Caledonia seeks cobalt-copper in Congo

Junior Caledonia Mining (CAL-T) has entered into two joint-venture agreements with the state mining agency of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The partners will explore two cobalt-copper concessions along the border with Zambia, as well as the Lubembe North copper-cobalt deposit.

The first agreement pertains to two concessions totalling 3,607 sq. km in an area adjacent to the company’s Nama group of licences in Zambia.

Previous work identified 11 copper soil anomalies hosted in extensive Roan stratigraphy, most of which remains untested. Included in the concession area is a 9-km strike extension of the Lubembe copper deposit on the northern edge of the Kafue anticline.

The second agreement calls for the partners to explore and develop the Lubembe North copper-cobalt deposit and surrounding area.

Discovered in the 1930s, Lubembe North is hosted in Lower Roan sediments on the northern margin of the Kafue anticline and appears to be associated with basement faulting. The deposit sits in an anomalous copper soil geochemical trend that extends for more than 9 km.

A portion of the Lubembe North anomaly was tested between 1935 and 1991 with 11,700 metres of diamond drilling. That program identified a resource of 47.5 million tonnes averaging 2.2% copper over a strike length of 1 km, at depths ranging from 90 to 400 metres. Cobalt grades are indicated to average 0.1%.

The deposit remains open along strike and on both the updip and downdip extensions. One isolated hole, drilled 2.5 km along strike from the initial discovery, intersected more than 21 metres grading 2.22% copper and 1.44% cobalt. The potential for near-surface oxide ores has yet to be evaluated, while the surrounding area remains completely untested.

Work at Lubembe, to begin immediately, will aim to establish the extent and tonnage of the deposit. The program will include soil geochemistry and aeromagnetics, as well as reverse-circulation and diamond drilling.

In other news, Caledonia has completed reconnaissance sampling at its Kananga nickel-chromium-cobalt-diamond concession in the Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Assay results are pending.