BOTS – Priority KCB Copper Targets identified

Kavango Resources PLC

31 May 2024

 

31^st May 2024

Kavango Resources

("Kavango" or "the Company")

BOTS - Priority KCB Targets identified

Kavango Resources plc (LSE: KAV), the Southern Africa focussed metals exploration company, is pleased to announce the first high priority targets have been identified for Phase 1 of the drilling on the Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB) Karakubis Copper Project in Botswana.

Highlights

·    Specialist geophysical consultant Emergo Srl has completed Inversions on Airborne ElectroMagnetic ("AEM") data over the central portion of Survey Block 1A of the Karakubis Project.

o Kavango interprets this area is underlain by lower D'Kar Formation ("DKF").

o The contact point between the lower DKF and Ngwako Pan Formation ("NPF") is known to coincide with major copper/silver ("Cu/Ag") deposits in the region.

·    Kavango has identified five high priority target areas for immediate Gradient Array Induced Polarisation ("IP") surveys to refine drill targets.

o The high priority target areas are interpreted to be underlain by lower DKF stratigraphy, occupying a faulted block within the Kara Antiform, which lies along a gravity high believed to represent a basin margin setting.

o A large number of potential drill targets have been identified, which will be ranked according to results of the IP surveys.

·    First phase of drilling, totalling approximately 5,000 m, designed to test trap site structures associated with doubly plunging fold targets and anticlines identified initially from modelling of AEM data as being relatively shallow, at ~200-300m.

·    Diamond core drilling of selected targets will be undertaken by Mitchell Drilling, commencing in June.  

·    Further priority targets anticipated as data processing and interpretation are completed for survey results from Survey Blocks 1A and 1B.

Ben Turney, Chief Executive Officer of Kavango Resources, commented:

"Kavango holds in excess of 6,200 km² of highly prospective ground in the Kalahari Copper Belt. This is a very large land package with the potential to host multiple, large-scale copper silver deposits.

Over the last 18 months, our team has completed the painstaking task of compiling a wide array of exploration data to maximise our chances of drill success. This work has generated more target areas than we anticipated, which is especially positive for the overall potential of the Karakubis Project.

Although we still have further airborne data to process, the targets we have identified are already strong enough to be classed high priority. As such, we have decided to push ahead with drilling.

Our primary objective will be to prove that our target areas cover a copper mineralising system. We had previously reported the identification of favourable structural geology for possible trap zones. If we can now prove that copper mineralised fluids passed through the region our chances of success should increase significantly.

We look forward to the results of the IP surveys to refine final target selection and then to commence drilling in the coming weeks."

Karakubis Exploration Targeting Results

A comprehensive compilation and analysis of all available data has so far identified five high priority targets interpreted to be underlain by favourable lower DKF, (Figure 1) with more priority targets anticipated as data processing of inversions is completed and interpreted.

Survey lines are currently being cut in preparation for Gradient Array Induced Polarization ("IP") with additional Insight section surveys anticipated. The large number of prospective targets identified by modelling of the AEM will be prioritized with the IP and then will then be selected and ranked by Kavango.  The highest ranked of these will be drill tested, starting in June.

The lower DKF lithologies have been identified from Kavango geological mapping in conjunction with systematic detailed lithological and structural logging of historical exploration and water boreholes together with examination of handheld portable X-ray fluorescent ("pXRF") measurements of drill cores and drill chips, supported by magnetic susceptibility measurements.

The interpreted lower DKF setting is supported by coincident AEM (Figure 2), magnetic, gravity and Sentinel 2 satellite data (Figure 3) which clearly define doubly plunging fold hinge targets (domes/basin highs) in the interpreted underlying DKF.

Figure 1, Locality map highlighting the 5 priority areas to be covered by IP surveys, located within the NRG survey block 1A, together with the current progress of AEM Inversion processing. Geology base map compiled by Kavango shows interpreted prospective lower D'Kar Formation underlying the target areas.

