Additional Mining Licence Issued For Luansobe
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Galileo Resources plc ("Galileo "or the "Company") is pleased to announce the award of a further small scale mining licence for the Luansobe copper project ("Luansobe" or the "Project") in Zambia to Statunga Investments Limited ("Statunga"). Galileo has a 75% interest in the Project.
Highlights
- Following on from the previous announcement of the granting of a small-scale mining licence to Statunga over part of the former Luansobe exploration licence encompassing the shallow open pittable part of the Project (refer to RNS dated 29 May 2024), the Company can confirm that the additional small-scale mining licence indicated in that announcement has now been awarded encompassing the potential underground mineral resource and exploration target.
- The new small-scale mining licence 34545-HQ-SML covering an area of 384 hectares has been granted from 4th August 2024 for a period of ten years for mining of copper and other base and precious metals.
- The two mining licences cover an area for which Galileo has previously reported Inferred Mineral Resources reported in accordance with the JORC code 2012 edition as summarised below (refer to RNS dated 09 February 2023):-
o Approximately 5.8 million tonnes gross at 1% total Cu above a cut-off grade of 0.25% total Cu for 56,000 tonnes of contained Cu, potentially amenable to open pit mining.
o Approximately 6.3 million tonnes gross at 1.5% total Cu above a cut-off grade of 1% total Cu for 97,000 tonnes of contained Cu, potentially amenable to underground mining.
- Historic drilling suggests a further exploration target of approximately 3 million to 7 million tonnes between depths of 100 to 300m with grades in the region of 1% to 1.5% total Cu, reported in accordance with the JORC code 2012 edition. The exploration target is conceptual in nature and may not be realised (refer to RNS dated 09 February 2023). Sparse historical drilling indicates that there is potential for additional resources beyond those highlighted above subject to confirmation by deeper drilling.
Colin Bird Chairman & CEO said: "As indicated in our announcement of 29 May 2024, we are pleased to be able to report that Statunga is now in receipt of the second mining licence for Luansobe covering the area of the underground resource. This marks an important step forward in our plan for the development of the open pit and accessible underground resources separate from a deeper drilling programme targeted at investigation of the extent of the deposit at depth (refer to RNS dated 06 September 2024). We continue to believe that there is the potential to define a much larger resource within our licence boundary and we look forward to announcing further progress on the Project in the coming period."
Project Background
The Luansobe area is situated some 15km to the northwest of the Mufulira Mine in the Zambian Copperbelt which produced well over 9Mt of copper metal during its operation. It forms part of the northwestern limb of the northwest - southeast trending Mufulira syncline and is essentially a strike continuation of Mufulira, with copper mineralisation hosted in the same stratigraphic horizons. At the Luansobe prospect mineralisation occurs over two contiguous zones, dipping at 20-30 degrees to the northeast, over a strike length of about 3km and to a vertical depth of at least 1,250m.
Galileo entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Statunga, a private Zambian company which held the Project comprising small-scale exploration licence No. 28340-HQ-SEL in the Zambian Copperbelt prior to its conversion to two mining licences (see RNS of 30 December 2021).
Information on Statunga: Statunga Investments Limited was registered on 4 May 2020 in Zambia with company number 120200003303 owned by Zambian individuals, including Lukonde Makungu who is a director of Statunga Investments Limited and an executive director of Cooperlemon consultancy which provides consultancy services to Statunga. Statunga's main activity is mining, and registered address office is at Plot No. 2457B, Kamfinsa, Copperbelt Province, Zambia.
The JV Agreement provides Galileo the right to earn an initial 75% interest in a special purpose joint venture company to be established under Zambia law to, with Ministerial consent, acquire the exploration licence and the technical data related to the Luansobe Project by making two payments of US$200,000 each (subject to project due diligence) by 20 February 2022 and issuing 5,000,000 Galileo shares to the Vendors. These conditions were met by the Company. Statunga retains a 25% interest in the Project. The Company is discussing the establishment of the JV company which is intended to hold the Project licences and will update Shareholders once this is agreed in due course.
If a decision to mine is made by Galileo, then the parties will be entitled to fund pro rata to their beneficial interest in the JV Company. Any funding shortfall by the Vendors will be recovered from subsequent mine production.
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