Shinganda Copper-Gold Project

The Shinganda Project is located in Western Zambia, just outside the game management area of the Kafue National Park. The project is prospective for deposits of copper and gold associated with IOCG (Iron Oxide Copper Gold) mineral deposits that have the potential to transition to small scale high-grade or bulk tonnage lower grade, near-term mine production. The licence has received very little historical exploration to date, with the main structural feature, the west-northwest Gerhard Trend open to a new interpretation aided by modern geophysical methodology.

Background
The Company 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 Company can increase its interest by entering into a Joint Venture to develop a mining operation, ranging from 65% interest for a large deposit of greater than 1Mt of contained copper equivalent, up to an 85% interest in a smaller deposit of less than 200,000 tonnes of contained copper equivalent.

The main feature of interest is the west-northwest Gerhard Trend and associated structures which extends for at least 12km through the project area. This trend is marked by a strong magnetic linear high coincident with an intermittent zone of silicified hematite and magnetite bedrock containing copper and gold at several places along its length, the Shinganda prospect of interest is situated mid-way along this trend. There are other strong magnetic features on the licence which reflect shallow intrusive rocks, perhaps related to the Hook Granite, suggesting a potential IOCG (iron oxide-copper-gold) setting for the mineralisation seen in the region.

Best results from historical exploration completed on the property by Vale S.A include a 2m drill hole interval assaying at 3.93% Cu and 1.72g/t Au, and up to 10.45% Cu and 11 g/t Au reported from grab samples taken in an exploration pit in the south of the property.

Best results completed by the company to-date at the Shinganda prospect include intercepts of up to 50.3m @ 1.54% Cu from 21m downhole depth in drill hole SHDD002, and a peak of 33.90 g/t Au returned from a composite grab sample in an exploration pit.

Figure 1 – Magnetic Image of the Shinganda Licence Area clearly representing the Gerhard Trend

Work Completed

A number of new targets for immediate follow-up drill testing have been delineated by a licence-wide review and re-interpretation of all available geophysical and prospecting data complemented by complete soil geochemical survey cover. Previously available geophysical data, combined with Galileo’s 2022 ground magnetic survey have unlocked a new structural framework for the licence which has highlighted a number of targets with geological parameters consistent with IOCG deposits.

The new target areas include;

–    Three large clusters of intense iron alteration towards the West, identified in the high-resolution aeromagnetics, where historical drilling returned hematite, magnetite and lesser pyrite mineralisation that was not assayed. The clusters also host several coincident historical IP-chargeability anomalies, which have been insufficiently drill-tested.
–    Identification of a high-order splay fault at the Shinganda Copper-Gold prospect in the aeromagnetic data that is the probable primary control of the copper-gold mineralisation
–    Co-incident copper-in-soil anomalies with >285ppm Cu occurring both along the Shinganda Splay Fault and at Iron Alteration Cluster A, which are prospective for IOCG mineralisation.

A phase One drilling programme consisting of nine angled diamond drill holes for a total of 1,227.2m was completed in Q3 & Q4 2022. The drilling confirmed the Shinganda mineralisation over a plan area of 200m x 100m extending to a depth of 70-80m.

A high-grade core containing inclusions of malachite, chalcocite and native copper within a steep sided brecciated hematite gossan was intersected, 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.

A summary of the best intercepts are as follows:
• SHDD002 – 50.3m @ 1.54% Cu, 0.30g/t Au from 21.0m o Including 7.0m @ 4.36% Cu, 1.51g/t Au from 47.0m
• SHDD004 – 43.7m @ 1.01% Cu, 0.18g/t Au from 7.3m
• SHDD005 – 11.0m @ 1.03% Cu, 0.55g/t Au from 102.0m o Including 3.4m @ 2.89% Cu, 1.61g/t Au from 102.0m
• SHDD006 – 16.0m @ 0.72% Cu, 0.04g/t Au from 11.0m

A follow-up drill programme with up to 2,000m of planned drilling commenced in late 2023, aiming to test multiple shallow copper-gold targets along, and parallel to, the Shinganda Splay Fault and to test the IOCG deposit potential related to the iron alteration clusters and IP targets highlighted by the geophysical study.

Positive results to date from the second phase of drilling include an extensive interval of alteration and brecciation with associated copper mineralisation over a 264.5m interval from a downhole depth of 65.5m in drill hole, SHDD017. The drill hole is located less than 1km along strike from the Shinganda copper-gold prospect drilled in the Phase One programme and within the newly identified Shinganda Fault Splay system. Mineralisation generally occurs as clusters and disseminations associated with brecciation and quartz-carbonate veining and has been confirmed by pXRF analysis, with follow-up laboratory assay results awaited.

Several follow-up holes are planned through the wide mineralised zone, as well as further drilling to test the iron alteration clusters and IP targets highlighted by the geophysical study.

Anomalous copper has been detected via pXRF analysis in shallow oxide mineralisation intersected in a number of shallow holes designed to test outcropping supergene gossan occurrences. Split core samples have been submitted for multi-element laboratory analysis, including copper and gold.

Figure 2 – Shinganda Drillhole Traces in Plan with Cu/Au Assay Histograms

Photo 1 – Drill core with massive native copper from 103m depth in hole SHDD005

Exploration Completed – Reconnaissance Targets
The company identified a number of additional targets within the licence area for immediate follow-up work, including grab sampling, trenching, pitting.

Nine target areas have been identified to date, designated Target 1 to Target 9, three have been sampled to date, with promising results as summarised:

– Target 1: A small, shallow open pit working, located 5km southeast from the Shinganda outcrop. Bedrock grab samples have returned high-grade assays up to 33.90 g/t Au, with associated anomalous copper. The target shows an east-west anomalous gold trend over a minimum area of 120m by 25m and remains open to the east, west and south and is a priority for further testing.

– Target 7: A relatively large, exposed pit working, located about 5km southwest from Shinganda. A chip/channel sampling programme returned gold and copper values of 3.44 g/t Au and 0.53% Cu and the target remains open in several directions.

– Target 9: A small exploration pit about 4km west of the Shinganda outcrop where soil sampling has highlighted two separate soil anomalies, 500m apart, with pXRF analytical values of up to 409ppm Cu (approximately 10 times background levels).