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| Date | 23 Nov 2021 |
| Time | 07:00:06 |
| Category | Corporate updates |
| ID | 2471T |
PRESS RELEASE
23 November 2021
KAVANGO RESOURCES PLC
("Kavango" or "the Company")
KSZ - distinctly magnetised 30km target identified
Kavango Resources plc (LSE:KAV), the exploration company targeting the discovery of world-class mineral deposits in Botswana, is pleased to announce the Company has identified 30km strike length of distinct magnetic Proterozoic gabbro (the "30km Strike Length") within Target Area A of the Kalahari Suture Zone ("KSZ") Project, in the vicinity of Hole TA2DD002.
The 30km Strike Length is now a high-priority exploration target for the detection of possible large-scale nickel/copper/platinum group element (Ni/Cu/PGE) mineralisation.
Spectral Geophysics ("Spectral"), the Company's strategic partner, has produced an updated 3D magnetic susceptibility model (the "Updated Mag Sus Model") of the Proterozoic gabbro in Target Area A. This maps the 30km Strike Length.
According to the Updated Mag Sus Model, zones of the 30km Strike Length can be intercepted as shallow as 500m. Given that the Updated Mag Sus Model has been constrained using stratigraphic data from Hole TA2DD002, the Company is confident in this depth prediction.
Kavango's confidence in the Updated Mag Sus Model is based on:
I. Physical evidence seen in Proterozoic drill core from Hole TA2DD002 (announced 14 September)
II. Initial results from the downhole electromagnetic ("DHEM") survey of Hole TA2DD002 (announced 29 October)
III. Spectral's recognised technical experience and expertise
Highlights
Ø Spectral inverted and reinterpreted ground magnetic survey data to create the Updated Mag Sus Model in the vicinity of Hole TA2DD002
- Spectral has prepared a report for the Company, which describes the analytical methods it used to produce the Updated Mag Sus Model. Kavango will publish this report on its website.
Ø Spectral's Updated Mag Sus Model:
- Accurately predicts the intersection of TA2DD002 with the Proterozoic gabbro at 650m
- Confirms that Proterozoic rocks are one set of causative bodies for the magnetic anomalies, identified from both aeromagnetic and ground surveys
- Confirms that the extent of the Proterozoic rocks can be mapped using both aeromagnetic and ground magnetic surveying
- Shows that Hole TA2DD002 appears to have clipped the western edge of the more magnetic Proterozoic rocks, which are hosted within the main body of Proterozoic. The main body of the more magnetic Proterozoic rocks appears to extend approximately 350m to the east
- Indicates the Proterozoic rocks could be intercepted at <500m depth to the NNW of TA2DD002
- Suggests the Proterozoic rocks are possibly shallower to the south on the same geological trend
Ø As with the Great Red Spot (announced 22 November), Kavango increasingly believes the 30km Strike has potential to host stacked Karoo-age and Proterozoic-age Ni/Cu/PGE mineralisation
- Based on visual inspection of core samples taken from TA2DD002 and KSZD001, the Company's preliminary view is the Proterozoic rocks in these two areas experienced differing intrusive and/or metamorphosing events (announced 16 November)
- Kavango will test this theory with detailed petrographic work and various assay techniques, performed by internationally accredited laboratories in South Africa.
Ø Kavango expects to use the Updated Mag Sus model to guide future exploration in the KSZ, specifically to position future Time Domain Electromagnetic ("TDEM") surveys
Ø The Company will publish images from the Updated Mag Sus Model on its website (www.kavangoresources.com) and its Twitter feed (@KavangoRes)
Ø Kavango will host a shareholder webinar in early December to present its future exploration strategy for the KSZ. Key members of Kavango's technical team will participate in this event. Details will be published shortly.
Ben Turney, Chief Executive Officer of Kavango Resources, commented:
"Today's news shows how the various threads of this year's complex exploration efforts in the Kalahari Suture Zone are starting to tie together. We've used the latest remote sensing technology to identify distinct targets, have nearly completed a ground-breaking drill campaign and recovered physical evidence in core samples to support our upgraded geophysical modelling.
It very much feels like we are closing in on a scalable exploration strategy to crack the 5-decade challenge posed by the KSZ.
Spectral Geophysics' updated magnetic susceptibility model of Target Area A illustrates the enormous prospective potential of our licence areas in this region.
The 30km-long magnetised body, within the Proterozoic gabbro, is just one possible host environment for large-scale nickel/copper/platinum group element mineralisation. Above that sits the Karoo, which still remains a core focus of ours.
