Drilling extends strike length of the shallow, thick copper discovery at the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone to at least 550 metres, with an implied strike length of at least 2.7 kilometres New assays return copper grades up to 13.80% over 15.50 metres
July 29, 2019
Drilling extends strike length of the shallow, thick copper
discovery at the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone to at least 550
metres, with an implied strike length of at least 2.7 kilometres
New assays return copper grades up to 13.80% over 15.50 metres
in the central discovery area
Six rigs now drilling at Kamoa North to extend the discovery’s
strike length and fast track a resource estimate
Drilling on Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned Western Foreland licences,
immediately north of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence,
has discovered the extension of the Kamoa Far North high-grade
shallow copper corridor on Ivanhoe’s wholly-owned licences
for at least 400 metres
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles”
Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today
that the strike length of the shallow, thick, massive copper sulphide mineralization at
the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone that was discovered earlier this year in drill hole
DD1450 (13.05% copper over 22.3 metres (true thickness), at a 2% copper cut-off grade)
on the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has
been extended by at least another 200 metres along strike to 550 metres, with a width of
up to 60 metres across strike (see Figure 2).
Five rigs are extending and infilling the central and eastern portions of the implied 2.7-
kilometre Kamoa North Bonanza mineralized corridor, and a sixth rig is drilling high-
grade mineralization around holes DD0015 and DD1200 located to the west of the major
north-south trending West Scarp Fault, which down drops the high-grade discovery
zone by approximately 250 metres.
The central and eastern portions of the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone have drilled
thicknesses of between six and 36 metres, and are approximately 170 to 220 metres
below surface, with grades ranging as high as 18.48% copper over 13.6 metres, at both
a 2% and a 3% cut-off grade.
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The Kamoa North Bonanza Zone represents a new style of copper mineralization at
Kamoa-Kakula, where massive to semi-massive chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite
have locally replaced pyrite in the Kamoa Pyritic Siltstone (KPS) – a pyritic siltstone that
lies immediately above the basal diamictite unit that typically hosts the copper
mineralization at Kamoa-Kakula.
Assay results for 19 new holes have been received from the Kamoa North Bonanza
Zone (see tables 1 and 2 on pages 13 and 14 for a complete list of assays).
Significant new drilling intercepts from the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone include:
DD1508 intersected 11.82 metres of 10.41% copper, at a 3% copper cut-off, and 12.82
metres of 9.76% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper cut-off, in semi-massive sulphide
KPS-hosted mineralization, beginning at a downhole depth of 185.0 metres.
DD1520 intersected 13.49 metres of 13.69% copper, at a 3% copper cut-off, and 28.38
metres of 7.74% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off, in semi-massive sulphide KPS-
hosted mineralization, beginning at a downhole depth of 193.5 metres; and 36.00
metres of 6.45% copper at a 1% cut-off.
DD1522 intersected 16.24 metres of 13.41% copper, at a 3% copper cut-off, and 25.74
metres of 9.34% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off, in semi-massive sulphide KPS-
hosted mineralization, beginning at a downhole depth of 198.7 metres; and 28.89
metres of 8.49% copper at a 1% cut-off.
DD1527 intersected 15.50 metres of 13.80% copper, at a 3% copper cut-off, and 26.00
metres of 9.46% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off, in semi-massive sulphide KPS-
hosted mineralization, beginning at a downhole depth of 205.0 metres; and 26.00
metres of 9.46% copper at a 1% cut-off.
DD1531 intersected 4.37 metres of 12.37% copper, at a 3% copper cut-off, and 5.06
metres of 11.09% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off, in semi-massive sulphide KPS-
hosted mineralization, beginning at a downhole depth of 205.0 metres; and 12.87
metres of 5.35% copper at a 1% cut-off.
Infill drilling in the shallow central core of the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone is focused on
delineating an initial mineral resource estimate.
“Drilling in the core of the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone continues to return extremely
high-grade copper assays over very thick intersections of up to 30 metres, or 100 feet,”
said Mr. Friedland. “Given the shallow depth of the Kamoa North mineralization and the
remarkable copper grades and thicknesses encountered to date, Kamoa-Kakula’s
engineering team already is working on conceptual development plans to access the
ultra-high-grade mineralization.”
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Additional assays received from 11 holes drilled along the 10-kilometre
Kamoa Far North high-grade copper corridor, with grades ranging
up to 9.37% copper over 6.46 metres
Assay results also have been received for the final 11 drill holes completed in the
Kamoa Far North Area. The results confirm earlier visual and portable Niton (X-ray
fluorescence or XRF) estimates that the high-grade mineralized trend that had been
defined over a distance of 10 kilometres in the Kamoa North region has been traced to
the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence. More than 29,000 metres
have been drilled so far this year on the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, and an
additional 26,000 metres currently are planned.
