African Mining January 2022 | Page 27

EXCURSION •

Identifying additional targets Orion ’ s ’ attention at OCP is now turning to identifying high-quality targets for undiscovered high-grade deposits such as those historically discovered in the Okiep district including the Okiep Mine ( that gave the district its name ) which yielded 907,000 tonnes of sulphide ore at 21 % copper , and Nababeeb South which yielded 816,000 tonnes at 5.5 % copper .

The company is focused on similar geological settings to that of Okiep and Nababeeb South and have identified high-priority targets to be tested on the BCC property which is currently under option to Orion .

These high-grade deposits are usually found in pipes or blows and have very small dimensions of 150m – 250m diameter and were easily missed by historic wide-spaced drilling .

Orion cooperates with geoscientists Meanwhile Orion last year announced that it will cooperate with geoscientists from the South African Council for Geoscience to advance the geological understanding of the Northern Cape province further .

The studies will aim to stimulate greenfields exploration in an underexplored geological terrain . Particular focus will be on the application of modern exploration techniques , including geophysics , geochemistry , and remote sensing .

Smart , commented on the collaboration : “ We have been impressed by the CGS ’ s recent drive to acquire , organise and make baseline geological data available to assist explorers and help stimulate a greenfields exploration boom in South Africa .

“ We have already demonstrated that the high-quality data allows us to fast-track the re-estimation of resources using historic drill data with a Mineral Resource of 11.5Mt at 1.4 % Copper ( Cu ) already reported in accordance with JORC 2012 ,” says Smart

This Resource was confirmed within three months of securing options on the mineral rights and the historic data . Resource estimation work continues under the guidance of Paul Matthews , Orion ’ s group mineral resource manager .

“ I am particularly thrilled to be working with Paul again , as he was a key member of the contracted team that helped us identify the early potential at Prieska . Paul ’ s early resource estimates for Prieska , back in 2015 , have proved to be accurate after extensive follow up drilling and resource estimation ,” says Smart .

Walter Shamu , COO at Orion Minerals .