The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region
Issue link: https://asiaminer.epubxp.com/i/830355
56 | ASIA Miner | Volume 14 • Issue 2 | 2017 Exploration AFTER transitioning from explorer to producer in 2016 with Portia Gold Mine coming on stream, Havilah Resources is increasing fo- cus on its suite of copper projects, boosted by strong interest in co- balt. The company will continue to explore near-mine opportunities at Portia, but is advancing plans for its copper projects. The strategy for its suite of projects in South Australia is supported by cash flow from Portia, Havilah's proven exploration prowess, and its development and operational success with partner Consolidated Mining and Civil (CMC). Managing director Chris Giles says that while gold will remain a good high margin business, supported by a lower Australian dollar, copper is a solid longer term story backed by increasing consum- erism in developing economies along with the impending boom in electric vehicles and renewable energy. "New copper developments have slowed at the time when us- age is expanding with the highly copper intensive renewable energy generation and storage revolution, not to mention electric vehicles and antimicrobial applications." He says the company's copper story is enhanced by cobalt as there are appreciable quantities of the metal in Havilah's copper resources, particularly at the Kalkaroo and Mutooroo deposits. "I believe this will be the decade of copper and although there is plenty of hype around cobalt, the fundamentals are there for strong demand, which will add icing to our copper cake." Havilah aims to implement a medium term strategy that will see the cobalt resources developed in conjunction with the copper re- sources. It is the third element is Havilah's strategic plan to monetise its multi-metal portfolio. Cobalt is a by-product of nickel or copper mines and there are no standalone mines. More than 50% of global production comes out of the DRC. The metal still has its traditional uses, which put it in great demand in the emerging economies of China, India and South East Asia, while the rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) and renewable energy markets use a lot of copper. The average EV uses about 80kg of copper as opposed to around 20kg in conventional vehicles. EVs alone could boost copper con- sumption by 50% while renewable energy is also copper intensive. Cobalt's chief usage is in lithium batteries and tech companies like Tesla and Apple are believed to be looking outside the DRC for the cobalt they need. KGL Resources has acquired the Unca Creek exploration project which borders KGL's Jervois Copper-Silver-Gold Project in the Northern Territory. KGL considers the acquisition to have significant strategic val- ue as the tenement offers geological similar- ities to Jervois. The acquisition almost trebles the project area from 37.9sqkm to 110.8sqkm and of- fers multiple walk-up drill targets in a rela- tively under-explored area. Work undertaken by previous tenement holders demonstrated the exploration poten- tial. This includes the northern strike extension of the sequence of rocks that host the Mar- shall-Reward deposits which represent a sub- stantial part of the current Jervois resource. Copper mineralisation at KGL's Boundary Prospect can be observed in outcrop ex- tending on to the newly acquired tenement. Further along strike to the north, drilling at prospects including Becana and YoHoHo have intersected mineralisation. In the northeast part of the new tenement lies Hamburger Hill prospect where several mineral occurrences have been discovered. Holes drilled intersected mineralisation as- sociated with calcsilicate rocks that closely resemble those at Jervois. This 2km strike extension has the potential to host econom- ic mineralisation that can be mined by open pit or underground mining methods. There is further potential in the southern area where very little previous exploration Cobalt boost for Havilah's copper Drilling at the Jervois Copper-Silver-Gold Project in the Northern Territory. KGL adds to prospective ground has been undertaken. The Jervois project was recently awarded major project status by the Northern Territory Government. This includes a Project Facil- itation Agreement (PFA) between the gov- ernment and the company, which requires both parties to work together to progress the project through the required approvals processes. KGL is pursuing a strategy of increasing and upgrading the Jervois resource through exploration to one of the world's lowest cost rankings before proceeding to development. Modern, cost-effective exploration, largely at Rockface prospect, has discovered exten- sive additional mineralisation at increasingly higher grades of copper. Recent drilling at Rockface has intersected further strong copper mineralisation. The first hole of a 9-hole 2017 program designed to investigate the high potential conductor zones on the eastern side of the prospect intersected the mineralisation while targeting Conductors 6 & 7 at a depth of 50 metres below and 25 metres along strike to the east of where a previous hole intersected Con- ductor 6, returning 5.95 metres from 449.85 metres @ 4.94% copper, 25.9 g/t silver and 0.45 g/t gold.