REG - Kavango Resources - ZIM: Hillside Tungsten & Strategic Element Results

Kavango ResourcesAnnouncement

03/12/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5103O  Kavango Resources PLC  03 December 2024

PRESS RELEASE

03 December 2024

KAVANGO RESOURCES PLC

("Kavango" or "the Company")

ZIM -- Hillside Tungsten & Strategic Element Results

Kavango Resources plc (LSE: KAV), the Southern Africa focussed metals
exploration company, is pleased to announce its first multi-element assay
results have identified significant concentrations of tungsten and other
strategic elements across the Hillside Project ("Hillside") in Matabeleland,
southern Zimbabwe.

The Company conducted its first phase of Inductively Coupled Plasma ("ICP")
tests on core samples collected from four diamond holes drilled at Hillside.
Samples from three sets of cores returned potentially economic concentrations
of tungsten and other strategic elements, including bismuth, selenium and
molybdenum.

Following this success, Kavango will widen its exploration focus in Zimbabwe
to include tungsten and strategic elements. The Company will now arrange for
further assays to test tungsten values and widths.

Ben Turney, Chief Executive of Kavango Resources, commented:

"As we move into resource drilling at Prospect 3 at our Hillside Gold Project,
our first multi-element assay results have given us additional exploration
upside.

Strategic minerals and critical elements often occur within commercial gold
deposits around the world. They can form a valuable biproduct of gold mining,
especially in today's climate of increasingly restricted supply and strong
demand.

We are particularly encouraged by the tungsten ICP results at Hillside, with a
peak intersection value of 2,200ppm. We encountered significant tungsten
concentrations across three of our gold targets here, all within 1.5km of each
other. The values returned for bismuth, selenium and molybdenum also appear
meaningful. These are enticing leads we will now pursue.

To this end, we have completed a preliminary desktop review of historic data
of reported production of tungsten across the greenstone belt we are operating
in. According to records, tungsten has been sourced from 106 deposits in the
region historically. Given that this element can act as a pathfinder for other
strategic elements, we are increasingly confident of the discovery potential
in our area.

Moving forward, we will now conduct ICP testing on all drill cores taken from
the Hillside and Nara gold projects to widen our search for more metals and
elements."

ICP Assays Results Overview

Kavango has six gold exploration targets at Hillside (Prospects 1 - 6) hosted
in a single Archeaen Greenstone Belt. Tungsten and other strategic elements
are known to occur in such greenstone hosted gold deposits around the world.
Depending on grade and concentration, such strategic elements can be extracted
as commercial biproducts as part of a gold production process.

The Company has currently drill tested 5 of its 6 prospects at Hillside, with
11 diamond core holes. In these 11 diamond exploration holes, Kavango
geologists have repeatedly logged high tungsten, bismuth, selenium and
molybdenum values in pXRF spot readings. In addition, they have observed
scheelite in association with gold mineralisation. This prompted Kavango to
conduct ICP assays on holes BLDD001 (at Prospect 1), BRDD01 (at Prospect 2),
NSDD001 (at Prospect 3) and SKDD001 (at Prospect 4) to confirm the logged
intersection values.

Prospects 1 to 3 are located on the main Hillside project area. Prospect 4 is
located 13km to the north.

ICP results from holes BLDD001, BRDD001 and NSDD001 returned significant
tungsten results and confirmed the presence of potentially economic
concentrations. The map below shows the occurrence of tungsten across Prospect
1, 2 and 3 with a scale for 250 parts per million ("ppm") shown. The crustal
abundance for tungsten is known to be 1.25ppm

Figure 1: Tungsten concentrations in Holes BLDD001, BRDD001 and NSDD001 at the
Hillside Gold Project, Zimbabwe

In addition to significant tungsten intersection values, the ICP assays
revealed significant intersection values for bismuth, selenium and molybdenum.
Peak values are presented in Table 1 below.

 

 Table 1: Peak ICP results for tungsten, bismuth, molybdenum and selenium
 identified at Hillside, including values relative to crustal abundance and
 total annual global production for each element
 Element (symbol)  Drill Hole  Peak Value Identified (parts per million)  Crustal Abundance (parts per million)  Global Annual Production (tonnes per year)
 Bismuth           BRDD01      536                                        0.0085 (8.5×10(−7)%)                   10,200

 Molybdenum        BLDD001     161.5                                      1.2 (0.00012%)                         227,000
 Selenium          BRDD01      11.8                                       0.05 (5×10(−6)%)                       2,200
 Tungsten          BLDD001     2,200                                      1.25 (0.000125%)                       86,400

The Company is particularly interested by the returns for bismuth and
selenium. Crustal abundance for bismuth is recorded at 0.0085 (8.5×10(−7)%)
ppm and for selenium at 0.05 (5×10(−6)%) ppm. Peak ICP Results were 536ppm
for bismuth and 11.8ppm for selenium. 10,200 tonnes of bismuth and 2,200
tonnes of selenium are produced globally each year. There are only 2 known
dedicated bismuth mines and no primary selenium mines. Each element is
produced as a biproduct in other mining with bismuth primarily sourced from
lead or tungsten ores, while selenium is sourced from copper and lead ores.

