KEFI Gold and Copper Plc (LON:KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and development company with a first-mover advantage in Saudi Arabia, has announced the discovery of a third copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit in the broader Hawiah district by the Company’s Gold & Minerals Ltd joint venture.
Highlights
· GMCO has discovered another Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) deposit, at Abu Salal, which becomes the third discovery in the Hawiah Copper-Gold district following the original Hawiah discovery when drilling commenced in 2019, and the subsequent Al Godyer discovery announced in 2022:
o The Abu Salal VMS deposit is located 50km south of GMCO’s Hawiah Copper-Gold project (“Hawiah”) in the central portion of the Wadi Bidah Mineral Belt (“Wadi Bidah”), straddling GMCO’s Abu Salal North and South exploration licences
o Drilling has intercepted massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralisation containing copper, gold, zinc and silver, in multiple horizons, across a 2,600m strike length, with true widths of up to 11m, indicated by the first-pass 18-hole (2,009m) scout drilling programme
o This north-south trending gossan horizon, remains open at depth, along strike and down plunge
o Assays of Abu Salal’s sulphide mineralisation has returned multiple grade intervals of comparable to those at GMCO’s Hawiah discovery, which already ranks in the top three of base metals projects in Saudi Arabia
Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, KEFI Gold and Copper’s Executive Chairman commented: “Ongoing exploration near our Hawiah copper-gold-zinc-silver deposit has now quickly yielded two additional discoveries, Al Godeyer and Abu Salal. Discovery of the latter has further strengthened our view that the Hawiah deposit itself is only the first in a cluster of deposits, as often occurs with this style of mineralisation, in a much broader district.
“Abu Salal is some 50km south of Hawiah and we have already identified a number of additional targets showing similar geological characteristics that are to be drill tested. Interestingly we note that Ivanhoe Electric, through its JV with the State mining company (Ma’aden), has committed to +US$60M of exploration in Saudi Arabia and more specifically has picked up licences in and around Hawiah not held by GMCO, and confirmed this district as amongst their top four exploration priorities in Saudi Arabia.
“As previously reported, Saudi Arabia has opened up its exploration and mining sector and we are seeing leading global explorers and producers enter into the Kingdom for the first time. KEFI’s first-mover advantage, through GMCO, has ensured the Company has secured some of the most prospective licences in Saudi Arabia and we believe we will continue to make significant additional discoveries, as well as expanding our existing discoveries, through our active exploration programmes, which have been running at a rate of approximately US$20M per annum for the past few years.
“Later this quarter we will be issuing an update on Hawiah and Al Godeyer following the positive work programmes that have taken place. The metal content already reported at Hawiah is the gold equivalent of the Company’s other development assets (Tulu Kapi in Ethiopia and Jibal Qutman in Saudi Arabia) prior to any further additional expansion. We are therefore highly encouraged to have made the Abu Salal discovery, which once fully appraised will no doubt significantly increase our resources in the Hawiah district still further.”
VMS Discovery at Abu Salal
The Abu Salal VMS deposit is located 50km south of Hawiah in the central portion of the Wadi Bidah Mineral Belt, straddling GMCO’s Abu Salal North and South Exploration Licences (“EL’s”).
Scout drilling has intercepted massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralisation beneath the 2,600m discontinuously-outcropping, north-south trending gossan horizon, which remains open at depth, along strike and down plunge.
Final assay results have been received from the first-pass 18-hole (2,009m) programme designed to follow-up positive trenching and geophysical results completed in 2022. This programme represents the first time that drilling has ever taken place at Abu Salal.
Intersections in the fresh sulphide domain have confirmed copper-zinc-gold-silver mineralisation with multiple intercepts demonstrating grade intervals comparable to the Hawiah and Al Godeyer VMS deposits. The initial interpretation is that the mineralisation represents the fringe environment of a VMS system, with alteration minerals, typically associated within the footwall/hangingwall environments of VMS deposits not observed. Sulphides are typically fine grained, dominantly pyrite with lesser chalcopyrite and sphalerite. These interpretations are important for guiding the next stages of exploration.
The westerly dipping sulphide mineralisation has a true width of up to 11m and is hosted in a meta-volcanic to sedimentary back-arc environment rock package analogous to the geology of the wider Wadi Bidah.
Highlights from the scout drilling programme include:
– ASD_004: 11.2m at 0.94% copper, 1.03% zinc, 0.33g/t gold and 14.96g/t silver from 27.9m;
– ASD_008: 7.0m at 0.91% copper, 0.4% zinc, 4.0g/t silver from 36.0m; and
– ASD_009: 7.1m at 0.6% copper, 1.0% zinc, 0.2g/t gold and 10.9g/t silver from 72.0m.
The moderate dip of the deposit indicates that intersected intervals are a good approximation of the true width of mineralisation.
The targeting of this Abu Salal drilling programme was guided by a detailed understanding of the geological genesis of the region developed over the past five years. The success of this drilling is a proof of concept for the exploration of these VMS targets throughout the Wadi Bidah. The scout drilling at Abu Salal has allowed the team to gain insights into the geometry of the mineralised horizon as well as the structural controls on mineralisation. At this stage, drilling has only tested to a maximum vertical depth of 80m and on limited portions of the full strike.
Follow-up exploration activities in 2024 will focus on drill testing deeper portions of the system to further assess grade and geological continuity, guided by deeper penetrating geophysics and geological modelling. The upcoming programme will also look to extend the known mineralisation down plunge and along strike.
As previously reported, KEFI Gold and Copper’s GMCO joint venture partner, ARTAR, temporarily funds the ongoing programme at present to ensure swift progress continues whilst KEFI triggers project launch in Ethiopia at the high-grade Tulu Kapi Gold Project. This reflects the strong partnership relationship and the combined priority given to production start-up in both countries.
