JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Stratex International on Tuesday said its Afar joint venture (JV) partner Thani Ashanti had assumed management of the partnership’s two copper projects in Ethiopia and the Republic of Djibouti, as it had met the JV criteria for earning a 51% stake in these projects.

In terms of a revised JV agreement, Thani had earned 51% of the Tendaho exclusive exploration licence (EEL), in Ethiopia, by spending $1.6-million on exploration and development over two years and 51% of the Oklila EEL, in the Republic of Djibouti, by spending $1.4-million on exploration and development over two years.

Thani, which was funding all exploration at the sites, also committed to building a road at Oklila to access the Pandora vein, as well as a camp prior to starting drilling, which was targeted for the third quarter of this year.

Thani was currently moving to the next stage of expenditure to earn a 70% stake, which would require expenditure of $4-million on the Oklila EEL, which includes the Pandora, Pyrrha and Thyia veins; $4-million on the Megenta EEL, which formed part of the Tendaho EEL, and $4-million on other licences in the Afar JV programme, to acquire 70% of each licence.

Stratex indicated that following the initial discovery of the main Pandora vein, in March 2012, Phase 2 sampling and fieldwork carried out on the wider Oklila EEL area between November 17 and March this year significantly increased the size of the known mineralised area to the north and south.

Early results from the programme identified further mineralisation at the Pyrrha vein and Thyia zone.

Mapping and sampling, to date, had identified more than 10 km of veins, including the inferred structures beneath Wadi's and surface cover in the Thyia and Pandora north-west zones where exposure was limited by boulder and scree cover.

The distribution of gold values across the Oklila property indicated that the best grades have been returned from the Pandora and Pandora south zones at the present exposed erosion level. This better-mineralised corridor is 2.7 km long and contains veins of up to 1 km wide.

Stratex indicated that mapping at 1:1 000 scale would continue across the remainder of the licence to help identify further targets prior to finalising the drill plan for an initial 5 000 m diamond drilling programme, which was planned to start in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

"Ongoing mapping and sampling has considerably expanded the scale of the prospect with the addition of new high-grade targets. Therefore, we have agreed with our partner Thani Ashanti to schedule drilling for later in the year to permit a full assessment of these latest results and revise the drill plan accordingly.

"In the meantime, together with our partners, we will use the hot season break to reassess the Megenta [deeper] drill programme and plan for drilling in [the third quarter]," executive director David Hall said.

At the Tendaho EEL, the JV partnership intended to undertake Phase 2 drilling that would target zones that are deeper beneath the structures that were intersected during the initial drill programme.