Si6 Metals has unveiled plans to kick off a 10,000m drilling program next month at three prospects within its flagship Maibele nickel sulphide deposit in Botswana, with a mineral resource upgrade looming.
Management says geophysical surveys suggest mineralisation at its Maibele North prospect may extend along strike and at depth, allowing its 2015 inferred resource estimate of 2.38 million tonnes at 0.72 per cent nickel and 0.21 per cent copper to grow.
The company has engaged experienced African driller Mitchell Drilling Botswana to roll out the new program, which it believes will take about four months to complete. It will consist of a combination of reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond-core drill holes designed to test a batch of geophysical anomalies suggesting high-grade nickel, copper and silver mineralisation at Maibele North, in addition to two adjacent prospects known as Dibete and Airstrip.
Si6 Metals managing director Jim Malone said: “We are very excited to be commencing drilling on our Botswana projects, starting at Dibete in the first week of September. We have some outstanding drilling targets identified from previous drilling and geophysics and we believe we have barely scratched the surface with our exploration to date. As the program progresses, we look to test the targets and extensions at Dibete, followed by Airstrip, concluding with in-fill and testing the depth of the mineralisation at Maibele North. Following which, we will complete the work required to upgrade the resource at Maibele North with the current drilling as well as including previous work completed by our JV partner that has not been included in the current resource estimation.”
At the Dibete prospect, Si6 says it will drill deep holes to test the extent of known shallow high-grade copper-silver mineralisation, in areas where geophysics have suggested a substantial near-vertical orebody. A 2021 magnetic survey at Dibete outlined a vertical pipe-like feature that is geometrically similar to the breccia-pipe style of mineralisation seen at the highly-productive Messina copper district, about 200km to the east.
The Messina area was named “Musina” – meaning “spoiler” in the local tongue – due to the amount of copper in the soil that would downgrade the iron produced by historic miners. The area produced about 40 million tonnes of ore yielding about 700,000 tonnes of copper from five separate mines before the last shaft was closed in 1992, ending 88 years of mining.
Previous shallow drilling at Dibete returned some tantalising hits including 38m at 1.72 per cent copper with 119.5 grams per tonne silver from 16m, 17m at 2.7 per cent copper and 40.5g/t silver from 16m, 11m at 4.5 per cent copper and 229.9g/t silver from 33m.
Other drill hits included 10m at 3.9 per cent copper and 110g/t silver from 43m, 25m at 2.17 per cent copper and 77g/t silver from 27m, 13m at 2.11 per cent copper and 37.8g/t silver from 37m, 13m at 1.9 per cent copper and 61.9g/t silver from 41m, 6m at 4.46 per cent copper and 162g/t silver from 38m and 10m at 2.04 per cent copper with15.6g/t silver from 7m.
At Maibelle North, the company says the drilling will focus on adding tonnes to the existing mineral resource estimate by testing anomalies along strike and down dip from the known mineralisation envelope. It will also incorporate unused historic drilling results, from about $7.7 million worth of holes, into the existing mineral resource estimate, in addition to those to be obtained from the upcoming infill drilling campaign.
Management says it is undertaking a review of open-pit mining at Maibele North and considering options for on-site product concentration.
At the Airstrip prospect, historic drilling was shallow and returned hits of 8m at 10.39 per cent copper with 630g/t silver from 52m, 8m at 1.71 per cent copper with 51.1g/t silver from 159m, 6m at 2.7 per cent copper with 72g/t silver from 68m, 18m at 1.72 per cent copper with 27.5g/t silver from 42m and 8m at 1 per cent copper with 34g/t silver from 90m.
The Maibele project is a joint venture between Si6’s wholly-owned subsidiary Africa Metals with a 60 per cent interest and Cyprus-based BCL investments holding the remaining 40 per cent.
Si6 says its search for more copper is supported by this month’s addition of the reddish metal to the list of critical raw materials by the United States Department of Energy – a decision reflecting its growing importance in energy transition technologies.
Late last month, the company expanded its “supply-critical metals” exploration portfolio by acquiring 10 Brazilian tenements in a joint venture with Foxfire Metals, with both companies taking a 50 per cent slice. The area stretches a massive 17,800 hectares across three States known globally for prospectivity in lithium, rare earths, gold, base metals and platinum group elements.
With the appointment of 30-year industry veteran Jim Malone to the helm of the company earlier this month, a vast and prospective Brazilian land-holding and now an active drilling campaign in Africa, Si6 may be one to watch over the coming months.
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By Andrew Duffy
