Modern Mining July 2018

COUNTRY FOCUS: BOTSWANA

and 27 g/t Ag. Cupric, however, has extensive tenements in the Kalahari Copperbelt area extending over 4 000 km 2 and total resources are estimated at 502 Mt at 1 % Cu and 17 g/t Ag. According to Tsimako, the Starter Project is likely to be followed by further phases of development, with the first expansion being from 60 kt/a of copper to 100 kt/a, which would require a new plant to be built at Zone 5. Ultimately, he said, a yearly production of 180 kt/a plus of copper was possible based on current resources over the entire property area, including the Banana Zone located roughly 60 km south-west of Zone 5. While MOD Resources and Cupric are by far the biggest players in the Kalahari Copperbelt, two other companies with ten- ements in the area are ASX-listed Kopore Metals and Kalahari Metals Limited (KML), a UK-registered explorer. Kopore is a relative newcomer to the region but it has already built up an extensive land- holding, with its two groups of tenements in Botswana being Ghanzi West (6 060 km 2 ) and Seyetse (1 830,5 km 2 ). It has also just announced the acquisition of eight contiguous exclusive prospecting licences (EPLs) cover- ing 5 705 km 2 in the Namibian extension of the Kalahari Copperbelt. KML, for its part, is the holder of the Okavango and Ngami projects in Botswana which jointly cover 4 063 km 2 . Interestingly, Metal Tiger – MOD’s JV partner – announced in June this year an investment agreement which gives it the right to acquire up to 50 % of KML and, more recently, has announced that an exploration programme on the KML properties

is in progress. This consists of airborne high- resolution magnetic and AEM surveys (which are being undertaken by New Resolution Geophysics) in the two project areas, with pro- cessed results expected in September this year. Finally, what could be the long-term future of the Kalahari Copperbelt? All the players agree that it has the potential to support multi- ple mines and that it could become a significant copper mining district. It is highly unlikely that it will ever come even close to support- ing the levels of production of the Central African Copperbelt of Zambia and the DRC but certainly an annual production of 200 000 to 300 000 tonnes plus of copper does not seem implausible in the long term, given the right copper price. If it does establish itself as a viable copper mining area, it will be very good news indeed for Botswana, a country which for too long has been reliant on its incredible – but now waning – diamond endowment. Report by Arthur Tassell

An open pit on the Boseto property. Discovery Metals mined at the site between 2012 and late 2014 (photo: Arthur Tassell).

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July 2018  MODERN MINING  39