PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper developer Orion Minerals has reported massive copper and zinc sulphide intersections at two near-mine prospects at its Prieska copper/zinc project, in South Africa.
The ASX-listed miner on Thursday said that drilling at the Kielder prospect, some 15 km from the planned mill, had intersected the mineralisation.
“This is an exciting start to our recently commenced high-impact exploration programme at Prieska. We have intersected shallow, base metal massive sulphide at two different prospects in our very first holes at the near mine Kielder project,” said Orion MD and CEO Errol Smart.
“This is a clear demonstration of the enormous exploration upside around the proposed Prieska copper/zinc mill, which offer opportunities to extend the mine life and grow our production profile in the future.”
Smart said that based on visual observations, the intersections that habe been drilled are geologically similar to those that was seen at the main Prieska copper/zinc deposit, and, occurred at very shallow depths which boded well for their future economic potential.
The A$413-million Prieska project is currently expected to produce at a rate of 2.4-million tonnes a year, producing 226 000 t of copper and 680 000 t of zinc in its 12-year foundation phase.