Ivanhoe Mines plans expansive 2021 copper exploration program on its 100%-owned Western Foreland licences adjacent to Kamoa- Kakula Copper Mine
February 10, 2021
Ivanhoe Mines plans expansive 2021 copper exploration program
on its 100%-owned Western Foreland licences adjacent to Kamoa-
Kakula Copper Mine
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Ivanhoe now holds 175 kilometres of strike in the highly-
prospective Western Foreland district that hosts the prolific
Kamoa and Kakula copper deposits, the first discoveries within
this previously unrecognized region of the Central African
Copperbelt
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New assay results confirm strike extension of Kamoa North high-
grade copper trend for at least 800 metres on Ivanhoe’s 100%-
owned Kiala Discovery, including copper grades up to 12.40%
over 5.53 metres
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Ivanhoe now holds 35 kilometres of 100%-owned exploration
licences along strike to the north of the Kiala Discovery
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New drilling at the Makoko Sud Discovery on the Western
Foreland licences west of the Kakula Mine intercepts significant
copper mineralization over an additional 7.5 kilometres of strike
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles”
Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF), announce that the
company plans to soon commence an expansive 2021 exploration program on its 100%-
owned Western Foreland exploration licences, which include approximately 2,550
square kilometres in close proximity to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Ivanhoe’s DRC exploration group is targeting high-grade Kamoa-Kakula-style copper
mineralization through a regional exploration and drilling program on the Western
Foreland exploration ground, which shares the same geological setting as Kamoa-
Kakula. Ivanhoe Mines’ 100%-owned exploration licences cover the ground that
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Ivanhoe’s geological team considers to be the most prospective in the Western
Foreland region.
The initial 2021 exploration program includes 40,000 metres of combined aircore and
diamond drilling, airborne and ground-based geophysics, soil sampling and road
construction. Field work will commence at the start of the 2021 dry season, which
typically begins in April. The initial 2021 budget is US$16 million, which may be
expanded based on program results. Much of this year’s exploration will focus on more
than 1,700 square kilometres of new, 100%-owned permits that were acquired in 2019
and received environmental certification in 2020.
“Though the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed our field exploration plans in 2020, we were
able to accomplish a significant amount of geophysical surveys and sampling work,
which are our key early-stage prospecting techniques for identifying high-priority
targets in this part of the Central African Copperbelt,” said Mr. Friedland.
“Exploration is in our DNA, and given the outstanding regional prospectivity of our
landholdings in close proximity to the Kamoa-Kakula discovery, we are anxious to ramp
up our exploration program as aggressively as possible.
“Our record of discovery successes at Kamoa-Kakula is unparalleled, and we have
tremendous confidence in the ability and tenacity of our exploration team to leverage
our proprietary exploration knowledge to deliver the DRC’s next great copper discovery
on our 100%-owned ground.
“It was in the spring of 2016 that the team of geologists now leading our Western
Foreland exploration efforts made the Kakula Discovery, which has transformed the
Kamoa-Kakula Project into the world’s highest-grade, major copper mining operation.
Given the geological similarities between Kamoa-Kakula and our adjoining exploration
ground, which is more than six times larger than the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, the
Western Foreland area is unquestionably one of the most prospective copper
exploration districts anywhere in the world.
“While Ivanhoe will soon join the ranks of leading copper producers, our commitment to
high-quality exploration with leading-edge technology is core to our long-term business
strategy. We view it as our research and development division, designed to provide us
with a pipeline of new development opportunities for years to come.”
Ivanhoe’s geologists applying same exploration models on the Western
Foreland licences that successfully led to the discoveries of Kakula, Kakula
West, Makoko Sud and Kamoa North Bonanza Zone
Ivanhoe’s Western Foreland Exploration Project consists of 17 licences to the north,
south and west of the Kamoa mining licences. The 17 licences cover a combined area of
approximately 2,550 square kilometres. The primary exploration target in the Western
Foreland area is Kamoa-Kakula-style sedimentary copper mineralization that occurs at
the base of the lower Nguba “Grand Conglomerate”, particularly where the lower Nguba
sits in direct contact with the underlying Upper Roan sandstones.
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Exploration models that successfully led to the discoveries of Kakula, Kakula West, and
the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone on the Kamoa-Kakula joint-venture mining licence, are
being applied to Ivanhoe’s Western Foreland extensive land package by the same team
of exploration geologists responsible for the previous discoveries.
The ideal structural setting for Kamoa-style mineralization usually is close to the
western Nguba Basin edge. Deposits occur at the base of the Nguba Group, a widely
developed package of rocks that mark the transition from a thick underlying sequence
of sediments deposited under oxidizing conditions (good for transporting copper), to
deposition under reducing conditions (good for precipitating copper). Ivanhoe’s 100%-
owned exploration permits cover approximately 175 kilometres of prospective strike in
this target setting.
Additional exploration permits increase Ivanhoe’s coverage of the most
prospective ground
In 2019, Ivanhoe acquired an additional 1,711 square kilometres of 100%-owned
exploration permits within the Western Foreland area, solidifying its landholdings of the
most prospective ground. In Q2 2020, Ivanhoe received approval for its environmental
mitigation and rehabilitation plan for the new permits, allowing exploration work to
begin. The new permits, particularly those southwest of Makoko Sud, are located in an
area that never before has been explored in any detail with modern exploration
techniques. There is limited access to the area and Ivanhoe is planning to construct
new bridges and roads to allow its exploration teams into the area. Having such an
underexplored area immediately along strike from one of the largest copper deposits in
the world, represents a compelling exploration opportunity.
