Commodity: Copper, gold & silver
Project Mineral Resource: 29Mt @ 1.1% CuEq including 930K open pittable at 0.68% CuEq (African Pioneer owns 85% pf the Ongombo Project)
Mining Licence: Mining Licence (ML 240) granted until 23 March 2045 alongside Environmental Clearance Certificate
Status: Development-ready with open pit start-up Resource identified
Prospect for Resource expansion: The Ongombo mineralization remains open at depth with scope for the addition of further tonnage and based on recent twinned drilling, potential for significantly enhanced gold grades in the East – Ost shoots
Location: 40km from Windhoek, Namibia
Ownership: African Pioneer Plc own 85% of the Ongombo Project
JORC (2012) Compliant Mineral Resource
The updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ongombo Project * was completed by Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent consultancy based in the United Kingdom and is reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012 edition and was announced on 16 May 2023. Resources are of Indicated and Inferred categories and include:
- Total Indicated Resources of 5.7 million tonnes gross at 1.1 % Cu Equivalent (“CuEq”), 0.94 % Cu, 0.23 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag, for 53,000 t Cu, 42,000 oz Au and 800,000 oz Ag, including:
- Open pit potential Resources of 0.93 million tonnes at 0.68% CuEq, 0.57 % Cu, 0.19 g/t Au and 2.6 g/t Ag, for 5,300 t Cu, 5,700 oz Au and 78,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq
- Underground potential Resources of 4.7 million tonnes at 1.2% CuEq, 1.0% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 4.7 g/t Ag, for 48,000 t Cu, 36,000 oz Au and 72,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq
- Inferred Underground potential Resources of approximately, 23 million tonnes at 1.1% CuEq, 0.95% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 5.8 g/t Ag, for 220,000 t Cu, 180,000 oz Au and 4.3 million oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq
Note:
* The resource figures above are stated on a gross basis and African Pioneer has an 85% interest in the Ongombo Project.
** Copper Equivalent based on assumed prices of US$9,000 per tonne Cu, US$1,800 per oz Au and US$20 per oz.
Project status
- Mining Licence and environmental clearance certificate issued
- 29Mt of JORC (2012) Mineral Resource defined @ 1.1% CuEq
- Significant increase in open pittable Resource targeted by drilling of identified extension
- Access to Namibian-based ore sorter for bulk optimisation trials
- African Pioneer’s neighbouring Ongeama project offers further possible open pit potential
- Mine development options are being assessed
Project background
The Ongombo project is situated in Exclusive Prospecting License (EPL) 5772 in the Khomas region of the Windhoek District of Namibia, 45 km from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The project area has relatively well-developed infrastructure on the farms Ongombo Ost and Ongombo West. The property is easily accessed by a tar road from Windhoek to Gobabis and then on a gravel road up to the project area. There is also a railway line from Gobabis to Walvis Bay, via Windhoek running parallel to the tarred road. The Ongombo Project is located 15km northeast from Otjihase Mine which consists of two underground mines (Otjihase and Matchless) and an 800ktpa copper concentrator.
The Ongombo project lies within the Matchless Member of the Kuiseb Formation, a conspicuous assemblage of lenses of foliated amphibolites, chlorite-amphibolite schist, talc schist and metagabbro. This belt, up to 5km wide in the Otjihase area, stretches 350km east-north-eastwards in the Southern Zone of the Damara Orogen from the Gorob – Hope area. The deposit is generally described as a Besshi-type massive sulphide. These are described as thin sheet-like bodies of massive to well-laminated pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite within thinly laminated clastic sediments and mafic tuffs. At the Ongombo project mineralisation occurs in one continuous zone approximately 7 km long and 0.5 – 1 km wide. The mineralisation zone dips consistently 15-20° northwest and plunges 5° northeast. Mineralisation is gradually thinning westward.