Final assay results are in for the first hole Orion Minerals Ltd (ASX:ORN, JSE:ORN) has drilled at Flat Mine South, part of the Okiep Copper Project (OCP) in the Northern Cape, South Africa, with a standout being 24.95 metres at 4.14% copper.
Confirmation of historical results
The intersection from a depth of 567 metres confirms that high-grade copper mineralisation continues in an up-thrown and repeated fault block position, providing momentum for the company’s plans to build on earlier drilling at the OCP.
Drilling tested the down-dip continuity in a block of structurally uplifted high-grade copper mineralisation and returned ‘outstanding’ assays with the 24.95 metres being within 59 metres at 3.14% copper.
Orion managing director and CEO Errol Smart said: “Our ongoing drilling at the Okiep Project continues to deliver the highly anticipated extensions of previously intersected wide, high-grade copper mineralisation, confirming the substantial upside of this project.
“Importantly, the newly intersected mineralisation is at the foot of the proposed mine development planned for Flat Mine South, to extract the existing mineral resource.”
The drills continue to turn at Flat Mine South, further prodding the down-dip extension of high-grade copper mineralisation in a previously untested area.
Alongside this, the company is conducting a ground geophysical program in the Flat Mines area, with drill testing of geophysical targets underway.
Large holdings in copper district
The OCP ground holdings of 703 square kilometres cover most of the Okiep copper mining district where a total of 105 million tonnes is reported to have been mined over the past 100 years.
Of the 105 million tonnes mined, some 77 million tonnes was mined on OCP prospecting and mining rights.
The Flat Mines area and the current drilling program fall entirely within executed Mining Right NC10150MR, which is surrounded by the newly granted prospecting rights, NC12755PR and NC12848PR.
These rights host several exciting historically drilled prospects and historical mines that offer the potential to expand the resource.
Today’s results confirm the reverse faulting and vertical repetition of previously intersected high-grade copper mineralisation and suggest potential for further down-dip extensions below the mineralisation intercepted in drilling by Newmont and Goldfields of South Africa (GFSA) in the 1980s and 1990s.
The historical drilling information underpinned Orion’s updated mineral resource for the Flat Mines deposits of 9.3 million tonnes at 1.3% copper.
This included 3.4 million tonnes at 1.4% copper at FMS, inclusive of an indicated mineral resource of 2.6 million tonnes at 1.35% copper.