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North River Resources (LON:NRRP) reported a boost to its copper resource inventory as it announced a maiden JORC resource for a deposit at its Witvlei project and a resource upgrade for a deposit on the Dordabis project, both in Namibia.
Investors liked the news, and by 12.02 pm, the stock was trading 3.4 percent higher at 1.525 pence.
Both Witvlei and Dordabis are primarily copper projects and are located east of the capital Windhoek.
The company reported a maiden JORC resource at Malachite Pan, part of Witvlei, of 2.6 million tonnes with 1.36 per cent copper for 35,699 tonnes of contained metal in the indicated category and 2.4 Mt with 1.11 per cent Cu for 26,402t Cu inferred.
Further, the Koperberg deposit of the Dordabis project now has an indicated JORC resource of 762,600t at an average 1.14 per cent Cu for 8,718t contained Cu, and the inferred resource is now estimated at 617,600t with 0.95 per cent Cu for 5,863t Cu.
North River said the deposits are open down-dip and mineralisation at Malachite Pan is open to the south-east.
It expects metallurgical data for Malachite Pan and Koperberg shortly.
North River Managing Director David Steinepreis said: "The Malachite Pan deposit is shaping up to be a significant asset within our multi-commodity portfolio. I believe that our confidence in these results will be further improved, following the receipt of the metallurgical test work data which we expect shortly.
"This maiden resource from Malachite Pan, in addition to our upgraded resource at Koperberg, provides the company with a solid foundation for our copper resource inventory.”
The initial focus of the work programme this year will be Malachite Pan, where a further 6,000 metres of drilling is planned to start in the second quarter 2012.
The campaign is aimed at increasing the confidence in the resource estimates, testing for extensions to the known resource along strike to the southeast and acquiring additional samples for pilot plant metallurgical test-work.
The main focus for regional exploration this year will be the Malachite Pan / Witvlei project area, the aims being extensions to the Malachite Pan deposit, upgrading of other known copper prospects and exploration for new prospects under cover.
An airborne magnetic survey will be completed at Witvlei in the first quarter 2012.
London BrokerOcean Equities issued a research note after today’s update, saying these results from just two of North River’s copper targets are positive for the company.
Analyst Christopher Welch commented that Malachite Pan is clearly the more prospective of the its copper projects, although further work is warranted at Koperberg to examine its deeper mineral potential.
“North River’s copper project portfolio supplements and supports its progress at the Namib zinc-lead mine which we expect to accelerate in the near term,” he said.
He called the high grade of Malachite Pan enticing, especially so considering the shallow nature of the deposit.
“The upcoming metallurgical test results are expected to support relatively easy recovery and high recovery rates for the ore types at Malachite Pan and Koperberg, results which will augment today’s resource announcements. The results will also lead onto further tests of the potential mine project, with scoping study test results expected in the near term,” Welch added.