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RNS Number : 0876B
African Pioneer PLC
09 February 2022
9 February 2022
African Pioneer Plc
("African Pioneer" or "the Company")
Ongombo Project, Namibia - Update
African Pioneer plc ("APP" or the "Company"), the exploration
and resource development company with projects located in Namibia,
Botswana and Zambia, is pleased following a site visit to provide
an update on the 85% owned Ongombo Copper Mine Project ("Ongombo"
or the "Project") situated in Namibia.
Highlights:
-- Engineering consultant Practara (Pty) Limited ("Practara")
has reviewed and validated Scoping Study assumptions based on a
detailed assessment of the Ongombo Project as part of a site
visit.
-- Project design engineers Nurizon, have recommend relocation
of certain mine-site infrastructure and future underground access
after on-site consultation and a review of local topography.
-- Potential open pittable oxide - sulphide mineralisation has
been identified over and above the previously recorded sulphide
Mineral Resource. A drill plan has been approved and will be
implemented shortly.
-- The Company has invited a preferred engineering company to
provide a plant design and capital estimate for a processing plant
suitable for future Ongombo ore treatment. Management will visit
and assess other plants constructed and operating in Africa by the
same engineering group.
-- Amendments to the operating plan for the Ongombo Project will
be adopted by the consulting engineers and the Scoping Study
adjusted accordingly.
-- Environmental consultants will be provided with the updates
and the Environmental and social Impact Assessment will be
advanced.
Colin Bird, Chairman and CEO commented "All of the fundamentals
for the Ongombo Copper Mine project are in place. The technical
team visit was designed to identify potential negative issues and
seek out opportunities within the project. Our visit was very
productive and we are of the opinion that the mine can be fast
tracked as soon as we've received the mining licence.
The previous plan envisaged the opening of an open pit and we
concur with this plan but believe the open pit can be considerably
extended along strike and we will be commencing a drill programme
shortly to test our prognosis. Should this drill programme produce
the results expected we should be able to have an initial open pit
lasting at least 18 months which would allow us to develop the
underground system resulting in a seamless transition between open
cast and underground mining."
Ongombo Engineering Studies & Plant Layout
The presence of potentially economic near-surface copper-gold
mineralisation requires the relocation of certain infrastructure to
ensure that Mineral Resources are not sterilised. The proposed
Mining Licence area covers less than 50% of the existing
exploration licence and, there is ample room to accommodate the
relocation of infrastructure.
A box cut and portal excavated in the floor of any future open
pit will provide a convenient location for underground access and,
could result in a meaningful reduction in total metres of
development and a corresponding reduction in capital
expenditure.
Near-surface mineralisation & Drill Programme
The Company has elected to investigate the potential for an open
pit to mine copper oxides. Oxides are known to occur at or near
surface from the outcrop of the Ongombo deposit coincident with the
Central Shoot and may extend for a strike length of approximately
350m. Drilling will test a horizontal distance of approximately 100
to 150m in the direction of dip. The purpose of the drill programme
is many fold;
-- to establish whether an economically viable copper resource
is available near-surface that can be exploited by the Company;
-- in the event that a viable resource is delineated, the
extension of the life of mine of the Project by providing feedstock
that can be processed at the same time as underground development
is being installed to access sulphide copper - gold ores; and
-- to sterilise ground at surface as part of the process of locating infrastructure.
Goldfields Namibia Limited previously undertook a limited drill
programme to test near-surface potential, delineating an open
pittable non-compliant Resource of 335,256t at 1.035% Cu. African
Pioneer will expand the footprint of the original Goldfields
Namibia Limited drill programme which was undertaken in 1995 at a
time when the copper price was less than one third of the current
price.
Drilling of approximately 700 metres (17 drillholes) will be
undertaken. An additional metreage will be added to provide drill
core for geotechnical analysis and thereafter metallurgical test
work.
Plant Design
Simple, well-understood processing technologies are expected to
be implemented at Ongombo and the current preferred plant design
offers a model that is being successfully applied in similar mining
scenarios elsewhere in Africa.
ESIA
Changes to the Mine Plan and layout will be discussed with the
environmental consultant and the ESIA is expected to evolve as
various production and processing scenarios are tested by external
consultants in consultation with the Company.
For further information, please contact:
African Pioneer Plc
Colin Bird
Executive Chairman +44 (0)20 7581 4477
Beaumont Cornish (Financial Adviser)
Roland Cornish +44 (0) 020 7628 3396
Novum Securities Limited (Broker)
Jon Belliss +44 (0) 20 7399 9400
or visit https://africanpioneerplc.com/
Qualified Person:
In accordance with AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas
Companies, June 2009 ("Guidance Note"), Colin Bird, CC.ENG, FIMMM,
South African and UK Certified Mine Manager and Director of Xtract
Resources plc, with more than 40 years' experience mainly in hard
rock mining, is the qualified person as defined in the Guidance
Note of the London Stock Exchange, who has reviewed the technical
information contained in this press release.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of
UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018 ("UK MAR").
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