JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – In a world where new discoveries are rare, Harmony Gold is encouraged by the prospect that Kili Teke could well develop into another major copper-gold discovery, commented CEO Graham Briggs.
Additional drilling at the JSE-listed miner’s Kili Teke prospect in the Hela province, in Papua New Guinea (PNG), has returned porphyry copper-gold-style mineralisation, similar to deposit grades outlined for the company’s Frieda River and Ok Tedi projects.
Copper-gold mineralisation, defined by a 0.2% copper envelope, outlined over 600 m of strike, in excess of 200 m wide and extended 700 m below surface, grading at 0.72 g/t of gold and 1.02% copper.
Kili Teke’s early exploration drill results, including its KTDD013 and KTDD007 holes, yielded 0.55% copper and 0.43 g/t of gold.
The miner advised that more upside potential existed at its 100%-owned exploration licence, with mineralisation being open at depth and along strike, while drilling to scope out the extent and geometry of the system was still ongoing.
“The latest drilling results are extremely encouraging and confirm that this asset is yet another fantastic copper-gold find by Harmony in PNG. The mineralised footprint is growing as the drilling progresses with zones of higher-grade stockwork mineralisation and intervals of mineralised skarn breccia developing within the broader envelope,” outlined Briggs.