The fact that we have at least four other sizeable target zones within 25km distance of of the 30km Strike Length (including the Great Red Spot) highlights how big this project is. The possibility of stacked plays overlying each other, simply adds to the overall promise.
Now that we are increasingly confident in our ability to explore our ground successfully, we look forward to running accelerated field programmes next year. We will present more detail about our updated strategy in our hosted webinar, early next month."
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
First Equity (Joint Broker)
+44 207 374 2212
Jason Robertson
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
+44 1483 413500
Nick Emerson
Kavango Competent Person Statement
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 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.
Note to Editors:
THE KALAHARI SUTURE ZONE
Kavango's 100% subsidiary in Botswana, Kavango Minerals (Pty) Ltd, is the holder of 16 prospecting licences covering 8,831.1km2 of ground, including 14 licences over a significant portion of the 450km long KSZ magnetic anomaly in the southwest of the country along which Kavango is exploring for Copper-Nickel-PGM rich sulphide ore bodies. This large area, which is entirely covered by Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous Kalahari Sediments, has not previously been explored using modern techniques.
The area covered by Kavango's KSZ licences displays a geological setting with distinct similarities to that hosting World Class magmatic sulphide deposits such as those at Norilsk (Siberia) and Voisey's Bay (Canada).
The Norilsk mining centre is about 2,800km northeast of Moscow and accounts for 90% of Russia's nickel reserves, 55% of its copper and virtually all of its PGMs. Kavango's licenses in the KSZ display a geological setting with distinct geological similarities to the magmatic sulphide deposits at Norilsk. Magma plumbing systems are a key feature of these deposits.
KSZ DEFINITIONS
Chalcopyrite: A copper rich sulphide mineral (CuFeS2), widely occurring in magmatic sulphide ore bodies.
EM Super Conductors: are bodies of highly conductive minerals such as graphite, magnetite and metal sulphides, which conduct electricity very rapidly provided the mineral grains are in contact with each other.
Gabbro/gabbroic: A coarse grained, medium to dark coloured rock, formed from the intrusion of mantle derived molten magma into the earth's crust. Gabbroic rocks (or "gabbros") are formed as the molten magma crystallizes and cools.
Gabbroic sills: Relatively thin, planar, horizontal bodies of solidified gabbroic magma that intruded into layers of sedimentary rock whilst still molten.
Karoo: The Karoo System covers 1.5 million km2 of the semi-desert region of Southern Africa. Rocks in this system formed 180-310 million years ago.
Massive sulphide: When a deposit consists almost entirely of sulphides it is termed "massive". When it consists of grains or crystals of sulphide in a matrix of silicate minerals, it is termed "disseminated".
Metal/Magmatic sulphide: Deposits of sulphide mineral concentrations in mafic and ultramafic rocks, derived from immiscible sulphide liquids. To view a video of how metal/magmatic sulphides form please visit -
https://twitter.com/KavangoRes/status/1316004057895645186?s=20
Norilsk Style: copper/nickel/PGE mineralisation associated with the intrusion into the upper parts of the Earth's crust of mafic magma, which form magma chambers that sit below volcanic vents or fissures that extrude basaltic lava onto the surface (Hawaii is a possible modern equivalent). The Norilsk intrusions tend to have distinct morphologies, combining thin gabbro sills (wings) with deep keels (thought to be associated with feeder dykes) at the base.
Norilsk Model: a genetic geological model similar to that pertaining to the Norilsk/Talnakh deposits in Siberia. Traditionally, it was thought that, during emplacement, the magma incorporated sulphur rich country rock (e.g. coal measures) or evaporites into the melt, which allowed the molten magma to become sulphur saturated. The free sulphur would then combine, preferentially, with Cu/Ni/PGE metal ions to form metal sulphides, which, being heavy, tended to accumulate in traps or into the keel of the magma chamber. However, modern research suggests that the process might be more complex and may also involve changes of the chemical and physical properties of the magma during the introduction of new pulses of molten material from below. Such sudden changes may have caused rapid segregation of metal sulphides within and above the feeder dykes within the keel of the intrusion.
Pegmatitic: Pegmatites are very coarse grained igneous rocks having grain sizes in excess of 3cm, Pegmatites are thought to form as a result of very slow crystallisation and may contain exotic minerals from a volatile-rich melt.
Sulphide mineralisation: If there is sufficient sulphur in the molten magma, it will tend to combine with metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, Pb, PGEs etc.) to form metal sulphide complexes, which may coalesce to form massive sulphide deposits. If the melt is sulphide poor, the metals will be taken up into the silicate minerals that form as the magma cools and will not usually form economic deposits.