Tungsten and Strategic Element Focus

Hillside lies in the Filabusi Greenstone Belt. Kavango's primary focus at
Hillside is the fast-track development of its gold production targets at
Prospects 3 and 4 (announced >>> 25 November 2024
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/kavango_resources_plc/news/rns/story/w97j1px)
and 22 November 2024
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/kavango_resources_plc/news/rns/story/xl4e5gr)
).

However, the Filabusi Greenstone Belt and surrounding granitoids have a past
recorded production of 1,920.70 tonnes of tungsten concentrate sourced from
106 deposits, primarily at shallow depths with the majority as by product or
credits from gold production.

There appears to be a close spatial relationship between the tungsten
occurrences and the granite contact zone with the volcanic metasediments
forming the greenstone or within the granites at shallow depths below. To date
scheelite is the only tungsten mineral recorded from the gold deposits, and is
often associated with bismuth, molybdenite, beryl, tantalite and tin similar
to other greenstone deposits globally.

Historical producers in Filabusi mined the scheelite from within stockworks,
pegmatites and shear zones, concentrated within and close to the contact of
the high-level granite and granodiorite stocks

There are 24 tungsten producers recorded within Kavango held properties with a
total production of 155.88t of tungsten (scheelite) concentrate (figures
Baglow, 1991).

No modern exploration for tungsten or strategic elements has been conducted at
the Company's Hillside or Nara* gold projects.

Based on the multi-element results, Kavango will now broaden its exploration
at Hillside and Nara to routinely include ICP and X-Ray Fluorescence
Spectrometry (XRF) analysis for Strategic Minerals and critical elements.

* Kavango holds an option to acquire Nara until June 2025 (announced
>>> 26 June 2023
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/kavango_resources_plc/news/rns/story/x5zmj9x)
).

Process of Inductively Coupled Plasma and X-Ray Fluorescence ("XRF")
Spectrometry

ICP is a sophisticated form of assay testing that is used to detect metallic
and non-metallic elements in liquid samples at very low concentrations. XRF
is an analytical technique that uses the interaction of X-rays with a
material to determine its elemental composition and allows specifically for
the determination of tungsten grades as WO(3). These are both powerful
exploration tools for strategic minerals and their component critical elements
in the search for economic concentrations greater than crustal abundance

Zimbabwe currently lacks an internationally accredited laboratory that can
conduct either ICP or XRF assay testing. As a result, Kavango must export
samples to an internationally accredited laboratory in South Africa. This
requires specific permits to be granted by the Ministry of Mines and other
government departments in Zimbabwe. The process for this is currently time
consuming, but Kavango is seeking to work proactively with the relevant
Zimbabwean authorities to increase the speed at which it can conduct future
ICP & XRF testing.

Given the significance of today's results for strategic elements exploration
in Zimbabwe, Kavango anticipates productive discussions with the relevant
government departments.

Kavango's Operations in Zimbabwe

Kavango is exploring for gold deposits in Zimbabwe that have the potential to
be brought into production quickly through modern mechanised mining. The
Company is targeting both open-pit and underground opportunities.

Currently, Kavango has two projects on the same greenstone belt, Hillside and
Nara.

Kavango exercised its option to acquire Hillside in April 2024. Here the
Company has two high-priority targets that it hopes to bring into production
over the next 18 months; Prospect 3 and Prospect 4. At Prospect 3 Kavango is
investigating the potential for an open-pit selective bulk mining operation.
Meanwhile, at Prospect 4 Kavango is pursuing a high-grade, underground
bulk-minable opportunity.

In parallel to this, Kavango has an option to acquire the Nara Project that
currently runs until the end of June 2025. Here, the Company is exploring for
a large-scale, bulk-minable underground deposit at Nara. The primary target
zone is around the historic N1 mine, where the Company is assessing the
potential to expand artisanal workings at depth and along strike.

 

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

+46 7697 406 06

First Equity (Broker)

+44 207 374 2212

Jason Robertson

Kavango Competent Person Statement

The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to geology
and exploration have been compiled by Mr David Catterall, a Competent Person
and a member of a Recognised Professional Organisations (ROPO). David
Catterall has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity
being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012
Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC 2012). David is the principal geologist at
Tulia Blueclay Limited and a consultant to Kavango Resources. David Catterall
is a member of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, a
recognised professional organisation.

The technical information contained in this announcement pertaining to mining
has been compiled by Mr Craig Hatch, a Competent Person and a member of a
Recognised Professional Organisations (ROPO). Craig Hatch has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the style of mining and type of deposit under
consideration and to the activities being proposed to qualify as a Competent
Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting
of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC 2012). Craig
is the Principal Mining Engineer of Minorex Pty Ltd and a consultant to
Kavango Resources and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy (AusIMM), a recognised professional organisation.

 

 

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