ASX-listed Sultan Resources has lodged an exploration licence application covering 171.2 km² of highly prospective copper/gold ground within Namibia's Central Damara Orogen.

The Kaalkop project (EPL11820), located about 5 km south of Kalkfeld, provides Sultan with a substantial strategic landholding within an established gold province that is also attracting increasing exploration attention for copper and other metals.

Importantly, Sultan says it has applied for the project without the issue of consideration shares or other equity securities, preserving the company's existing capital structure and avoiding acquisition-related dilution for shareholders.

The project presents Sultan with compelling dual copper and gold exploration potential.

The company notes that historical exploration within the licence targeted copper/lead/zinc mineralisation associated with carbonate rocks, while EPL11820 contains prospective granite-carbonate contacts, deformed metasedimentary sequences and major regional structures that have received limited modern exploration.

Sultan says the copper opportunity is particularly timely given recent exploration success elsewhere within Namibia's Damara Belt.

ASX-listed Kaoko Metals recently reported high-grade copper from reconnaissance sampling at its Karibib copper/gold/tungsten project, including rock-chip results of up to 4.9% copper.

Sultan says Kaoko describes Karibib as a Damara Belt project hosted within metasediments of the Karibib Gold Belt, with copper/gold/tungsten mineralisation associated with intrusive and metasedimentary systems.

While Kaoko's Karibib project represents a separate mineral system and its exploration results are not necessarily indicative of mineralisation at Kaalkop, Sultan says the recent results provide further evidence of the broader Damara Belt's potential to host significant copper mineralisation.

GOLD POTENTIAL

Sultan adds that the gold opportunity at Kaalkop is equally compelling.

The company explains that EPL11820 lies east of ASX-listed WIA Gold’s ground hosting the Kokoseb gold project, where WIA recently reported an updated mineral resource of 113-million tonnes at 1 g/t gold for 3.78-million ounces of gold.

Sultan notes that Kokoseb has grown rapidly from its maiden 1.3-million-ounce resource in 2023, demonstrating the significant gold endowment and continuing exploration potential of the broader district.

The Central Damara region also hosts the Eureka Gold discovery Osino Gold, now owned by Shanjin International Gold.

The broader Central Damara gold province also hosts a number of significant deposits and discoveries including Twin Hills, Ondundu, Navachab and Eureka.

Sultan's existing draft identifies Twin Hills at 2.2-million ounces and Ondundu at 900 000 oz, in addition to the previous 2.9-million-ounce Kokoseb estimate.

Despite this regional endowment, the company says no reported historical exploration specifically targeting gold has been undertaken across EPL11820.

The company says the combination of favourable geology, major structural architecture, prospective intrusive contacts and limited modern exploration provides Sultan with a substantial new copper/gold exploration opportunity in one of Namibia's emerging mineral provinces.

NEXT STEPS

Should the licence be granted, which Sultan expects will occur during the next quarter, the company plans to compile and review historical data, undertake reconnaissance mapping and rock-chip sampling of the priority granite-carbonate contact zones and plan follow-up soil geochemistry.

The company says it will update the market as the application progresses.

Sultan is targeting hydrothermal gold mineralisation in the Central Damara zone, which is a direct, late-stage product of the polyphase deformation and high-temperature metamorphism which gave rise to the Karibib gold district, an emerging and highly endowed orogenic gold province.

The province hosts major gold deposits including the Navachab and Ondundu mines as well as the Kososeb, Twin Hills and Eureka prospects.

Sultan says it continues to actively pursue potential acquisitions in the precious metals and critical minerals sectors and will update the market as and when material developments occur.