Ongwe Minerals has mobilised two drill rigs for a 5,000-metre maiden drilling programme at its newly discovered Nguni gold prospect in Namibia, just four months after identifying a gold-in-soil anomaly stretching for more than six kilometres.
The company said on Monday that diamond and reverse-circulation drilling had started at Nguni, part of its Omatjete Gold Project, as it seeks to establish whether the extensive surface anomaly continues into potentially economic gold mineralisation at depth.
Nguni was discovered in May 2026 during regional soil sampling along the Okondeka Fault Zone and lies about 17 kilometres east of Ongwe’s Manga gold discovery and 55 kilometres east of WIA Gold’s Kokoseb deposit.
The initial programme will comprise about 18 diamond holes totalling 3,500 metres targeting the higher-grade portions of the anomaly, while a second reverse-circulation rig will drill approximately 1,500 metres across lower-priority targets to determine their potential and help rank areas for further exploration.
Ongwe said infill soil sampling has now defined 50 samples containing more than 300 parts per billion gold, with the highest result reaching 1,310ppb.
Chief executive Dave Underwood said the six-kilometre anomaly was similar in scale and tenor to the surface anomaly identified at neighbouring Kokoseb before that deposit was drilled.
“The central portion of the Nguni gold anomaly has now been closely defined by infill soil sampling, with 50 soil samples above 300ppb Au, peaking at 1,310ppb Au,” Underwood said.
“We are now embarking on the maiden, fully funded drill program at this exciting target.”
The company cautions through its technical disclosure that the surface analytical work identifies gold anomalism rather than establishing a mineral resource. The drilling programme is therefore intended to determine whether any significant mineralisation exists beneath the surface anomaly.
The diamond rig will initially concentrate on the northwestern part of Nguni before testing higher-grade soil anomalies in the northwestern and southeastern areas.
Ongwe said diamond drilling was chosen for the highest-priority areas because drill core will provide geological, structural and mineralogical information to refine subsequent drilling.
The RC rig provides a faster, cheaper way to carry out first-pass tests over lower-priority portions of the anomaly.
The company said either programme could be expanded or modified depending on geological logging and assay results from the initial holes.
Geological mapping indicates that the targeted metasedimentary units predominantly dip towards the south-southeast, resulting in most of the initial holes being drilled towards the north.
Nguni occurs along narrow zones of metasedimentary rocks between late- to post-orogenic granites. The area has little visible outcrop, but Ongwe believes the gold anomaly occurs in residual soils and likely reflects underlying geology rather than transported material.
Ongwe is also preparing another round of drilling at Manga, where it made its earlier Omatjete gold discovery about 17 kilometres west of Nguni.
Five diamond holes totalling approximately 1,000 metres are planned to test the eastern extension of Manga, taking the combined planned drilling across Nguni and Manga to approximately 6,000 metres.
Manga was discovered during regional soil sampling in the fourth quarter of 2024 when exploration outlined an arsenic and gold anomaly approximately 4.5 kilometres long and up to one kilometre wide.
Subsequent exploration included trenching and 11 RC scout holes, with 10 of the 11 holes returning anomalous gold values.
One of the better previous intersections was 138 metres grading 0.22 grams of gold per tonne in hole MRC006.
Ongwe subsequently changed its exploration approach because calcrete and alluvial sediments cover Manga. Vertical holes were drilled through the cover to sample the underlying bedrock, an exploration technique the company says Osino Resources pioneered at the Twin Hills gold project.
Results from that programme indicate that Manga becomes wider and higher grade to the east, where increasingly thick calcrete masks the underlying gold mineralisation.
The five-hole diamond programme will therefore target the higher-grade and wider portion of the bedrock anomaly east of the previous RC drilling.
Ongwe said the priority anomaly extends for at least one kilometre and remains open towards the east.
Both Nguni and Manga are being explored along the Okondeka Fault Zone, a regional geological structure that also hosts WIA Gold’s Kokoseb deposit.
Ongwe’s announcement cites WIA’s 16 July 2026 estimate for Kokoseb: 54.2 million tonnes grading 1.04 grams of gold per tonne in the indicated category, and another 35 million tonnes grading 0.99 grams per tonne inferred.
Proximity does not mean Nguni or Manga will develop into deposits of comparable scale or grade, but it explains why Ongwe is placing considerable exploration emphasis on the Okondeka Fault Zone.
Nguni remains at a much earlier stage. It currently has no mineral resource, and the soil values cannot establish the grade or size of mineralisation below surface.
The maiden drilling programme will provide the first direct test of whether the six-kilometre surface anomaly corresponds with significant gold mineralisation at depth.
Ongwe said it verifies all prioritised soil samples through laboratory fire assay, and subjects its drill and sampling results to quality assurance and quality control procedures overseen by a qualified person and company president Carl Joone.
