22 April
2024
KAVANGO RESOURCES PLC
("Kavango" or "the
Company")
ZIM: Hillside Exploration &
Production Update
Kavango Resources plc (LSE: KAV), the Southern Africa focussed metals exploration company, is
pleased to announce an exploration and production update for the
Hillside Gold Project ("Hillside") in Zimbabwe.
Highlights
·
Upgrade of exploration target at Prospect
4:
o Up to five potentially
mineralised shear zones identified from an Induced Polarisation
("IP") survey, over a 700m width and currently mapped 500m
strike.
o Two of the zones
identified from the IP survey appear to coincide with a series of
parallel artisanal workings.
o Three additional shear
zones have been interpreted under slightly thicker cover and remain
undiscovered by the artisanal miners with no indications of
historic workings.
o Kavango to drill a
fence of six holes to test potential for a bulk-minable gold
deposit at Prospect 4.
·
Final refined gold production at Hillside in March
was 899.6g of gold.
o Kavango
Mining anticipates significant increase in production, as it
commences direct mining.
Ben
Turney, Chief Executive of Kavango Resources,
commented:
"We are looking forward to testing the bulk-minable gold
potential at Prospect 4. The possible presence of four parallel,
gold-bearing shear zones makes this an increasingly attractive
exploration target.
We
were originally looking for an additional high-grade
ore source for production at Hillside. Hole SKDD001 was designed
simply to test underneath current artisanal gold mining. We
initiated the IP survey after the hole was
completed.
In terms of
the original goal, Hole SKDD001 has been a significant success. Our
team saw the opportunity and moved quickly to test it. We are
confident in the commercial potential of Prospect 4 to make a
meaningful contribution to Kavango Mining. The high-grade upper
intersection in Hole SKDD001 represents a near-term, minable
opportunity well within trucking distance of the Hillside stamp
mills. Kavango Mining is currently developing a work plan to pursue
this.
However, it
is the presence of the smaller, low-grade lower intersection in the
same hole that our exploration team is now pursuing. Hole SKDD001
appears to have clipped a second shear zone, as indicated by
results from the IP survey.
We now plan
to return to Prospect 4 and drill a fence line of holes to test the
IP anomalies and additional parallel artisanal mine workings we
have identified. If these prove to be wide gold-bearing shear
zones, Prospect 4 could represent an unanticipated bulk-minable
opportunity.
We
are currently drilling at the Nara Project and will mobilise the
rig immediately back to Hillside on completion
there.
In
the meantime, I am very pleased to report that Kavango Mining was
operationally profitable in March, its first month of trading. We
produced 899g of gold. Our original goal was to reach 1kg of
production over the course of 2024, so we are well ahead of
schedule.
We
now anticipate Kavango Mining is on course to be a consistently
profitable business unit over 2024. We have a strong foundation to
build on, as we increase direct production, open new sources of ore
and invest in production capacity at Hillside. We look forward to
providing further updates on our progress."
Prospect 4
Following receipt of encouraging
assay results for Hole SKDD001 at Prospect 4 in Hillside
(announced
>>> 15 April 2024), Kavango has
prepared an exploration plan to test the bulk-minable gold
potential of this target.
Hole SKDD001 was originally designed
to test the geology underneath current highly active
artisanal workings at Prospect 4. Following completion of drilling
at Prospects 1, 2 and 3 at Hillside, there was a window of
opportunity to drill a fifth hole at Hillside before mobilising the
drill rig to the Nara Project.
Kavango decided to test Prospect 4 based on
geological mapping work completed in early January and visual
inspection of gold-bearing ore recovered by artisanal miners.
Kavango viewed Prospect 4 as a near-term source of gold ore to
increase production for Kavango Mining at the Hillside stamp
mill.
Hole SKDD001 was designed as a scope hole to
test this potential under the largest and most productive artisanal
working. The identification of visible gold and zones of
disseminated sulphides in the core from Hole SKDD001 confirmed the
mineralised shear was gold bearing at depth. Kavango subsequently
decided to conduct an Induced Polarisation ("IP")
survey. IP surveys can be used to identify potential sulphide
bearing (chargeable) and possible quartz veining (resistive)
features often related to potential economic gold
mineralisation.
In the case of Prospect 4, further
interpretation of the IP results reveals the presence of additional
possible shear zones, two associated with artisanal surface
workings and three without. The width of the outer edges of these
five possible shear zones is >700m and they sit on a currently
mapped strike of >500m.
Hole SKDD001 appears to have
intercepted the interpreted shears under the current artisanal
workings and historic workings. Hole SKDD001 intersected two
gold-bearing structures, with the higher intersection (2.53m @
29.08g/t) coinciding with first interpreted shear while the lower
intersection (1.32m @ 1.8g/t) clipped part of the second shear
zone.
Figure 1: A plan and section of the SKDD001 borehole against a
background of artisanal workings, mapped against projected shears
based on IP resistivity. (Interpretation by Hillary Gumbo, M.Sc.,
P.Geo.)
Figure 2: A plan and section of the SKDD001 borehole against a
background of artisanal workings mapped against projected shears
based on IP chargeability. (Interpretation by Hillary Gumbo, M.Sc.,
P.Geo.)
Next Steps at Prospect 4
Kavango has now designed a follow up
drill programme to test the possible shear zones identified by the
IP survey.
Kavango intends to drill a fence
line of six holes to test the potential for a bulk-minable gold
deposit here.
The fence line of diamond holes will
test the IP (chargeability & resistivity) anomalies that appear
to be related to parallel and sub-parallel artisanal gold
mining.
Figures 3: Plan and section of SKDD001 borehole with
background of IP resistivity and chargeability superimposed,
together with mapped artisanal workings and the proposed fence line
of diamond drill holes. (Interpretation by Hillary Gumbo, M.Sc.,
P.Geo.)
At this stage, Kavango anticipates
three possible commercial outcomes for Prospect 4. These
are:
1. Prospect 4 solely
becomes a source of low-tonnage, high-grade ore for Kavango Mining.
The 2.53m @ 29.08g/t high-grade zone is only 87m vertically below
surface and presents a viable, near-term small-scale mining
opportunity.
2. If Kavango's
interpretation of the IP surveys is correct and there are several
parallel gold-bearing shear zones at Prospect 4, these could
present an opportunity for a high-tonnage, open-pit mine (subject
to width, grade and metallurgy of any gold-bearing zones). Based on
Kavango's latest mapping, the target area size is currently 700m
width by 500m strike.
3. Depending on drill
results, Prospect 4 could present a hybrid underground high-grade
low-tonnage/lower-grade high-tonnage bulk-minable
opportunity.
Hillside Production Update
Final refined gold production at
Hillside in March was 899.6g of gold, which generated a small
profit for Kavango Mining. Hillside currently relies on
3rd party miners for production. As Kavango Mining
commences direct mining, the Company expects to increase gold
production greatly.
Kavango anticipates Kavango Mining
will now remain a consistently profitable business unit in 2024.
Kavango intends to deploy any surplus generated by Kavango Mining
into its exploration programmes in Zimbabwe. The Company is
currently reviewing how best to report future results from Kavango
Mining and will provide an update on this in due course.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE
INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION 2014/596/EU
WHICH IS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE MARKET ABUSE
(AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). UPON
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION (AS
DEFINED IN UK MAR) IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN
Further information in respect of
the Company and its business interests is provided on the Company's
website at www.kavangoresources.com and on Twitter at
#KAV.
For further information please
contact:
Kavango Resources
plc
Ben Turney
+46 7697 406 06
First Equity (Broker)
+44 207 374 2212
Jason
Robertson
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.