Highlights of recent Kamoa Far North drilling include:
• DD1482 intersected 6.46 metres (true thickness) of 9.37% copper, at a 3% copper
cut-off, and 8.31 metres (true thickness) of 7.84% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper
cut-off beginning at a downhole depth of 250.0 metres.
• DD1492 intersected 10.36 metres (true thickness) of 6.99% copper, at a 3% and 2%
copper cut-off, and 11.16 metres (true thickness) of 6.59% copper, at a 1% copper
cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 226.9 metres.
• DD1502 intersected 9.56 metres (true thickness) of 5.59% copper, at a 3%, 2% and
1% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 262.0 metres.
• DD1517 intersected 3.10 metres (true thickness) of 6.62% copper, at a 3%, 2% and
1% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 325.38 metres.
Drilling has discovered at least 400 metres of shallow, copper -rich
mineralization on Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned Western Foreland licence, along
strike of the 10-kilometre Kamoa Far North high-grade copper corridor
Drilling on Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned Western Foreland licences, immediately north of the
northern border of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, has confirmed the extension of
the Kamoa Far North high-grade trend onto Ivanhoe’s licences for at least 400 metres.
Two east-west section lines located at 200 metres and 400 metres north of the Kamoa-
Kakula mining licence have been drill tested at 100-metre intervals. Visually strong
copper mineralization has been intersected in a single hole on both section lines. The
copper mineralization intersected is consistent in downhole depth and stratigraphic
location with the copper mineralization intercepted in the Kamoa Far North high-grade
trend.
Six holes have been completed in this new discovery area and assays are pending.
Ivanhoe also is continuing exploration drilling, ground geophysics and airborne
geophysics on other DRC exploration targets.
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Discovery of KPS-hosted mineralization at Kamoa North opens the door
to multiple exploration opportunities at Kamoa-Kakula and the adjoining
Western Foreland ground
The ultra-high copper grades intercepted to date in the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone are
believed to be the result of the controlling east-west growth fault structure having
allowed oxidized, copper-rich brines to bypass the lower redox interface at the Roan-
Nguba contact that is the typical mineralized horizon at Kamoa-Kakula. Instead, the
copper-rich brines accessed the overlying, highly-sulphidic and reduced KPS, resulting
in a new, upper mineralized zone hosted in the KPS and characterized by the bonanza-
grade copper found in the vicinity of hole DD1450.
The growth fault structure is characterized by a wide zone of sub-parallel, low-angle,
fault planes dipping at approximately 40 degrees to the south through the KPS (see
Figure 4). Replacement of pyrite in the vicinity of these fault planes, as a result of a
combination of cross-stratal and stratabound fluid flow, has resulted in mineralization
that transects the KPS from top in the north to bottom in the south.
Pyrite is an excellent reductant, and consequently in many places the pyrite has been
completely replaced by chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite (see figures 5 and 6). The
copper content of chalcopyrite is approximately 35%, while the copper content of
bornite is approximately 63% and is nearly 80% for chalcocite.
The Kamoa North Bonanza Zone remains open along a westerly-easterly strike for a
considerable distance. An east-west lineament, thought to represent the controlling
growth structure, can be traced in aeromagnetic data for up to 20 kilometres, across the
western side of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence and onto Ivanhoe’s adjoining, 100%-
owned Western Foreland exploration licences (see Figure 2).
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Figure 1: Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, showing the Kamoa North Bonanza
and Kamoa Far North zones, the new Kamoa Far North extension discovery
on Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned exploration licences, and the planned mines at Kakula
and Kansoko.
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Figure 2: Location plan map of the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone.
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Figure 3: Plan view of Kamoa North Bonanza Zone drill-hole collars and
interpreted high-grade corridor (drill intercepts shown at a 2% copper cut-off).
Drill intersections for the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone holes in this release are reported
as drilled thicknesses pending more detailed drilling and analysis; however, preliminary
interpretation of drill sections indicates that the majority of drill holes transected the
zone at approximately perpendicular angles (see Figure 4 below for an illustration).
Figure 4 shows the diamictite layer (in white) that is the typical mineralized horizon at
Kamoa and Kakula, as well as the overlying KPS siltstone layer (in yellow) that hosts the
Kamoa North Bonanza Zone mineralization.
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Figure 4: Section views through the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone.