Kaoko Metals has expanded exploration at its Chalkos copper-silver project in Namibia, with two drill rigs now operating as the company advances the Otniel and Donkey Hill prospects across its approximately 400 km² landholding.
The Australian-listed explorer said on Sunday that Donkey Hill has about 800 metres of mineralisation mapped at surface across the Donkey Hill West and Donkey Hill East areas.
The surface expression forms part of the broader Otniel-Donkey Hill trend that Kaoko is investigating in the Kaoko Copper Belt.
“With two drill rigs now operating, Kaoko is positioned to advance both priority prospects while continuing regional exploration and target generation across its approximately 400km² Chalkos landholding,” the company said in an ASX announcement released on 21 September.
The company did not disclose assay results for Donkey Hill in the material released, meaning the grade, width and continuity of the mapped mineralisation at depth remain to be established through exploration.
At the same time, Kaoko is continuing and expanding its drilling programme at Otniel, the other priority prospect along the trend.
The company said a further market update detailing the expanded Otniel drilling programme is expected in the coming days.
Results from drill holes DTOT001 and DTOT002 are expected in approximately two to three weeks.
The simultaneous work at Otniel and Donkey Hill broadens the current exploration programme beyond a single prospect as Kaoko tests the mineralised trend while continuing to generate additional targets elsewhere within Chalkos.
Fieldwork across the wider project will continue alongside drilling, while the company also plans to begin drilling water bores.
Kaoko management is expected to visit the project in early October to oversee the expanded drilling programmes.
Chalkos is Kaoko Metals’ flagship copper-silver project and lies within Namibia’s Kaoko Copper Belt.
Kaoko says known mineralisation currently represents only a small part of its approximately 400 km² landholding and is using systematic exploration to expand the known mineralised areas while searching for additional targets.
The 800-metre surface expression at Donkey Hill provides another area for the company to investigate, but further work will be required to determine whether the outcropping mineralisation continues below surface and whether drilling can establish significant grades and widths.
No mineral resource for Donkey Hill was disclosed in the 21 September announcement.
Kaoko is pursuing copper, silver and gold opportunities in both Namibia’s Kaoko and Damara belts.
Apart from Chalkos, the company controls the Karibib gold-copper-tungsten project in the Damara Belt, close to the operating Navachab gold mine and the Twin Hills gold project.
At Karibib, Kaoko says its strategy is to advance known mineralised zones through staged exploration and eventual resource definition.
At Chalkos, however, the immediate focus is on the expanded drilling campaign. The market expects the next results to include details of the enlarged Otniel programme and assays from DTOT001 and DTOT002, while work continues at Donkey Hill and across the wider landholding.
