Midas Minerals has intersected 57 metres of visible copper sulphide mineralisation across two broad zones in the maiden drill hole at its Deblin Copper-Gold-Silver Deposit, marking an encouraging start to the company’s first resource drilling campaign at the Otavi Copper Project in northern Namibia.
The inaugural diamond drill hole, DBDD001, intersected a 37-metre mineralised interval from 367 metres to 404 metres, followed by a further 20-metre interval from 427 metres to 447 metres. Both zones contain strong visible chalcopyrite and bornite mineralisation, with laboratory assay results expected during the September quarter.
The maiden results build on historical drilling completed by Nexa Resources, whose nearby holes returned intersections of up to 15 metres grading 4.15% copper, 14.6 grams per tonne silver and 0.22 grams per tonne gold, confirming the potential of the Deblin deposit within the Otavi Copper Project.
Midas said the first drill hole was positioned between two historical Nexa holes and intercepted mineralisation within the Askevold volcanic sequence in a geological setting comparable to earlier high-grade copper intersections. The company described the mineralisation as moderate to high-grade copper sulphides based on visual logging, although it cautioned that only laboratory analyses will determine the actual metal grades.
The two follow-up diamond drill holes, DBDD002 and DBDD003, also intersected significant visible chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite over intervals ranging between 30 metres and 50 metres. These holes were drilled approximately 80 metres and 150 metres north of the first hole respectively, extending the known mineralised footprint.
The Deblin target forms part of a mineralised corridor extending for at least 1.1 kilometres, beginning at surface in the north-west and continuing southeast towards the current drilling area. Midas currently has three rigs operating at Deblin—two diamond drill rigs focused on resource definition and one reverse circulation rig testing additional exploration targets—while six drilling rigs are active across the wider Otavi Project. A seventh rig is expected to arrive before the end of June.
Managing director Mark Calderwood said the first hole had exceeded expectations.
“Our first hole drilled has unexpectedly intercepted two wide zones of strong copper mineralisation, making it visually superior to the two previous holes drilled by Nexa, further highlighting the prospectivity and resource potential at Deblin,” he said.
He said the company was working to submit samples from the first three holes for laboratory analysis as quickly as possible, with results expected during the September quarter, while systematic drilling across the Deblin resource corridor would continue over the coming months.
The Deblin programme forms part of Midas’ broader strategy to rapidly define resources across the Otavi Copper Project. The company expects to release an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the T-13 copper deposit before the end of 2026, followed by a maiden resource estimate for Deblin in the first quarter of 2027.
The Otavi Copper Project is emerging as one of Namibia’s most active base metals exploration programmes, with multiple deposits, six active drilling rigs and several untested targets scheduled for drilling during the second half of 2026.
