Midnight Sun Mining Corp (TSX-V:MMA, OTCQB:MDNGF) Vice President of Business Development and Communications Adrian O’Brien spoke with Proactive about the company’s latest drilling results at the Dumbwa target in Zambia.
O’Brien explained that Dumbwa has been the company’s flagship target for more than 12 years, describing it as a 20-kilometer-long soil anomaly that represents the largest and highest-grade recorded in Zambia.
He noted that copper grades in soil samples reached up to 0.73%, higher than the regional average of 0.56%. The initial two drill holes from the current program have now confirmed the presence of a mineralized system.
According to O’Brien, “These are notable. I mean, this is really the confirmation of this system being real.”
Results included 40 metres of 0.51% copper, with an interval of seven metres grading 1.13% copper, along with 26 metres of 0.48% copper.
He highlighted that while intercepts in this type of system are typically narrower than in porphyry deposits, the continuity of mineralization across long strike lengths allows for large-scale tonnage potential.
Comparable deposits in the region, such as Luana, typically run at 0.3% to 0.5% copper over 10 to 20 metres.
O’Brien emphasized that the program is still at an early stage and that further results are expected, with additional samples already sent to the lab. He added that the correlation between geophysics, surface anomalies, and historical drilling is strengthening the company’s geological model.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Adrian O'Brien, Vice President of Business Development and Communications for Midnight Sun Mining Corp. You've had some really encouraging drill results out today from your Dumbwa target in Zambia. Why don’t we take a step back and remind everyone a little bit about the work that was done there?
Adrian O'Brien: Sure. You have to look back at the history of Dumbwa. This is a target that we’ve held as a company for 12 years. It’s our flagship target. It’s a 20-kilometer-long soil anomaly, which is the largest and highest grade on record in Zambia. It gets up to 0.73% copper in soil, compared with the average mine in the area at 0.56%. When you’re seeing 0.73% at surface, that’s telling you there’s something really big going on.
We’ve worked on this asset for a long time and have been gearing up for this initial drill program, which is now underway. We just put out the first two holes from that program. They have confirmed that the Dumbwa system is real. The grades were spectacular, and everything looks great.
Tell me a bit about those. You’re obviously very excited and fielding a lot of calls about them. What were the highlights?
For sure. Whenever you put out big drill results, you get inundated, and today is no exception. These results are notable. This is confirmation of the system being real, and the grades are right in line with what we’re looking for.
We ended up with 40 metres of 0.51% copper, including seven metres grading 1.13% copper. There was also 26 metres of 0.48% copper. These are impressive. That seven-metre intercept at 1.13% copper shows the grade potential is there.
When you compare this to other mines in the area like Luana, which is our analog, those typically show 10 to 20 metres thick layers running 0.3% to 0.5% copper. These are not porphyry systems, so you don’t get great big broad intercepts. Instead, you see shorter intervals that run for kilometers along strike. That’s how you build your tonnage, and tonnage in these systems is often over one billion tonnes.
The continuity is important. You’ve also got other results in the lab right now and drilling is ongoing. So there’s still more to come?
Exactly. This is the earliest stage. We’ve only just started to put our model together, and it’s all connecting now. We’ve correlated geophysics with the giant geochemical anomaly at surface and the historic drilling at depth. Now we’re tasking that model, and from the very beginning holes we’re already seeing the material we were targeting.
From here we expect bigger, broader intercepts and higher grades as we move into the heart of the system. A couple of holes have already been rushed to the lab to confirm further mineralized intercepts. So yes, exciting times to say the least.