Mobilisation of drilling equipment has started at the Molopo Farms Complex (MFC) in southwest Botswana where Power Metal Resources has nickel sulphide and platinum group metal interests.
The company signed a contract with Discovery Drilling Contractors Africa who are expected to commence drilling shortly.
The Phase 1 drilling programme is for an initial planned 2,505m across four diamond core drill holes.
Target hole depths vary from 525m to 710m and will test the first four of several high priority targets delineated as prospective for “massive” nickel sulphide mineralisation by airborne and ground geophysics survey data.
The project is 100% owned by Kalahari Key Mineral Exploration Pty Ltd in which Power Metal has an 18.26% share.
It also elected to earn in to a 40% direct interest in the MFC project by funding $500,000 of exploration expenditure in 2020, notably the diamond drilling of selected targets. On completion of the earn-in, Power Metal will have an 50.96% interest in the project.
Chief executive Paul Johnson said that the MFC was a major ultramafic-mafic layered intrusion straddling the southern border of Botswana with South Africa.
“It lies within the south-western part the large igneous province that includes the famous Bushveld Complex which contains the world’s largest reserves of PGMs.
“Discovery have started mobilisation of equipment to site and the drilling is expected to commence shortly.
“Maiden exploration drilling at the Molopo Farms Complex Project is a major event for Power Metal not least because our partners are targeting not just a possible large-scale metal discovery, but a district scale opportunity.
“Standing in our favour are the years of research of the Kalahari Key team backed by helicopter airborne electromagnetic surveys, ground geophysical surveys and audio-magnetotelluric surveys that indicate particularly strongly that something of interest may lie beneath the sand cover of south-west Botswana and within the Kalahari Key licence area.”
Power Metal’s other interests are in Australia, Cameroon, Canada, DRC, Tanzania and the US.