Logistical developments and supply chain spinoffs north of Springbok in the Northern Cape seem certain after exploration company Orion Minerals reported “spectacular” initial results from drilling at Okiep.
According to a report in Small Caps, a leading publication for the securities exchange in Australia, the drilling was done at Flat Mine East, a previously dormant site within the Okiep copper project area.
“Drilling has returned a best result of 49 metres at 4.89% copper from 231m down-hole, including 10.23m at 12.47%,” Imelda Cotton writes.
The last time drilling heralded high-grade copper finds, known as “intercept”, was in 1995 when the site’s previous owners, Gold Fields, reported 9.83% copper at 10.12 and 3.55% at 59.1m.”
News of Orion Minerals’ find at Okiep, the highest-grade intercept drill in the mine’s history, had an immediate result on the Joburg Stock Exchange, causing the explorer’s stock to soar to a high of 25c per share.
Orion’s stock finally settled at a cent lower per share which was still 26.3% stronger than the company’s stock price prior to the intercept find.
Orion managing director Errol Smart said the Flat Mine East results underscore the “huge potential” of the company’s landholding, Cotton writes.
“Okiep contains literally hundreds of mapped, outcropping mineralised bodies where previous owners used scout drilling to intersect strong copper mineralisation in dozens of bodies but never completed drilling out these discoveries due to low copper prices,” he said.
“This has created a huge opportunity for us in a district which produced over 2Mt of contained copper metal historically.
“He said the Okiep region had been dormant for decades and was now experiencing a ‘major revitalisation’ with the application of modern exploration and mining technologies.
Orion intends to turn its Okiep Copper Project into the second-biggest production hub in the Northern Cape next to Prieska Copper-Zinc Mine (PCZM).
Business Day reports that Smart said PCZM was output-ready.
During its initial 12-year phase, it’s expected to produce 70 000 tonnes of zinc and 22 000 tonnes of copper annually.
The mine’s total yield is projected to be 680 000 tonnes of zinc and 226 000 of copper.
