LONDON (Alliance News) - MOD Resources Ltd and Metal Tiger PLC on Tuesday announced work programmes at the Kalahari copper belt in Botswana.
Shares in Metal Tiger were down 7.3% at 1.16 pence in afternoon trade, while MOD Resources were down 2.9% at 17.00p.
The expansion work will take place on areas held in a joint venture between the companies, in which Metal Tiger has a 30% stake and MOD Resources a 70% stake, as well as on the 100% MOD Resources-owned T3 copper project.
High-priority work targets include the T20 exploration project, which is held by a joint venture, in which staged reverse circulation drilling and diamond core drilling will take place at the T23 dome, 100 kilometres west of T3.
The follow-up drilling at nine reverse circulation and four diamond drilling holes along 4 kilometres of the T23 dome is to begin early in May.
At the T3 expansion project, which is also jointly owned, six reverse circulation and one diamond drill hole are planned, building out from hole MO-A4-003D. This hole previously intersected 52 metres at 1.5% copper and 14 grammes of silver per tonne of ore from 232 metres. A preliminary resource definition is planned for the second half of 2019.
At the T3 copper project itself, which is wholly owned by MOD Resources, 16 initial diamond drill holes plus further infill drilling are planned for resource definition. Work is to to begin in early June.
MOD Resources Managing Director Julian Hanna said: "The growth strategy will aim to continue the momentum at T3 and leverage infrastructure to be developed at T3 to add further value to the project and open up the wider potential of this copper belt."
Hanna added: "The exploration drilling which forms a key part of the growth strategy will initially focus on near surface targets in the T20 exploration project area and targets where there have already been numerous ore grade intersections reported, in close proximity to the planned T3 open pit mine."
Metal Tiger Chief Executive Michael McNeilly said: "We are pleased to report the JV strategy to seek to add further value at T3 and our wider holdings in the Kalahari Copper Belt in Botswana. It is anticipated that this will be achieved through the planned exploration work as we seek to discover new copper deposits as well as through the delineation of additional JORC resources from known prospects which offer the potential to provide throughput to the planned T3 open-pit processing plant."
"We believe that further resource definition around the T3 project, as per today's announced work programme, is an easy and low-risk opportunity to increase the value of Metal Tiger's portfolio of assets in the Kalahari copper belt," McNeilly added.