London-listed Kavango Resources has entered into a strategic partnership with Spectral Geophysics – a Southern African company that makes use of ground-based remote sensing technologies to identify high-speed electromagnetic (EM) conductors at depth.

Spectral has specialist knowledge and expertise in mapping subsurface geology beneath Kalahari cover.

This experience is particularly important to exploration efforts at Kavango’s Kalahari Suture Zone (KSZ) project, in Botswana.

Under the terms of the strategic partnership, Spectral will share with Kavango its technical knowledge to optimise future underground remote surveys of the KSZ; and it will prioritise the assignment of its advanced surveying technologies to the KSZ for a period of 24 months.

From its side, Kavango will share with Spectral results of independent assessments on any data gathered from remote surveys; and its field exploration team will provide additional support to facilitate more rapid deployment of remote sensing technologies to target areas.

In return for securing priority access to Spectral's technical expertise and advanced remote surveying technologies, Kavango has agreed to issue three-million Kavango shares, as well as three-million warrants with vesting conditions, to Spectral.

"We are delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Spectral Geophysics and its founder Cas Lötter.

“Cas is one of Africa's principal experts in subsurface geological surveying. Under his leadership, Spectral is now among the continent's leading specialists in ground-based EM surveys, having worked on projects in 18 countries for many of the world's largest mining firms.

“In addition to this, Cas has personally interpreted over 100 000 line kilometres of helicopter EM data and was directly involved in the target identification that led to the T3 and A4 Dome copper discoveries in the Kalahari copperbelt,” says Kavango CEO Michael Foster.

He notes that, with Spectral's assistance and experience, Kavango will now be able to deploy more sophisticated methods and remote sensing technologies into the KSZ.

“Following the success of the first two TDEM surveys we completed at Hukuntsi, this is a major step forward for Kavango and significantly bolsters our exploration capabilities," he acclaims.

"I have been intrigued by the potential of the KSZ  for over 30 years. However, it has only been in recent years that technology has improved to the point to allow for effective surveying at depth, beneath the Kalahari cover.

“I was happy to be invited to work on the KSZ project last year. It is a technically-complex environment to work in, but my team and I have developed sophisticated methods to enable us to step up to this challenge. The fact that our data has stood up to rigorous external validation further strengthens my belief that our partnership with Kavango could yield substantial results.

“Now that we have seen the results from our first TDEM surveys, I am even more encouraged by what we have already found. We have learned a lot from the first phase of surveys and applied these lessons to the next round of surveys, which are well under way,” Lötter comments.

Meanwhile, Spectral has already completed two time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) surveys in the KSZ.

The second of these, at Target A2, identified a large conductive anomaly, which is about 1 km in strike with a large decay constant that could indicate the presence of metallic sulphides; and a second possible discrete conductor to the west of A2, which requires further surveying.

In a separate statement, Kavango announced the identification of an EM anomaly in Target Area A in the Hukuntsi (northern) section of the KSZ project.

The anomaly appears to be a large conductive body that lies between 250 m and 700 m from surface and appears to sit within the lower parts of a gabbro "keel", as predicted by the company's proprietary three-dimensional underground model of Hukuntsi.

Kavango believes this is in a promising geological setting.

Spectral, which is conducting the surveys on behalf of the company, concluded that the conductor "is interpreted to be caused by a shallow dipping, discrete conductor at least 1 km in strike with a large decay constant that could indicate the presence of metallic sulphides".

The actual size of the causative source of the conductor and its thickness will only be determined by drilling.

The conductor is oriented on a plunging plane, with a minimum depth of 250 m, and a maximum depth extension of 450 m (that is to a depth of 700 m below surface).

Given the size and the nature of the EM signature, Kavango sought independent verification of the validity and accuracy of the TDEM data from three independent geophysical consultants, including a specialist plate modeller who is experienced in modelling highly conductive EM environments.