Namib Lead Zinc acreage expands

North River Resources, a London based base metals exploration company has quadrupled its Namib Lead Zinc Project area following the granting of a new Exclusive Prospecting Licence (EPL) in an area adjacent to its existing EPL.
The new EPL (5075) increases the company’s exploration area at the Namib Lead Zinc project from 4,523 ha to 16,918 ha.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, North River Resources said it is currently collating historic data on the new EPL and plans to conduct a review of structural geology, followed by a geochemistry and geophysics programme, to identify new exploration targets.
Previous exploration of the area, which includes a significant amount of drilling and surface geochemistry, has highlighted numerous surface gossans that are similar in size to the one that led to the discovery of the Namib mine.
Additionally, historic exploration has provided positive indications that lead and zinc ore are present within the EPL and this is underpinned by the presence of the Karibib Formation host marble, containing lead, zinc, and silver ore,which folds and widens within the licence area. “The historic data indicates that previous explorers only drilled shallow exploration holes, and thus significant ore may have been missed at depth,” the company said.
The new EPL extends primarily south of the Namib mine site and crosses the Swakopmund Karibib main road. It is largely flat, denuded desert with little or no cover.
North River Resources said it is currently finalising environmental clearances and designing its works programmes. n
Martin French, Managing Director of North River Resources commented: “The coming months will be highly active at our flagship Namib lead zinc mine where we plan to step up exploration through the commencement of drilling, geophysics and other studies at the site. Consequently, it makes sense to secure prospective targets on EPL 5075, which could potentially supply new ore sources for Namib. We are moving quickly to develop a surface exploration programme which will provide a significant new dimension to the Namib project.”