Orion Minerals Ltd (ASX:ORN) has received first assays from the Ayoba Prospect within its flagship Prieska Zinc-Copper Project in the northern Cape region of South Africa.
Results confirm a new volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) zinc-copper body at Ayoba which is located 5.3 kilometres from the Prieska deposit.
Highlights feature 9.50 metres grading 0.93% zinc and 0.63% copper including 1.50 metres at 4.98% zinc and 0.89% copper.
The discovery validates Orion’s expectation that there is excellent potential to discover a cluster of VMS deposits around Prieska.
READ: Orion Minerals upgrades Prieska zinc-copper resource to over 30 million tonnes
Orion’s managing director and CEO Errol Smart said: “We now have confirmation via analytical results of a new VMS discovery in a completely new satellite position at the Ayoba Prospect, just 5.3 kilometres from the main Prieska Resource.
“This is the first new VMS discovery in the Areachap Belt in over 36 years and highlights the enormous upside over and above the large, high-quality Mineral Resource we have already defined.
“The early success of our near-mine exploration program validates our exploration approach at Prieska, which is based on the application of modern geophysical techniques to unlock the potential of this emerging VMS camp.
“Our focus is on bringing Prieska into production as quickly as possible, based on the parameters outlined in the positive scoping study released in December 2018.
BFS on track for June quarter 2019
“The bankable feasibility study is already well advanced and on track to be completed in Q2 2019.
“While our engineering and development team is focusing on the delivery of the project, our exploration team will pursue the multiple emerging opportunities on the exploration front establishing a growth pipeline that can leverage off the infrastructure we build at Prieska.”
Airborne EM survey to potentially reveal more targets
A 148 square kilometre high-power airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey has been completed on the near-mine target area.
Final processing and interpretation of the EM data is in progress, with an initial review by expert geophysical consultants already revealing multiple AEM anomalies.