Impact signs JV agreement to explore for PGE?nickel?copper deposits in Botswana
Impact Minerals Limited has entered into a joint venture agreement with private company Manica Minerals Limited in relation to the Xade Project in central Botswana to explore for deposits of platinum group elements , nickel and copper.
The JV agreement relates to the Company's Strategic Alliance to explore for PGE's in southern Africa with Impala Platinum Limited, the world's second largest producer of PGE's.
Impact has been exploring for uranium in Botswana for over 2 years and has made four discoveries to date during its first drilling campaigns, mainly in 2010.
The exploration potential at Xade has been recognized by Impala and Impact is encouraged by their support for the first stage of work at the project.
The Xade Project
The Xade Project covers a very large aeromagnetic feature first identified in 1977 in a Botswana Government reconnaissance aeromagnetic survey. Further work in the early 1980s, and recent geophysical modeling and diamond drilling by Manica to depths of up to 650m, has identified the Xade Complex as a large gabbro intrusion with excellent potential to host deposits of PGEs and nickelcopper sulphides.
Manica owns 1000% of the Prospecting Licences, with an area of about 11,000 sq km and that covers the entire extent of the ~280 km strike of the Xade Complex. The Project is close to excellent infrastructure and the very large Orapa diamond mine and is poorly explored (Figure 1). The Xade Complex occurs in the North West Botswana Rift, an igneous province of similar age and geological characteristics to the Mid?Continent Rift region of North America, and which hosts numerous major nickel?copper?PGE deposits, such as:
- the extraordinary Nokomis deposit of disseminated Cu?Ni?PGE mineralisation in the Duluth Complex (Duluth Metals Limited: Indicated Resource of 550 Mt at 0.64% copper, 0.2% nickel and 0.66 g/t total platinum plus palladium plus gold);
- the Eagle nickel?copper massive sulphide deposit of Rio Tinto (30.6 Mt at 3.5% nickel and 2.9% copper); and
- the new PGE?nickel?copper discovery of Magma Metals Limited at the Thunder Bay North Project with an Indicated Resource of 8 Mt at 2.3 g/t platinum equivalent (platinum plus palladium plus copper plus nickel) or 591,000 ounces platinum equivalent.
The Xade Joint Venture Agreement
The agreement with Manica requires Impact to spend a minimum of US$50,000 within four months and US$1.2 million over two years to earn a 51% interest in the Xade project. Impact may then elect to earn up to a 75% interest by incurring the necessary expenditures to define an Indicated Mineral Resource.
Impact is currently undertaking detailed and systematic geochemical analyses of about 320 metres of Xade diamond core not previously analysed by Manica.
This work has been approved by Impala Platinum and will be funded from the Impala?Impact Strategic Alliance Generative Budget, at no cost to Impact. Should Impala Platinum subsequently agree to participate in the Manica?Impact Xade Joint Venture, it must spend a minimum US$1 million before withdrawal, and may elect to spend a further US$1 million to earn 50% of Impact's interest in the Project.
It is anticipated that the results of the current work programme will be available in the first quarter of 2011.
This article was originally posted on Africa Oil & Mining Network
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