Power Metal Resources PLC (AIM:POW) said working with its technical consultants is underway to plan a drilling programme after new geophysical analysis identified “high priority” new targets at the Molopo Farms Complex in southern Botswana.
Chief executive Sean Wade said: “We are particularly excited by this development and look forward to updating the market in due course with drilling plans for this target.”
The latest geophysics work follows airborne electromagnetic (EM) surveys flown in 2018, followed up with ground moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) surveys completed in 2022, which were drilled in the latest campaign.
Target area T1-14 demonstrated the highest potential due to the strength of a superconductor in the surveys, but it was not intersected by drilling during the campaign.
Power Metal engaged a geophysicist to complete inversions of the results from a 2020 widely spaced audio-frequency magnetotelluric (AMT) survey over T1-14, which measured a wider range of conductivities compared to airborne and/or ground EM and to a greater depth.
This work has led to the identification of two distinct conductors at target area T1-14, the company said in a statement today, compared to one moderately dipping conductor identified by the MLEM.
One of the two is a “very strong steeply dipping multi-kilometre long conductor which is co-incident with the keel of the feeder zone intrusion”.
“This conductor has the potential to host massive sulphide mineralisation and thus has been deemed a high priority exploration target which has never been drill tested to date.”
The red vertical lines show previous drilling and the black line shows a possible drill location to target the superconductor
False targeting arose in the previous drilling campaign, it said, as the second conductor identified lies relatively flat and is now determined to be sedimentary in origin.
Said Wade: "Historical exploration work at Molopo Farms has been multi-year, extensive and absolutely necessary in order to narrow down key targets for exploration drilling within a very large licence footprint.
“The company is targeting major discoveries and the work completed to date has confirmed that the MFC has the required geological ingredients to host a significant nickel deposit as found in other mafic/ultramafic belts worldwide.
“In exploration, geophysics alone is never enough and drilling is always necessary to firm up the geological model and confirm economic deposits. As drilling is undertaken, the additional data gathered can, with other exploration techniques, provide a step-change enhancement of the technical understanding of a project and its potential.”