Argonaut Resources (ASX:ARE) has intersected thick zones of copper from 2015 diamond core drilling program at the Kamafamba prospect of its Lumwana West Project in Zambia.
The 90% owned Lumwana West project is located in the Central African Copperbelt, North-Western Province, Zambia, and is prospective for large tonnage, low to medium grade copper deposits.
In addition, over 1,000 new soil samples were collected and analysed, completing the first phase of the option agreement with Chilean copper major Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO).
This exploration expenditure of US$3.9 million in the first period earns Antofagasta, a £6.12 billion (A$13.16 billion) company, a 25% interest in the project.
At Kamafamba, three holes totalling 409 metres were drilled returning:
- 15.85 metres at 0.3% copper from 41 metres (KMDD001); and
- 17.6 metres at 0.40% copper from 134.5 metres, including 5.6 metres at 0.67% copper from 146.5 metres (KMDD003).
Drilling at the Kabikupa prospect did not intercept significant mineralisation outside the main surface anomaly, indicating that subsurface copper mineralisation is likely confined to a strike length of approximately 1,000 metres.
However, Kabikupa geology features the zonation of copper sulphide minerals and persistent alteration, indicating the mineralising system is well developed.
In addition, no significant mineralised intercepts were returned from the Sharamba, Luamvunda and Mufuka regional targets that were drill tested between May and July 2015.
Lumwana West Exploration
The additional 2,006 metres of drilling between May and July 2015 adds to the 6,123 metres drilled during the 2014 field season and completes the first phase exploration project at Lumwana West.
Argonaut also collected 1,028 soil samples in 2015. Of these samples, 626 were collected from an area covering a large granite pluton in the central area of the licence between Kabikupa and Kamafamba and 402 surface geochemical samples were collected from across another granite body in the eastern area of the licence between Mufuka and Shikezhi.
Drilling in 2015 had targeted geochemical anomalies and structural targets at Kapikupa, Kamafamba, Mufuka, Sharamba and Luamvunda prospects.
Kamafamba, where drilling intercepted copper, sits near the southern margin of a large granite body.
The prospect is defined by a 1,100 metre soil geochemistry anomaly.
Structural interpretation indicates the geochemical anomaly is coincident with a thrust system related to the granite margin, which enhances the prospectivity of the target.
At Kabikupa, where the first hole drilled in 2014 returned 17.4 metres at 1.18% copper from 102.6 metres within a broader intercept of 39 metres at 0.61% copper from 81 metres, drilling indicated the total mineralised strike extent is approximately 1,000 metres.
Analysis
The 2015 drilling program at Lumwana West has intersected results of 17.6 metres at 0.40% copper from 134.5 metres, including 5.6 metres at 0.67% copper from 146.5 metres at the Kamafamba Prospect.
It has also substantially completed the first phase of the option agreement with Antofagasta that will give the Chilean copper major a 25% interest in the project.
Nearby mines include Barrick Gold Corporation’s Lumwana Mine (1.1 billion tonnes at 0.50% copper) on the eastern lobe of the Mwombezhi Dome and First Quantum Minerals Ltd’s Kansanshi (1.1 billion tonnes at 0.81% copper), the largest copper mine in Africa.
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