A descoberta de um depósito tipo Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold na Zâmbia atrai a atenção das mineradoras

Back in 2002 Twigg Minerals acquired a private company called African Eagle which had five projects in Zambia including a jv with Avmin. The deal provided an ideal opportunity to change its name. At the time it was listed on Ofex and it spent a considerable time thereafter getting itself promoted to the AIM market and raising some money. In the meantime most of the news from the new African Eagle focused on the joint venture in Tanzania with Gold Fields at the Miyabi project. In quieter moments, however, the directors would volunteer that they had high hopes for the Zambian copper and precious metals projects. It now appears that immediately they had money in the bank in June - a gross amount of £2.3 million including the placement with RAB Capital - an enlarged work programme started on the Sasare licence in eastern Zambia with geological and other surveys.

The original discovery was made back in March when African Eagle announced that sampling of old prospecting pits, trenches and shafts at Sasare, coupled with remote sensing studies, geological modelling and a thorough review by the company of past exploration data from the area, all indicated that the licence area contained an iron oxide copper gold type-deposit. These are extremely attractive exploration targets owing to their potential for high grades and large tonnages. Sampling took place in February , as a follow up to the desk study, on two target areas - Mweze and Eagle Eye. They lie approximately 2 kms apart and both contain old prospect pits, shafts and trenches. The targets are located approximately 8 kms northwest of the Sasare gold mine, which produced 12,500 ounces of gold between 1901 and 1942.

The more recent sampling results show that the copper zone is more than twice as long as previously thought and appears to contain many high-grade pods. Gold, silver and other metals also occur, and evidence mounts that it is indeed an iron-oxide-copper-gold discovery. It was drilled some time ago by an Eastern European company, according to director Euan Worthington, but they were looking for a typical Zambian copper belt deposit and misinterpreted the geology.

The fieldwork undertaken since July has included geological mapping, soil geochemistry, ground magnetic surveys and sampling of outcrops and old trenches. Detailed surveys covered an inner 5 kms by 2 kms zone and reconnaissance surveys extended across a wider 11 kms by 7 kms region. Two main copper zones were defined with a 2.5 kms northwest trending zone at Eagle Eye proper and a northeast trending zone extending for at least 5km at nearby Mweze. Gold also occurs in association with the copper in places. This is pretty big stuff, but potential investors should be aware that only the drilling which is due to start next month will give the real picture. What is known as this stage is that African Eagle is onto an extensive copper mineralised system showing many of the geological characteristics of an IOCG deposit.

Size is one aspect, grade is another and channel chip sampling of old prospectors’ trenches at both Eagle Eye and Mweze has confirmed the potential for economic mineralisation. The trench results include an 8metre width at 3.53% copper, 9 metres at 2.4%, 15 metres at 0.94% and 26 metres at 0.43% as well as 3 metres at 0.3 g/t gold. Grab sampling of outcrops from newly discovered mineralisation northeast of Mweze reinforced the potential for gold, with samples returning values of 8.7, 2.9 and 0.36 g/t. The geographical situation is another point of interest as Sasare is less than 100 kms from the Zambian copper belt with all its infrastructure in terms of smelters and refineries. This could have a major impact on the costs of development if the project gets that far.

According to chairman John Park, an experienced and successful African hand who spoke to Minews from the port at Muscat on the Red Sea, some big companies are already showing interest. However this is a project that his company would like to advance considerably further before considering any joint ventures. The potential to African Eagle is obvious from the fact that the company is only capitalised at £7 million at the moment. He also wanted to emphasise that the company now has three strong legs to its operations. There are also the joint venture with Gold Fields in Tanzania and the projects in Mozambique which focus on the gold and base metal potential of the Namama orogenic belt, a collision zone where the rocks of an ancient ocean floor were crushed between two continental blocks.

The drilling results expected from Zambia after Christmas should be well worth studying.