Australian-listed Vantage Metals has identified copper-bearing minerals in its first drilling campaign at the Chanoga prospect in Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt, while additional soil sampling has revealed copper and silver anomalies across two exploration licences.
The company, formerly known as Belararox Limited, disclosed in its quarterly activities report released on 29 October 2026 that drilling had intersected the geological boundary associated with copper-silver mineralisation in the Kalahari Copper Belt.
The intersection was recorded in drill hole CHD005R at Chanoga, within prospecting licence PL0773, where geologists observed traces of chalcopyrite and bornite, both copper-bearing sulphide minerals.
The drilling encountered the contact between the Ngwako Pan and D’Kar formations, a geological boundary that controls copper mineralisation across the belt.
Vantage said the intersection confirmed its interpretation of the geological structures beneath the Kalahari Desert sands, allowing the company to identify additional drilling targets with greater confidence.
The company is undertaking an initial drilling programme of between 5,000 and 10,000 metres across its Kalahari Copper Project, which covers approximately 2,500 square kilometres east and south of Maun.
The project is situated within 100 kilometres of MMG’s Khoemacau copper mining operations, which currently produce approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper annually, according to Vantage’s report.
Drilling at Chanoga identified traces of chalcopyrite across several intervals, including 0.84 metres from a depth of 175.01 metres, 4.01 metres from 175.85 metres and 8.51 metres from 191.65 metres.
Bornite was also observed over a 1.81-metre interval between 198.35 and 200.16 metres.
The company cautioned that these observations were based on visual estimates and did not establish copper grades. Samples have been submitted for laboratory analysis, with results expected within four to six weeks.
Vantage chief executive officer Will Dix said the drilling results had achieved the initial objective of the exploration campaign.
“After quarter end, drilling at Chanoga intersected the interpreted prospective Ngwako Pan–D’Kar contact, achieving the initial objective of the campaign and strengthening confidence in our geophysical model,” Dix said.
He said the findings, together with copper-silver anomalies identified through soil sampling, provided a basis for further drilling along the geological trend and at greater depths.
The company is now drilling hole CHD007 to investigate the deeper extension of the anomalous zone.
Additional exploration work has also identified copper and silver anomalies within licences PL0773 and PL2743, despite the extensive sand cover that makes conventional surface exploration difficult.
At PL2743, a coherent geochemical anomaly coincides with a priority exploration area identified through airborne geophysical surveys.
The company said the results had prompted it to expand its soil sampling programme to investigate extensions of the prospective geological contact.
Its drilling campaign is expected to continue until at least the end of November, with further work planned across PL0773 and PL2743.
Vantage completed an airborne electromagnetic survey over its northern exploration licences during the June quarter, using the results to identify geological structures that may host copper mineralisation.
Subsequent interpretation extended the mapped prospective geological boundary across its licence portfolio and identified several additional areas suitable for drilling.
The company’s September quarter report also confirmed that it had changed its name from Belararox Limited to Vantage Metals Limited on 17 July 2026, following shareholder approval.
Vantage ended September with A$723,000 in cash and no debt. Following the quarter, it received A$500,000 from the sale of its Bullabulling gold project in Western Australia, in addition to an earlier A$150,000 option payment.
The company said drilling would continue through the December quarter as it investigates whether the geological structures and copper-silver anomalies identified at Chanoga and elsewhere within the Kalahari Copper Project contain economically significant mineralisation.
