Golden Deeps Limited (ASX: GED) continues to grow the known mineralisation area at the Abenab Vanadium-Lead-Zinc Mine near Grootfontein in Namibia, with more positive results from sampling of surface mineralised material.
Chairman Michael Minosora said the ongoing work programme at Abenab continues to deliver positive results, further supporting the company’s intentions for a very low-cost start-up of operations in 2020.
“The identification of additional surface mineralised material is a solid start for the year,” Mr Minosora said.
An Odex drilling programme and a Lidar survey of the mine area are now planned to generate a JORC compliant resource.”
The Abenab surface mineralised material comprises stockpiles, waste and tails around the historic open pit and plant. The material was initially tested with Reverse Circulation (RC) and auger drilling programmes, which were supplemented in late 2019 with backhoe pitting of the coarse material and additional auger drilling of the tails.
Mr Minosora said the additional sampling was designed to fully delineate the extent and type of the surface mineralised material and provide an indication of the vanadium, lead and zinc grades.
71 pits were dug with a backhoe and sampled at a nominal 25m x 25m grid over the coarse surface material around the open pit generating 113 samples. The pits were dug to a depth of 1-2m and in the majority of cases, did not penetrate to the base of the material which is up to 4m in some locations. Samples were taken at 1m depth intervals and were comprised of coarse rock fragments (<0.5m) and fine-grained tails.
Mr Minosora said an estimate of the volume of the surface mineralised material will be generated incorporating new auger and pitting assay data. The volume calculated will be a preliminary estimate only due to the depth of the material not being adequately determined and the inaccuracy of the current digital terrain model (DTM).
A detailed review of the data is in progress in conjunction with the company’s geological consultant to generate the most accurate volume/tonnage estimate possible with the data available.
Pending the result, Odex drilling of the coarse mineralised stockpiles will be conducted to generate a JORC compliant resource.
Odex is a casing advance percussion drilling technique specifically designed to drill test loose material without contamination. A Lidar survey is also planned to generate a more accurate and detailed DTM of the surface.