Noronex and big JV partner South32 will probe some exciting targets deep on the northern edges of the world class Kalahari copper belt at its Damara project in Namibia. The targets were discovered using a combination of gravity and magnetic geophysical surveys and present as compelling drill targets in a region that is famous for throwing up almost biblical scale copper discoveries.
The Damara project is covered by shallow Kalahari sands which means a lack of surface mineralised expressions has likely led to previous explorers walking past the project. The company says it shares geological similarities with major basement hosted deposits in the central African Copper Belt in Zambia and Congo.
The recent survey has unveiled what the company says are dense, magnetic stratigraphic units that could have experienced significant hydrothermal activity, hinting at the promise of a copper mineralising event.
Noronex has its sights set on replicating the successes of the mammoth central African players like Canadian-listed Ivanhoe Mines’ with its world-class Kamoa-Kakula project in Congo. Kamoa-Kakula boasts a total indicated resource of more than 1.3 billion tonnes grading an impressive 2.72 per cent copper for some 36.4 million tonnes of contained copper.
Noronex is set to test the anomalies at Damara immediately following the completion of a 5000m reverse circulation (RC) program at its nearby Fiesta project, which is currently underway.
Management says it plans to drill six RC holes each to a depth of 250m, targeting prominent gravity anomalies across three key prospects in Otjiuapehuri, Otjozondera, and Okatumba Gate.
“To have defined these new gravity-magnetic targets in an undrilled region at Damara is very exciting, and we look forward to drill testing them in the coming weeks under our earn-in agreement with South32. Applying the Central African Copper Belt’s basement deposit models in Namibia could represent a major breakthrough for the potential of the Kalahari Copper Belt,” says Noronex chief geologist Bruce Hooper
The drill rig is currently active at Fiesta, located in the western section of its Humpback tenements. Fiesta lies on the prospective NPF-D’Kar contact where the program is testing several distinct shear zones for copper over a strike of 5km.
With 12 RC holes already completed for 3000m, initial assay results are expected within the week.
Noronex’s exploration efforts at Fiesta and Damara are fuelled by a strategic earn-in agreement with South32, one of the mining industry’s powerhouses and prominent landholders across the KCB. South32 is funding exploration as part of a broader collaboration to unlock the project’s copper potential. It will earn up to 60 per cent of Noronex’ Humpback-Damara project area for $15 million.
The targets at Damara represent uncharted territory in the KCB and Noronex, now hand in hand with South32, is well placed financially to define the region’s copper potential.