During January, junior explorer and developer AJN Resources started percussion drilling on its Manono Northeast project in the Tanganyika province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Local Congolese drilling company MB Exploration has been contracted to drill three drill fence lines for about 6 km and will test the potential continuation of the Manono pegmatites over about 7 km within the designated project.

Drill holes will be drilled at 50 m centres down to a maximum depth of 50 m or until bedrock can be clearly identified.

Drill holes will be orientated along lines perpendicular to the regional trend and will identify the underlying geology, including any pegmatites, which are expected to transgress the Manono Northeast project area.

"We are extremely excited to finally have a rig on site after numerous delays due to heavy rainfall, which severely impeded the mobilisation,” says AJN Resources president and CEO Klaus Eckhof.

He adds the aim of the programme is to better understand the underlying geology and identify potentially mineralised pegmatites in an area where surface-based cover generally reaches depths of more than 6 m, which is similar to the area that hosts the Manono tin deposits.

“We are also highly encouraged by the identification of tin mineralisation at various artisanal sites and from our own stream sediment and pit sampling, especially considering that the Manono project started as an alluvial tin mining operation," he says.

Manono Project

To date, AJN Resources has carried out numerous pitting and stream sediment sampling programmes at its Manono Northeast project, which have led to the identification of tin mineralisation and grades of up to 400 parts per million of lithium.

AJN Resources reports that these strong results highlight the potential for the lithium/caesium/tantalum pegmatites at Manono to continue onto the Manono Northeast project.

Further, the northernmost trench at the Manono project, which intersected near-surface lithium-bearing pegmatites, is located only 7 km to the southwest of the Manono Northeast project boundary.

At Manono, historic mapping has shown that pegmatites lie relatively close to the main granite contact in the southeast.

This pegmatite-bearing zone has been interpreted to continue onto prospecting right 15282, where it lies adjacent to a number of granite outcrops mapped at surface and is a primary drill target.

In addition, AJN Resources recently completed a stream sediment sampling programme where 15 kg samples were panned to produce concentrates of 50 g to 100 g, which were then analysed using a non-destructive Niton X-ray fluorescence for field indications.

This programme identified significant tin mineralisation in the central portion, with all streams in the area flowing towards the north or northwest, suggesting that a second mineralized source potentially exists in the central portion of prospecting right 15282.

The company concludes that both targets will be tested in the current drilling programme.