Figure 2, Oblique view of AEM mid-time data image, with structural overlay. Lower D'Kar Formation is interpreted to underly the areas in blue, with middle & upper D'Kar Formation interpreted to underly the areas in red. A NE-SW trending structure appears to define a break between the lower and middle D'Kar, with evidence from borehole logging data supporting this.

Figure 3, Oblique view of the Sentinel 2B 16bit_20231020_0000000_2500mm_multispectral image over part of the Karakubis area, clearly showing well defined fold patterns that appear coincident with interpreted faults and fold displayed in the underlying AEM Inversions.

Helicopter-borne gravity also clearly defines a WSW-ENE trending ~9 milliGal gravity high underlying the Kara Antiform, believed to represent a basin margin. Such basin margin positions along the KCB are considered prospective sites for the focus of Cu-Ag mineralisation and host the two existing mines and numerous known deposits.

Closer inspection of the Karakubis Project gravity data appears to show a thinner package of DKF lithologies, (lower DKF) underlying the central portion of the Karakubis Project, while increasingly thicker packages of D'Kar lithologies (middle and upper DKF) occur along strike to the northeast and in the fold closure towards the southwest, Figure 4.

Figure 4, Oblique view of the NRG bouguer gravity image with structural overlay. Central portion of the image appears to show small domes (green through yellow-brown) possibly representing folded packages within the lower D'Kar sequences and possibly thicker packages (red through to white) of folded middle and upper D'Kar sequences in the SW and NE.

The five high priority target areas all appear in the gravity data to be located above a series of small, interlinked domes separated by embayments. These same domes appear as tightly folded doubly plunging fold structures in the magnetic tilt derivative TDR data supported by the Sentinel 2 satellite imagery.

The first phase of drilling, totalling approximately 5,000m, is being designed to test for mineralisation within trap site structures associated with doubly plunging fold targets and anticlines identified initially from modelling of AEM data, refined with results from the IP surveys, like those shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5, Plan view of the magnetic TDR image with structural overlay and preliminary drill targets. Note the doubly plunging fold structures located within the IP block outlines.

The preliminary set of holes target "washout" structures in the AEM Inversions that appear coincident with structural breaks in anticlinal folds. Such washout features have been seen elsewhere on the KCB to be associated with mineralisation. These preliminary holes will be refined when IP data becomes available and further prioritised.

Figure 6, Sectional view of AEM Inversion image with preliminary drill targets. In this example one hole is sited to intersect a "washout" on the northern limb of a small anticlinal fold close to the southwest plunging fold closure while the second hole targets the potential trap site in the core of the fold.

The central portion of Block 1A was selected for the first phase of drilling as the target trap sites above the DKF/NPF contact are interpreted as being located at a relatively shallow depth, around 200m below surface.

The exploration and drilling strategy aims to validate the interpretations made to date by establishing the stratigraphic position, verify the presence of structural trap sites and prove the presence of a mineralising system through identification of path finder minerals.

Further work will be undertaken based upon interpretation of the results.

For further information please contact:

Kavango Resources plc

Ben Turney

[phone]

First Equity (Broker)

Jason Robertson

[phone]

Kavango Competent Person Statement

The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to geology and exploration have been read and approved by Brett Grist BSc(Hons) FAusIMM (CP).  Mr Grist is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with Chartered Professional status.  Mr Grist has sufficient experience that is relevant to the exploration programmes and geology of the main styles of mineralisation and deposit types under consideration to act as a Qualified Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Grist is an employee of Kavango Resources plc.

The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to geophysics have been read and approved by Mr. Jeremy S. Brett, M.Sc., P.Geo., Senior Geophysical Consultant, Jeremy S. Brett International Consulting Ltd. in Toronto, Canada.  Mr. Brett is a member of the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society, and the Society of Economic Geologists.  Mr. Brett has sufficient experience that is relevant to geophysics applied to the styles of mineralization and types of deposits under consideration to act as a Qualified Person as defined under the Canadian National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

 

END