Orion Minerals: Copper Discovery at Okiep, Northern Cape

Orion Minerals says previously unknown copper mineralised mafic intrusive discovered following ground mapping and scout drilling to test coincident EM and magnetic anomalies:

• Outcrop of mafic intrusive with copper oxide staining at surface identified from ground-truthing conducted over a coincident SkyTEMTM electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic anomaly.
• High-priority sub-surface targets mapped from follow-up high-resolution drone magnetic and ground gravity surveys.
• Orion’s first diamond drill hole at the Nous Prospect has intersected 10 metres of mafic intrusive with massive and semi-massive veins of copper sulphide below the copper oxide outcrop, 120 metres above the main EM target.
• Follow-up drilling is underway to test the EM targets at depth.

Orion’s Managing Director and CEO, Errol Smart, commented: “This exciting discovery at the Nous Prospect provides early validation of our exploration methodology for the Okiep district. Remarkably, this is the first discovery in the district in more than forty years – and it is directly attributable to the use of modern geophysics, followed by mapping and detailed ground surveys.

“Our early exploration success underscores the huge potential upside in the Okiep region, where geological records and mining history show that many orebodies either have no outcrop or have only minor showings at surface, as in this case.

“The significant chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite mineralisation intersected in the hole is exactly what we had targeted with the SkyTEMTM survey. From the historic records, we know that the predominant copper mineralisation in the district is bornite and magnetite-rich and will therefore, not respond well to EM detection. However, we also recognised that all of the largest bodies that were mined at Okiep had recorded the presence of pods of pyrrhotite rich sulphides, which will react strongly to EM survey techniques.

“The value of modern EM surveying, which allows us to more accurately model the depth of targets is demonstrated by the fact that Newmont’s Okiep Copper Company had identified this magnetic target and tested it with a 104.85m deep vertical drill hole, which was stopped above the EM target that we have modelled as commencing from a depth of 290m at Target 3.

“Targets 3 and 4 have now been re-ranked by Orion to top priority and fast tracked for drilling due to the discovery of copper oxides at Target 4, together with other key structural and alteration indicators on surface over the entire Nous Prospect area.