Deep-South Resources has announced its set to commence soil sampling at three Zambian Copperbelt prospects.
The firm recently acquired large-scale copper exploration licences for the Luanshya West project, Chililabombwe prospect and Mpongwe prospect with intentions of sampling 3 627 geochemical to identify anomalies and define drilling targets at the sites. They are yet to receive green light from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (Zema) to begin the sampling programme.
The three prospects are situated on the contact zone between basement granites and Lower Roan Group sediments where most copper belt mines in both Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are located. A sampling contractor is on standby for works upon grant approval.
Prospects
The Luanshya West project area is close to established copper and cobalt mines, with the Chibuluma mine about 35 km to the northeast. Chililabombwe prospect (licence 23247) is situated in the north of the Zambia Copperbelt near the DRC border and covers 22.5 km2.
The Chililabombwe programme consists of 132 soil samples, particularly on termite mounds, on a grid of 500 m by 100 m grid, designed to search for copper anomalies using a soil-geochemistry survey. Soil sampling at the 675 km2 Mpongwe prospect (licence 23248) will comprise 2 675 soil samples on a grid of 500 m by 100 m to search for copper anomalies using a soil-geochemistry survey.
The prospectivity at the 54.24 km2 Luanshya West project (licence 23246) is based on legacy exploration by Teal, a subsidiary of African Rainbow Minerals between 2007 and 2009 – comprising 850 soil samples and some geophysical data. This has enabled Deep-South to identify at least four large anomalies.
The soil sampling process will comprise 820 soil samples collected in an identical manner to the original Teal sampling programme, whereby Deep-South will use 500 m by 100 m grids. This work is expected to be carried out over 30 days.
