REG - African Pioneer PLC - Ongombo Project, Namibia – Update

African PioneerAnnouncement

09/02/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 0876B  African Pioneer PLC  09 February 2022

9 February 2022

African Pioneer Plc

("African Pioneer" or "the Company")

Ongombo Project, Namibia - Update

 

African Pioneer plc ("APP" or the "Company"), the exploration and resource
development company with projects located in Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, is
pleased following a site visit to provide an update on the 85% owned Ongombo
Copper Mine Project ("Ongombo" or the "Project") situated in Namibia.

 

Highlights:

 

·    Engineering consultant Practara (Pty) Limited ("Practara") has
reviewed and validated Scoping Study assumptions based on a detailed
assessment of the Ongombo Project as part of a site visit.

 

·    Project design engineers Nurizon, have recommend relocation of
certain mine-site infrastructure and future underground access after on-site
consultation and a review of local topography.

 

·    Potential open pittable oxide - sulphide mineralisation has been
identified over and above the previously recorded sulphide Mineral Resource. A
drill plan has been approved and will be implemented shortly.

 

·    The Company has invited a preferred engineering company to provide a
plant design and capital estimate for a processing plant suitable for future
Ongombo ore treatment. Management will visit and assess other plants
constructed and operating in Africa by the same engineering group.

 

·    Amendments to the operating plan for the Ongombo Project will be
adopted by the consulting engineers and the Scoping Study adjusted
accordingly.

 

·    Environmental consultants will be provided with the updates and the
Environmental and social Impact Assessment will be advanced.

 

Colin Bird, Chairman and CEO commented ''All of the fundamentals for the
Ongombo Copper Mine project are in place. The technical team visit was
designed to identify potential negative issues and seek out opportunities
within the project. Our visit was very productive and we are of the opinion
that the mine can be fast tracked as soon as we've received the mining
licence.

 

The previous plan envisaged the opening of an open pit and we concur with this
plan but believe the open pit can be considerably extended along strike and we
will be commencing a drill programme shortly to test our prognosis. Should
this drill programme produce the results expected we should be able to have an
initial open pit lasting at least 18 months which would allow us to develop
the underground system resulting in a seamless transition between open cast
and underground mining."

 

 

Ongombo Engineering Studies & Plant Layout

The presence of potentially economic near-surface copper-gold mineralisation
requires the relocation of certain infrastructure to ensure that Mineral
Resources are not sterilised. The proposed Mining Licence area covers less
than 50% of the existing exploration licence and, there is ample room to
accommodate the relocation of infrastructure.

 

A box cut and portal excavated in the floor of any future open pit will
provide a convenient location for underground access and, could result in a
meaningful reduction in total metres of development and a corresponding
reduction in capital expenditure.

 

Near-surface mineralisation & Drill Programme

The Company has elected to investigate the potential for an open pit to mine
copper oxides. Oxides are known to occur at or near surface from the outcrop
of the Ongombo deposit coincident with the Central Shoot and may extend for a
strike length of approximately 350m. Drilling will test a horizontal distance
of approximately 100 to 150m in the direction of dip. The purpose of the drill
programme is many fold;

·    to establish whether an economically viable copper resource is
available near-surface that can be exploited by the Company;

·    in the event that a viable resource is delineated, the extension of
the life of mine of the Project by providing feedstock that can be processed
at the same time as underground development is being installed to access
sulphide copper - gold ores; and

·    to sterilise ground at surface as part of the process of locating
infrastructure.

Goldfields Namibia Limited previously undertook a limited drill programme to
test near-surface potential, delineating an open pittable non-compliant
Resource of 335,256t at 1.035% Cu. African Pioneer will expand the footprint
of the original Goldfields Namibia Limited drill programme which was
undertaken in 1995 at a time when the copper price was less than one third of
the current price.

Drilling of approximately 700 metres (17 drillholes) will be undertaken. An
additional metreage will be added to provide drill core for geotechnical
analysis and thereafter metallurgical test work.

Plant Design

Simple, well-understood processing technologies are expected to be implemented
at Ongombo and the current preferred plant design offers a model that is being
successfully applied in similar mining scenarios elsewhere in Africa.

 

ESIA

Changes to the Mine Plan and layout will be discussed with the environmental
consultant and the ESIA is expected to evolve as various production and
processing scenarios are tested by external consultants in consultation with
the Company.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 African Pioneer Plc

+44 (0)20 7581 4477
 Colin Bird

 Executive Chairman
 Beaumont Cornish (Financial Adviser)    +44 (0) 020 7628 3396

Roland Cornish
 Novum Securities Limited (Broker)

 Jon Belliss                             +44 (0) 20 7399 9400

+44 (0)20 7581 4477

 

Beaumont Cornish (Financial Adviser)

Roland Cornish

+44 (0) 020 7628 3396

Novum Securities Limited (Broker)

Jon Belliss

 

 

+44 (0) 20 7399 9400

 

or visit  https://africanpioneerplc.com/ (https://africanpioneerplc.com/)

 

Qualified Person:

In accordance with AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies, June 2009
("Guidance Note"), Colin Bird, CC.ENG, FIMMM, South African and UK Certified
Mine Manager and Director of Xtract Resources plc, with more than 40 years'
experience mainly in hard rock mining, is the qualified person as defined in
the Guidance Note of the London Stock Exchange, who has reviewed the technical
information contained in this press release.

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").

 

 

 

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