Southern Africa-focused metals exploration company Kavango Resources has announced the start of a drilling campaign on its Kalahari Suture Zone (KSZ) North project, in Botswana.

On May 10, the company revealed that it had signed a contract with exploration and drilling services company Mindea to drill the cluster of three B Conductors identified in the project area.

Kavango's technical team prioritised the B Conductors for drill testing after remodelling their conductance to be in the range of possible nickel-, copper- and platinum group element- (PGE-) bearing massive sulphides.

Mindea will deploy a diamond drill rig capable of drilling beyond target depth.

Kavango selected Mindea after it successfully drilled two holes into the B Conductors last year as part of the company's proof of concept campaign. Mindea will drill up to four holes, targeting the B Conductors at a depth of 600 m to 700 m.

The primary target will be the B1 Conductor, which was recently remodelled with a conductance of 28 700 Siemens using downhole electromagnetic survey data. Kavango said that this is well within the range accepted by nickel/copper specialised geophysicists for pyrrhotite-bearing massive sulphides.

Pyrrhotite is a highly conductive iron sulphide mineral often associated with the nickel-bearing mineral pentlandite in nickel/copper/PGE massive sulphide bodies.

Secondary targets comprise the B3 and B4 conductors, which have been modelled at 4 100 and 2 760 Siemens, respectively, also in the range of possible massive sulphides.

Kavango has mobilised its exploration camp for the drilling campaign, prepared an access road to the proposed drilling site, and prepared the water borehole for the drilling of the B1 Conductor. Drilling is expected to start within three weeks.

“Following last year's “near miss” of the B1 Conductor, we've made thorough preparations for our return to this target. Mindea successfully drilled two holes in the area last year for us, overcoming difficult ground conditions.

“We learned a lot together from that campaign and are confident . . . of making a successful intersection of the 28 700 Siemens B1 Conductor,” Kavango CEO Ben Turney said.