Kamoa-Kakula newest drill hole intersection reveals up to 40% copper grades

by Ina King (Potgieter)

On 30 January 2019, Ivanhoe Mines announced that exploration hole DD1450 at the Kamoa North prospect area in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had intersected 13.05% copper over 22.3 m at a 2% copper cut-off grade. This, in a remarkably thick, flat-lying ultra-high-grade deposit beginning at a depth of only 190 m below surface.

The exploration hole, which was drilled on the 397 km² Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, is located about 18 km north of the Kamoa-Kakula Project’s planned initial mine at the Kakula Deposit and roughly 8 km north of Kamoa’s Kansoko Mine development. It includes multiple 1 m intersections with copper grades higher than 20% copper, and includes a 40% copper intercept.

Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, showing drill hole DD1450, the Kamoa North Exploration Area, the Kamoa and Kakula Mineral Resource areas and the adjacent, 100%-owned Western Foreland exploration-licence area

Africa Mining IQ organises projects in terms grassroots, pre-feasibility, feasibility, bankable, active and operational phases. The Kamoa-Kakula project is currently at the feasibility stage, and all investment opportunities for this mining project, and many others, will be available on Africa Mining IQ as soon as the details become available.

Record-breaking intersection

“DD1450 exceeds anything previously encountered in all of our years of delineating resources on the project,” commented Ivanhoe Mines’ co-Chairman Robert Friedland. “The flat-lying, 10% copper intersection in hole DD1450 is almost 30 m (100-feet) thick and the high-grade copper is less than 200 metres below surface. If we apply a 5% copper cut-off to the intersection, the grade increases to approximately 16% copper and it is still almost 17 m (56 feet) thick.

Friedland added that hole DD1450 is 3 times richer on a ‘copper-grade X thickness’ measurement than any previous hole drilled at Kamoa-Kakula. “Now our immediate exploration focus is to find more of this near-surface, bonanza-grade ore.”

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Shallow-mining prospect

DD1450 is one of 22 recently drilled holes at Kamoa North and is the thickest, highest-grade copper intersection since drilling began on the project over a decade ago. This is additional evidence that Kamoa North could emerge as a prospective new, shallow mining area on the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence.

With over 1 900 projects currently listed on its online database, Africa Mining IQ covers extensive listings on the continent’s prominent minerals. Mining projects in the DRC that are listed on Mining IQ’s database currently profiles 57 copper, 8 diamond, 19 gold, 14 industrial, 1 lead, 2 lithium, 1 nickel, 1 potash, 1 tin and 2 zinc.

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The project engineers for the Kamoa-Kakula project are SRK Consulting (Pty) Ltd. (Australia); Hatch Perth; Golder Associates Africa (Pty) Ltd.; DRA Mineral Projects (Pty) Ltd.; and Wood (Amec Foster Wheeler – Reno Nevada). This, and additional information pertaining to project suppliers and project key contact details are available on to AMIQ subscribers.

Most significant copper discovery

The Kamoa Project was discovered in 2008 and is west of the Kolwezi district of the Central African Copperbelt. It now ranks as the most significant copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo since Belgian colonial-era exploration more than 100 years ago.

It is believed that it would become the largest copper development on the African continent. The Kamoa Project is a very large strati form copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 km west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 km west of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi.

It is believed that it would become the largest copper development on the African continent. The Kamoa Project is a very large strati form copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 km west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 km west of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi.