Building on strong results in April, Orion Minerals Ltd (ASX:ORN, JSE:ORN) has received more ‘exceptional’ assay results from ongoing diamond drilling at the Flat Mine East section of its Okiep Copper Project (OCP) in the Northern Cape, South Africa.
Significant results
Headline results include:
- 9.27 metres at 3.01% copper and 15 metres at 4.80% within a broader 78-metre interval averaging 1.57%, 50 metres along strike from the previously reported hole.
- 49.35 metres at 5.05% copper, including 21.66 metres at 9.41%; and
- 50 metres at 1.09% copper, including 18 metres at 1.44% within a broader 116.90-metre interval averaging 0.75%.
These results confirm historical data from drilling by Goldfields of South Africa in the 1990s and support the geological interpretations incorporated in the mineral resource modelling for the Okiep Project.
The Flat Mine East discovery, blind to the surface, forms a key part of Orion's early production plan for the OCP.
Drilling, which kicked off in February of this year, aims to confirm historical drilling information, provide geotechnical data and generate material for additional metallurgical test work.
The program includes 11 diamond drill holes totalling around 5,800 metres across Flat Mine East, South and North.
Orion’s OCP covers a 641 square kilometre area, which has historically produced 105 million tonnes of copper over the past century. The current drilling program falls within the executed mining right, ensuring compliance and operational readiness.
As Orion nears completion of the drilling program, geological interpretations and mineralisation envelopes will be reviewed and updated, leading to an updated mineral resource estimate.
Confirmatory metallurgical test work will include comminution, flotation optimisation and tailings characterisation, with the goal of enhancing ore extraction and processing efficiency.
Further results from drilling at Flat Mine South and Flat Mine North are pending and the company anticipates additional high-grade discoveries to bolster the overall resource estimate for the Okiep Copper Project.
Amplified potential
Orion managing director and CEO Errol Smart said: “These drilling results further amplify the potential for the Flat Mines orebodies to replicate the typical nature of Okiep copper intrusive mineralisation, where zones of very high-grade mineralisation are commonly contained within large bodies of moderate grade.
This clearly shows why this district has been such a prolific producer of copper for such a long period of time.
“We have been frustrated by the slow turnaround from accredited laboratories, which are overloaded with exploration samples. This is indicative of the intensity of activity in the copper exploration industry and is in itself an indicator of the challenges involved in accelerating mine development to counter the global metal supply deficit that is developing.
“We are pleased to be nearing completion of our bankable feasibility studies so that we can progress to project finance and mine development on our brownfields redevelopment sites, in parallel with ongoing drilling and exploration to expand our resource base on our surrounding highly prospective mineral rights.”