says the combination of geochemistry, trenching, percussion and diamond drilling, magnetics and bedrock sampling has defined a coherent mineralised corridor extending for more than 10km along and adjacent to the Khorixas-Gaseneirob Thrust.
Priority areas include BK1, BK2 and BK8 as well as the recently identified Plains Anomaly.
Historical exploration reviewed by MSA includes 25,800 soil samples, 1,500 calcrete samples, six trenches totalling 1,284m and 51 shallow percussion holes covering 2,282m. Four diamond holes totalling 570m were subsequently completed at Belmont.
Among the historical results highlighted in the report is a 6m intersection grading 6.86 grams per tonne gold from percussion hole BKP036 at the BK2 target.
Diamond hole BKDD003 was subsequently drilled to follow up that intersection and the mineralisation observed at surface. It encountered several quartz and sulphide-rich zones between 74m and 92m downhole, including a one-metre massive sulphide zone.
BKDD003 also returned 3m grading 7.39g/t gold from 89m.
MSA said diamond drilling at BK2 had confirmed down-dip continuity of quartz-sulphide mineralisation.
The report also highlights the Plains Anomaly, a 2km-long bedrock gold anomaly identified between BK1 and BK8 beneath thick alluvial and calcrete cover.
Ongwe has completed 639 bedrock-sampling holes totalling 3,970m across Belmont, designed to investigate areas where surface geochemistry can be obscured by cover.
At Plains, altered and mineralised bedrock has been identified across widths of up to 125m, with gold values in bedrock samples reaching 0.2g/t.
The independent report says the discovery materially enhances the exploration potential of the wider Belmont system.
K17 presents a different target because exploration has identified copper, gold and silver mineralisation rather than predominantly gold.
Rock-chip exploration has outlined highly anomalous copper and gold across an area of approximately 6km by 6km, with the mineralisation disappearing beneath cover to the north.
Ongwe has already completed geophysical work to determine what may lie beneath the surface mineralisation.
A magnetotelluric survey included a 51km deep-penetrating profile across the Khorixas basin followed by a 22-station grid covering 30 km² at K17 to identify conductors beneath the mineralised area.
Despite the surface results and geophysical targets, K17 has not yet been drill tested.
The recommended 2,500m programme would therefore provide the first direct drilling test of the prospect.
Khorixas covers about 1,344 km² immediately south and east of the town of Khorixas and comprises seven granted Exclusive Prospecting Licences and one EPL application.
MSA’s assessment does not establish whether Khorixas will ultimately support an economic mining operation, but it concludes that the exploration results to date warrant further expenditure.
The proposed C$4.3 million programme would now seek to establish whether the more than 10km mineralised system at Belmont and the surface copper-gold-silver mineralisation at K17 can be developed into targets for more advanced exploration.
