Noronex finds high-grade copper in deep Namibian diamond holes
The 11m intercept from 371m also includes 18 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, while the 6m hit from 455m includes 15g/t silver.
The company believes the two intercepts show two parallel tabular zones of mineralisation sandwiched within two bedded, altered, chlorite-rich green shales, which oriented core data confirms as being nearly vertical.
Some small-scale fault offsetting or a steep southerly dip is also likely.
The headline hole was designed as an extension of an existing reverse circulation (RC) hole to step out and test at depth below a previous 33m intercept in February which delivered a good run of 33m assaying 0.81 per cent copper and 31g/t silver from 265m.
The hole also included 4m at 2.01 per cent copper and 83g/t silver from 265m and 4m assaying 2.27 per cent copper and 87g/t silver from 277m.
The headline 11m intercept lies almost directly below the previous 33m intercept, while the hole's second 6m intercept appears to have pierced a new, deeper copper-rich body, not penetrated by any previous drilling.
Noronex has also drilled an open vertical water bore to supply its diamond drilling program at another hole, which intersected shallow mineralisation.
The company expects samples from the open hole may contain some down-hole contamination. However, it recorded 1m at 0.9 per cent copper and 3g/t silver from 113m, 9m grading 0.63 per cent copper and 21g/t silver from 120m, and 3m going 1 per cent copper and 4g/t silver from 137m.
Significantly, copper mineralisation is noted at the base of weathering, which can be an important clue to mineralisation potential in poorly understood copper regions, as copper is highly mobile in oxide/supergene zones.
The company drilled three further holes across a gravity low but did not intersect significant mineralisation.
Fiesta lies on the western closure of a domal structure at the prospective NPF-D'Kar contact. Drilling so far has returned highly encouraging intercepts, which the current program aims to extend.
The anomalous intercepts appear to share characteristics with copper deposits identified in Botswana, more than 400km east, including MMG's giant Khoemacau copper project, which contains a 450-million-tonne mineral resource grading 1.4 per cent copper and 14g/t silver.
Steeply dipping sheet-like bodies of copper and related silver mineralisation at Fiesta have been defined over a strike length of more than 4.5 kilometres.
They appear to coincide with shear zones where copper is hosted as disseminated chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite in a sequence of shales and siltstones of the prospective D'Kar sediments.
In shallower holes, including the new water bore, the company recorded copper oxides such as malachite and lower silver signatures, likely due to silver compounds dissolving in the oxide zone.
The drilling program is funded by Noronex's South32 earn-in agreement. The company has so far completed two diamond drill holes at Fiesta, at the western extent of the company's Humpback project tenure. Two more holes are planned.
Noronex is waiting on the results from a diamond hole that extended a previous RC hole from 250m to 497.7m to better understand the style and orientation of mineralisation underneath and at depth.
That previous RC hole delivered 7m assaying 0.35 per cent copper and 23g/t silver from 139m and 30m running 0.56 per cent copper and 62g/t silver from 158m.
Diamond drilling is ongoing in a hole designed to provide oriented information on an anomalous 2023 reverse circulation intercept that delivered 45m at 0.8 per cent copper and 3g/t silver from 144m and 7m at 0.49 per cent copper and 145g/t silver from 233m.
Noronex believes the region is prospective and further exploration is likely to continue. For now, the company will continue drilling at Fiesta and its surrounding prospects with the welcome assistance of recent improvements in the weather and drilling performance.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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