Confirmation drilling under way at Kabolela copper project

Melkior Resources (MKR-M), has begun a confirmation drilling program on the Kabolela copper-cobalt deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Kabolela deposit is situated on the Likasi property, a 2,800-sq.-km land package in the country’s copper belt held equally by Melkior (49%) and Trillion Resources (TLQ-T) (49%); the remainder is held by state-owned Gecamines on a carried basis.

The Kabolela deposit was mined from 1939 to 1945 by Union Minire, the predecessor of Gecamines. Approximately 439,762 tonnes grading 4.84% copper and 2.38% cobalt were reportedly mined during this period.

In 1970, Gecamines drilled 5,857 metres in 29 holes, outlining an in-situ resource of 3.7 million tonnes grading 3.8% copper and 0.7% cobalt. Because the resource lies close to surface, it may be amenable to open-pit mining methods. Moreover, recent leaching tests on a 200-kg sample grading 8.12% copper and 0.83% cobalt indicate the possibility of recovery rates of 90% for copper and 50% for cobalt.

Once the drilling program is complete, Melkior plans to incorporate the results into a feasibility study. As this progresses, it will also continue to systematically explore the property’s other known copper-cobalt deposits, as well as a number of magnetic and uranium anomalies.