Shinganda Copper & Gold Project
Zambia
Galileo holds a 51% interest in a joint venture agreement covering the Shinganda Copper-Gold Project, comprising Large Scale Exploration Licence No. 22990-HQ-LEL. The licence is located in Western Zambia, just outside the game management area of the Kafue National Park and is prospective for deposits of copper and gold associated with IOCG (Iron Oxide Copper Gold) deposits. Considerable potential exists in the licence to transition to near-term production following the identification of mineralisation at grades of between 1.0 and 1.5% CuEq at shallow depths over notable package widths in the first two phases of drilling completed on the project.
The Project is prospective for Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) mineralisation and has many of the diagnostic features expected of an IOCG type deposit, including structural control, with the identification of both regional and more localised structures, evidence of hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation, and an abundance of hematite – magnetite alteration.
The local structure is dominated by the Shinganda Main Fault and the Shinganda Fault Splay (previously known as the Gerhard Trend), a W–NW oriented linear feature which extends for over 12km through the project area and is associated with two small historic open pits extending off the licence. This trend is marked by a strong magnetic high coincident with an intermittent zone of silicified hematite and magnetite bedrock containing copper and gold at several places along its length.
Copper–gold mineralisation on the licence occurs primarily associated with the Shinganda Fault Splay, which potentially acts as a feeder for the mineralisation. As is the case with most IOCG’s, whilst Shinganda displays many of the required diagnostic features for a deposit of this type, it also displays unique features and is probably best described as an IOCG hybrid.
A licence wide re-interpretation of available geophysical and geochemical data, coupled with Galileo’s own ground magnetic survey completed in 2022 highlighted several high-priority targets associated with the complex structural architecture of the licence.
Two phases of drilling have been completed to date, Phase One drilling completed in Q4 2022 and targeted shallow, supergene enriched mineralisation associated with the historic Shinganda open-pit and consisted of nine angled diamond drill holes for a total of 1,227.2m of drilling. A second phase of drilling was completed in 2023 and consisted 2,379m of diamond drilling in 13 drill holes. The Phase Two drilling was exploratory in nature and tested the IOCG-deposit potential related to iron alteration clusters and IP targets with associated geochemical anomalies, highlighted by the geophysical re-interpretation.
The company are currently on their third phase of drilling which is designed to test the potential for near-surface, hematitic, supergene-enriched, copper-gold mineralisation, along up to 10km of total strike of the Shinganda Splay Fault Zone, as well as the Main Fault. It is hoped that this drilling offers scope for the development of a preliminary open pittable Mineral Resource.
The potential for a shallow, open pittable mineral resource targeted by Phase 3 drilling was indicated by the Phase One drilling, which intersected a mineralised package width of approximately 30m, extending to a vertical depth of 70m. The supergene enrichment coincides with a magnetic high anomaly along the Shinganda Splay Fault which extends for 4km, however historic drilling returned notable copper from areas with a weaker magnetic signature, giving potential to extend the mineralisation over an additional 4-5km of Splay Fault, extending the total target strike length up to almost 10km, inclusive of areas with a weaker magnetic signature.
The phase One drilling intersected a high-grade core containing inclusions of malachite, chalcocite and native copper within a steep sided brecciated hematite gossan which measured about 35m wide at 40m depth in drillhole SHDD002. Drillhole SHDD001 clipped the margin of the zone and drillhole SHDD005 confirmed the continuation of the zone to 70m depth, where it becomes less contiguous, however a 25cm interval of semi-massive native copper within hematite was returned at 103m downhole depth. Drill holes SHDD003, SHDD004, SHDD006, SHDD007 were all step-out holes which returned varied intensities of hydrothermal alteration with associated intervals of copper mineralisation.
The Phase Two drilling intersected wide zones of hydrothermal alteration and brecciation, carrying intermittent lower grade sulphide copper-gold mineralisation with mineralised widths of up to 300m, highlighting potential for the discovery of a large, low-grade, bulk tonnage copper-gold deposit. Anomalous copper-gold mineralisation was intersected in drillholes SHDD015, 016 & 017, drillhole SHDD015 was a shallow, step-out hole drilled at the Shinganda Prospect, whilst drillholes SHDD016 & 017 were drilled on the Shinganda Fault Splay, almost 1km along strike to the west from the Shinganda Prospect. In Addition, drillhole SHDD017 intersected an extensive interval of alteration and brecciation with associated copper mineralisation over a 264.5m interval from a downhole depth of 65.5m within the Shinganda Splay Fault system.
The final two holes drilled (SHDD021 and SHDD022) targeted strong magnetic/IP geophysical anomalies along the Main Shinganda Fault and discovered up to 200m of pervasive, intense iron alteration in a diamictite conglomerate/breccia zone. The zone is interpreted as a complex, structurally controlled deep tapping magnetic body, perhaps linked to hydrothermal alteration from an intrusive source at depth, supporting a possible IOCG model. Such diamictite packages are now widely recognised in copperbelt stratigraphy across both Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo and are the most significant orebody host rock at Kamoa. The structural and stratigraphic setting identified at Shinganda could be analogous to the high-grade Kamoa copper deposit (projected 600Kt annual copper production in 2024) and the Fishtie deposit in the SE Zambia Copperbelt (55Mt @ 1.04% Cu).
The Company retain the option to acquire additional interest in the project dependent on the size of any further discovery. A 65% interest is achievable if a discovery of a large deposit containing greater than 1Mt of contained copper equivalent is made, and up to an 85% interest in a smaller deposit of less than 200,000 tonnes of contained copper equivalent.
