London-listed Arc has announced the start of an exploration drilling programme over the company’s PL135/2017 and PL162/2017 licences at its Virgo project within the highly prospective central structural corridor of the Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB) in Botswana.
At the end of May, Arc reported on the results of an “encouraging” induced polarisation survey which confirmed potential drill targets along two distinct trends of high chargeability close to the interpreted redox contact.
A large, previously unknown anomaly of high chargeability and low resistivity was also detected at depth.
This about 3 000 m maiden exploration drilling programme will comprise a combination of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill holes to test these anomalies.
At the PL 162/2017 licence, initially three holes for 750 m of percussion/RC drilling is planned.
Two holes will test a soil geochemical anomaly trending for 5 km along the south-western margin of the licence boundary, while the third will test an interpreted syncline in the north-eastern part of this licence.
“I am very pleased that drilling is now under way at our Virgo project. This will be a busy and exciting period for the company and I look forward to reporting back on the results from these activities,” says executive chairperson Nick von Schirnding.
This maiden exploration drilling programme follows up on the previous work carried out by the company which included a scout drilling programme.
The scout drilling programme confirmed the interpreted geological formations within the licence areas.