Red Rock Resources plc said results from reverse circulation (RC) drilling exceeded its expectations at the Luanshimba copper-cobalt project in the Haut-Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
PROGRAMME
The Luanshimba project is operated by Red Rock Galaxy SA , an 80% owned Congolese subsidiary of Red Rock.
Three prospects now named as Kilembwe (18 holes), Luanshimba North (nine holes) and Luanshimba East (two holes) were drilled.
Drilling stopped in seven holes before target depth due to ground conditions and rig limitations.
The results are from 2,763 samples collected at the 2,469m, 29-hole programme.
RESULTS
Copper intersections include:
– 6m at 0.61% (including 1m at 1.45%) towards the bottom of hole DRC014 at Kilembwe
– 3m at 0.7% and 3m at 1.14% encountered towards the bottom of holes DRC019 and DRC021 at Luanshimba North.
Cobalt intersections include:
– 43m at 0.13% including 11m at 0.2% at Kilembwe in DRC015
3m at 0.37% related to a fault gouge, overlying 13m at 0.10% at Kilembwe in DRC008
– 5m at 0.78% including 2m at 1.4% at DRC023 in Luanshimba East.
Red Rock said that the combination of occasional high cobalt grades with areas of considerable vertical extent of mineralisation suggested that there were likely to be others.
EXCEPTIONAL
Chairman Andrew Bell added that drilling was wide-spaced to some 100m depth, meaning the company could have easily missed every target.
“What has been achieved has therefore greatly exceeded our expectations and can be considered a success, identifying but barely penetrating a potentially large copper-bearing structure, as well as encountering significant thicknesses and some exceptional grades of cobalt which with closer-spaced RAB drilling can be better defined.
“Several holes ended just as they were entering promising pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralisation, and the next stage of exploration will need to include diamond drilling to increase structural understanding and to test for copper and cobalt bearing ores deeper in the sequence.”