Reconnaissance exploration generating targets for drilling
In addition to drilling in early 2020 at the Kiala Discovery that adjoins the northern
boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, and drilling in the second half of 2020 at
the Makoko Sud Discovery – approximately 20 kilometres west of the Kakula Discovery
– Ivanhoe’s exploration work in 2020 included stream-sediment sampling, soil
geochemical sampling, as well as outcrop and stream mapping on the new tenements
acquired in 2019. In total, 411 stream-sediment samples and 958 soil samples were
collected and processed for analysis.
The sampling and mapping work has enhanced Ivanhoe’s geological understanding of
the exploration permits and moves the team closer to generating targets for future
exploration and drilling. Ivanhoe’s geologists first identified the prospectivity of the
Kamoa-Kakula area in the mid-2000s by stream-sediment and soil-geochemical
sampling.
A high-resolution magnetic and radiometric survey commenced in Q4 2020 and is
ongoing. To date, more than 80% of Ivanhoe’s Western Foreland exploration licences
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have been covered by the survey. In Q2 2021, Ivanhoe plans an Xcalibur airborne gravity
survey. The goal of the surveys is to better understand the stratigraphic and structural
architecture of the new exploration areas, something that is key to generating early-
stage targets for ground surveys.
Western Foreland area looking south from Makoko toward the Zambian Border.
Assay results confirm strike extension of Kamoa North high-grade copper
trend for at least 800 metres on Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned exploration licences
at the Kiala Discovery
Mr. Friedland and Mr. Sun also announced that assay results from drilling completed in
early 2020 confirm the extension of the Kamoa North high-grade copper structure for at
least 800 metres in the Kiala Discovery area, part of Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned Western
Foreland licences that adjoin the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining
licence.
The high-grade copper zone at the Kiala Discovery was originally discovered on the
Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, and delineated through a series of step-out fences of
holes drilled on 100-metre spacings in a northerly direction onto Ivanhoe’s 100%-owned
exploration licences.
The structure controlling the zone of high-grade copper remains open to the north, and
Ivanhoe now has secured 35 kilometres of highly-prospective, 100%-owned exploration
ground along trend and to the north of the Kiala Discovery.
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Selected drill holes at the Kiala Discovery include:
DKIA_DD007 intersected 7.21 metres (true width) of 7.98% copper, at a 1% and 2%
copper cut-off, from 345.44 metres down hole.
DKIA_DD011 intersected 3.82 metres (true width) of 5.35% copper, at a 1% and 2%
copper cut-off, from 348.00 metres down hole.
DKIA_DD014 intersected 5.30 metres (true width) of 12.42% copper, at a 1% and
2% copper cut-off, from 366.70 metres down hole.
DKIA_DD016 intersected 3.59 metres (true width) of 9.71% copper, at a 1% and 2%
copper cut-off, from 351.40 metres down hole.
Geology of the Kiala high-grade copper trend
Copper mineralization at Kiala predominantly ocurs at positions where the Kamoa
Pyritic Siltstone gradually narrows (“onlaps”) across the underlying Roan conglomerate
and sandstone unit. The high-grade copper zone is between 50 metres and 150 metres
wide, and trends in a north-south direction, co-incident with a series of north-south
trending growth faults.
The Kiala area is considered prospective, as two key ingredients to high-grade
mineralization occur in this area. First, the faulting is postulated to have provided
increased fluid flow of copper-rich brines in this area. Second, the onlap of the basal
Nguba Diamictite units has brought the highly-reduced silstone into contact with the
Roan aquifer. This favourable combination also has been responsible for Bonanza-style
grades in the Kamoa North area of the Kamoa-Kakula Project.
High copper grades have been intersected on four of the five 200-metre-spaced sections
completed to date. Copper mineralization at the Kiala Discovery predominantly is
chalcopyrite and bornite, with localized minor chalcocite. An upward zonation from
bornite to chalcopyrite also is present (see Figure 4).
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Figure 1: Plan view of the Kiala high-grade zone showing copper grades.
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Figure 2: Section Line 1 across the Kiala high-grade copper zone.
Figure 3: Section Line 2 across the Kiala high-grade copper zone.
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Figure 4: Copper grade profiles of recent drill holes in the Kiala Discovery zone.
Recent drilling on the Western Foreland licences at the Makoko Sud
discovery, due west of the Kakula Deposit, intercepted significant visual
copper mineralization over an additional 7.5-kilometre strike length
After restricting exploration drilling activities in early 2020 as a safety precaution to
protect employees and drilling contractors from COVID-19, drilling re-commenced in Q3
2020. The 16 holes, totalling 6,871 metres, were drilled to the west of the Makoko Sud
Discovery area, which is located approximately 20 kilometres west of the Kakula
Deposit.
The drilling intercepted significant, shallow copper mineralization (including up to 6.01
metres grading 3.38% copper) over a 7.5-kilometre strike length in a south-westerly
direction along strike from the initial Makoko Sud Discovery area. Road clearance
commenced in the second half of 2020 to extend the current exploration opportunities
to the south and west from Makoko Sud.