African Pioneer says results from an updated indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Ongombo copper project, in Namibia, completed by independent consultants Addison Mining Services, have achieved the significant milestone of increasing the contained metal content of copper and gold by 100 000 t of copper and 84 000 oz of gold across all resource categories.

African Pioneer holds an 85% interest in the project.

“The initial development of an openpit provides the means to establish a number of parallel drives excavated in mineralisation enabling us to operate a larger number of working faces which, in turn, implies more output and the need for greater processing capacity which is more efficient than the original proposal for the development of twin 7 m x 7 m declines to access underground resources which imposed a huge capital burden on the project and a large proportion of the development was in waste and therefore unproductive,” CEO and chairperson Colin Bird outlines.

He says the recent drill programme included the twinning of holes drilled by Gold Fields into the deeper East – Ost shoot.

This drilling intersected significant gold values peaking at 1.3 g/t gold over 1.15 m with a mean of 0.2 g/t gold.

“We intend to complete further twinning of holes and if we can replicate our most recent gold values, we will be looking at a resource with a significantly enhanced gold credit,” Bird highlights.

Expenditure of about $480 000 on direct drilling costs ahead of the most recent mineral resource update represents a unit resource development cost for the additional 100 000 t of contained copper metal of about $4.80/t of contained metal.

A 25-year mining licence has been granted subject to completion of an active environmental and social impact assessment.

The updated MRE has been completed by Addison Mining Services, an independent consultancy based in the UK and is reported in accordance with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee Code 2012 edition.

Resources are of indicated and inferred categories and include total indicated resources of 5.7-million tonnes gross at 1.1% copper equivalent, 0.94% copper, 0.23 g/t gold and 4.4 g/t silver, for 53 000 t of copper, 42 000 oz of gold and 800 000 oz of silver.

There are also inferred underground potential resources of about 23-million tonnes at 1.1% copper equivalent, 0.95% copper, 0.24 g/t gold and 5.8 g/t silver, for 220 000 t of copper, 180 000 oz of gold and 4.3-million ounces of silver, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% copper equivalent.