Midas Minerals Ltd has commenced a 3,000-metre reverse circulation drilling programme at its South Otavi Project in Namibia, marking the first exploration of the site’s gold anomaly in more than 20 years.
The campaign will initially target a 4.6-kilometre-long shallow bedrock gold anomaly first identified between 1997 and 2000.
The company plans to drill around 137 shallow holes, ranging from 12 to 30 metres in depth, with scope to expand the programme depending on results.
“It’s exciting to take the first meaningful exploration on South Otavi’s robust gold anomaly since it was discovered circa 2000 when, as I recall, there was almost no support for junior gold explorers. I expect that with superior assay methods we will be able to refine the insitu geochemical vectors for defining deeper drilling targets,” said Midas Managing Director Mark Calderwood.
The company will also conduct scout drilling along the Deutsche Erde copper-silver trend, which extends over 8 kilometres and up to 100 metres wide at surface.
Eight deeper holes are planned to help determine the structural and lithological controls on mineralisation.
“The Deutsche Erde copper-silver trend extends for at least 8km, and though soil sampling is ongoing, the early drilling will help us understand the structural and lithological controls on mineralisation within the mineralised zone, which is about 100m wide at surface,” Calderwood added.
The South Otavi Project, located in the Otjozondjupa Region about 350 kilometres north of Windhoek and 25 kilometres from B2Gold’s Otjikoto gold mine, covers 195 square kilometres.
It lies close to Midas’ larger Otavi Copper Project, which the company is in the process of acquiring.
