Noronex says drilling at the Fiesta Project in the Kalahari Copper Belt is returning numerous highly encouraging intercepts, which the program aims to extend.
The Fiesta Project lies on the western closure of a domal structure at the prospective NPF-D’Kar contact.
Funded by the South32 earn-in agreement, 19 reverse circulation drill holes have been completed at Fiesta, located west of the company’s Humpback tenements.
The anomalous intercepts appear to have many hallmarks of the deposits defined in Botswana over 400km to the east, including the Khoemacau Copper Project (370Mt @ 1.7% CuEq, owned by MMG).
Several steeply-dipping sheets of mineralisation have been defined, now spanning over 4.5 kilometres and corresponding to several shear zones.
Copper mineralisation is hosted as disseminated chalcocite in a sequence of shales and siltstones of the D’Kar sediments, which is hard to distinguish visually in drill chips.
Minor oxidation to malachite is noted in shallower zones with lower silver.
Noronex says assay results have been received for an additional thirteen holes, all designed to identify new zones of mineralisation and extend the known mineralisation.
The holes were targeted to cross the core of the interpreted antiform, gravity-low targets, and shear zone extensions.
Results from all of the drilling completed so far at Fiesta have included several highly encouraging, wide, and good-grade intercepts defining an extensive zone of copper-silver mineralisation at the base of approximately 80 metres of Kalahari sand.
The silver values encountered are especially encouraging economically, with the silver expected to recover to a copper concentrate with high payability, such as at similar-style deposits at Khoemecau and Motheo in Botswana.
Noronex chief geologist Bruce Hooper said Fiesta continues to deliver impressive copper and especially silver results from the Western Lens, with another strong intercept of 16 m @ 1.3% copper equivalent.
“The drilling has extended the copper system to over four and a half kilometres long at Fiesta, with many wide intercepts. We eagerly await the results of the two recently completed extensional holes in 2025.
“In the meantime, our broader exploration effort continues. With the ongoing support of South32 funding, we are looking forward to moving the rig to Damara to test new targets near the Botswana border,” Hooper said.
He added that 2025 is shaping up as a very exciting year for Noronex as the company takes important steps towards its objective of making a company-changing copper discovery in the Kalahari Copper Belt.