Staff Writer
Ongwe Minerals Incorporated is advancing exploration at its newly discovered Nguni gold prospect, with a maiden 5 000-metre diamond drilling programme planned to begin in August.
The Nguni prospect is located within Ongwe’s Omatjete Gold Project, about 17 kilometres from the company’s Manga Gold discovery and 55 kilometres east of WIA Gold’s Kokoseb Gold Deposit.
The company said it has completed an initial 50-metre by 50-metre soil sampling grid across Nguni, with results identifying a significant gold-in-soil anomaly.
According to Ongwe, 50 soil samples returned gold values above 300 parts per billion (ppb), with the highest result reaching 1 310 ppb gold. The company said the results are comparable with the soil anomaly identified at Kokoseb.
The completed sampling has defined a gold anomaly extending over approximately six kilometres, based on values above 50 ppb gold. The anomaly remains open to the north, east and west.
Ongwe said farm access agreements covering the immediate northern, eastern and western extensions of the Nguni prospect are nearing finalisation, which will allow the company to undertake additional sampling and expand its understanding of the anomaly.
The company plans to initially deploy a single drill rig and increase drilling activity as the geological structure and mineralisation at Nguni become better understood.
Ongwe chief executive officer Dave Underwood said the completed infill sampling indicated that Nguni was a robust target with potential for significant scale.
He said the company would use reverse-circulation and diamond drilling to obtain detailed geological information in an area with limited surface outcrop.
Nguni was discovered in May through a regional soil sampling programme targeting the Okondeka Fault Zone, a geological structure that hosts both the Kokoseb Gold Deposit and Ongwe’sManga Gold discovery.
Ongwe said regional exploration teams would continue working along the Okondeka Fault Zone to the east while drilling and additional sampling are undertaken at Nguni.
Meanwhile, exploration is also continuing at the Belmont prospect within Ongwe’s Khorixas Gold Project.
The company said recent surface geochemistry, geological mapping and a structural reinterpretation informed a short reverse-circulation drilling programme at Belmont.
Assay results from the Belmont drilling are still pending, although Ongwe said visual observations from the drill programme indicate quartz veining and sulphide mineralisation. The company expects to release the assay results in the coming weeks.
