Tenke seeks copper, cobalt in Zaire

Tenke Mining (TNK-T) will carry out a 40,000-metre drill program in an area between the Tenke and Fungurume copper-cobalt deposits in the highlands of southeastern Zaire.

The goal of the 12-month program is to explore for additional resources in the Dipeta syncline, a zone included in Tenke’s 1,437-sq.-km joint venture with the Zairian government.

The Vancouver-based company, formerly known as Consolidated Eurocan Ventures, says the ore-bearing horizon is exposed along a strike length of 82 km within the Dipeta syncline and associated mega-fragments.

An additional 20,000 metres of infill and metallurgical drilling are planned for the Fungurume deposit, where about a third of the resource remains unexplored.

The syncline has been sampled by 50 trenches totalling 5 km, eight boreholes and 250 deep prospecting pits. One trench assayed 7.9% copper over 6.4 metres; others returned 6.3% copper over 6.4 metres and 6.7% over 8.1 metres.

“We’ve got four rigs and our own assay labs right at the site, with satellite communications to send the results to London,” Tenke spokesman Sophia Shane says.

The Tenke and Fungurume concessions host two stratabound copper-cobalt deposits, where resources are estimated at 222 million tonnes grading 4.42% copper and 0.33% cobalt, including proven resources of 92.6 million tonnes grading 4.59% copper and 0.36% cobalt.

The deposits occur in strongly folded and faulted Proterozoic shales and dolomites. Economic mineralization in the oxide zone, which extends as far as 250 metres below surface, consists of malachite, pseudomalachite, chrysocolla and heterogenite.

The government of Zaire ratified Tenke’s acquisition of 55% of the Tenke and Fungurume concessions in November 1996. The joint-venture agreement is with state-owned La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines (or Gecamines).

A 2-year, US$15-million feasibility study is also under way. The production goal is 80,000 tonnes of copper per year, and capital costs are pegged at $350 million.

Local residents have been hired to upgrade some 23 km of roads and improve the airstrip, Shane says, and the property has its own 220-kV hydroelectric station.