The Conversation (0)
Ivanhoe Mines reported that the company has made a new high-grade copper discovery at the Kamoa project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The discovery lies 5 kilometers southwest of Kamoa’s currently defined resources.
Ivanhoe Mines reported that the company has made a new high-grade copper discovery at the Kamoa project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The discovery lies 5 kilometers southwest of Kamoa’s currently defined resources.
As quoted in the press release:
The Kakula Discovery is situated within the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa Mining Licence area and represents a major extension of the Kamoa copper deposit, which the company discovered in 2008. The Kamoa Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining.
Two exploration drill holes completed in late 2015 in the Kakula exploration area — DKMC_DD996 and DKMC_DD997 — rank among the highest-grade and highest-grade-thickness intersections drilled to date within the Kamoa copper deposit licence area.
DKMC_DD996 intersected 24.16 metres (24.13 metres true width) of 3.48% copper, at a 1% copper cut off. At a higher cut-off of 2% copper, the intersection was 13.16 metres (13.14 metres true width) of 5.26% copper.
DKMC_DD997 intersected 18.75 metres (18.47 metres true width) of 4.64% copper at a 1% copper cut-off and 15.17 metres (14.94 metres true width) of 5.33% copper at a 2% copper cut-off.
The two holes were drilled into an area of thick, high-grade copper mineralization first identified in 2014 — now called the Kakula Discovery area — within the large, 60-square-kilometre Kakula exploration area. The two holes represent 400-metre step-outs north and east from the high-grade copper intersected in drill hole DKMC_DD942 (13.50 metres (13.49 metres true width) of 4.15% copper, at a 2% copper cut off). Completion of an 800-metre-spacing infill grid over the Kakula Discovery area is planned for 2016.
Ivanhoe Chairman, Robert Friedland, said:
The Kamoa copper deposit already is distinguished as the world’s largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper discovery. he Kakula Discovery has the combination of significant thickness, high grades and strike length that holds promise for significant and rapid expansion of the Kamoa copper deposit.
The Kakula discovery not only shows the potential to substantially increase the size of the Kamoa Copper Deposit, it also highlights the potential for new discoveries to the west of Kolwezi in the Congolese copperbelt.