Discovery awarded more tenements in Kgalagadi

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 25, 2008 00:00

The company, which is listed on the Australian, Botswana and AIM stock exchanges, received formal approval from the Department of Geological Survey last week for the additional prospecting licences which cover 5,700 square kilometres stretching as a continuation from the western boundary of the company's current copper-silver tenements across to the Namibian border.

According to the company's estimates, an initial assessment of the seven new tenements indicate they have the potential to contain approximately 600 strike kilometres of mineralisation of a similar style to that found in the company's current Zeta, Plutus and Petra Inferred Mineral resources. Said the company's Managing Director Brad Sampson: 'Securing these tenements provides Discovery Metals control over a substantial portion of the Kalahari Copper Belt, which is emerging as a new copper province.

'We are excited to be the driving force in this significant regional copper play.' Historic work in relation to the new licences included a regional five to ten kilometre spaced geochemical soil sampling survey completed by BHP in the 1990s. Interpretation of this historical information in conjunction with the regional aeromagnetic dataset suggests that the copper and silver mineralisation discovered in the Discovery Metals current tenement area extends much further to the south-west. When coupled with Discovery Metals' geological model, the aeromagnetic dataset indicates that copper and silver mineralisation may continue for hundreds of strike kilometres as it is repeated many times by the tight folding of mineralised structures throughout the region. 'Discovery Metals already has an Inferred Mineral Resource of 46.1 million tonnes at 1.3 percent copper,' Sampson said. 'We estimate that this mineral resource has been identified from only the first five percent of the favourable geological horizon tested to date. This testing has only been within the first of our existing seven tenements.

'Mineralisation of a similar style has recently been encountered in the first drill holes from our second tenement to be explored at the Quirinus prospect.

'Our geological model has provided a 'near 100 percent' success rate for our exploration and resource drilling programme to date and we have great confidence in the exploration potential throughout all Discovery Metals tenements in the Kalahari Copper Belt.

'We have secured the right to a further 600 strike kilometres of the favourable geological setting, adding to the 700 strike kilometres already held.'

Over the next year, Discovery Metals plans to accelerate ground exploration and follow-up drilling programmes encompassing all of its expanded tenements. Discovery Metals Limited was initially formed as Discovery Nickel Limited in May 2003 but changed its name in 2006.

The company is focused on developing its copper and nickel projects in northern Botswana to create shareholder wealth through the discovery and development of economic mineral deposits.

Discovery's major assets are its copper project in north-western Botswana and the Dikoloti Nickel Project in the North East. There are three smaller Australian projects, two of which are joint-ventured with the partners potentially earning into 51 percent equity.

The tenement package consists of seven prospecting licences covering an area of 6,400km sq within the Kalahari Copper Belt. The copper project covers a large area of significant copper-silver mineralisation, which potentially occurs over hundreds of strike kilometres.

The Dikoloti nickel project comprises four prospecting licences covering 610km sq surrounding the three nickel deposits of BCL Limited in the Selebi-Phikwe region of north-eastern Botswana. The entire project is within 45km of BCL's smelter facility, which is the largest nickel processing facility in Africa.