Namibia a happy hunting ground for gold explorers
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Namibia a happy hunting ground for gold explorers
The Damara Belt in Namibia is revealing its secrets and exploration companies are onto it.
By Leon Louw for the WhyAfrica magazine
It appears that geologists in Namibia have finally solved the Damara Belt’s orogenic puzzle.
After Osino Resources’s great success with innovative exploration methods at the Twin Hills project close to Karabib, geologists are duplicating Osino’s methods to crack the calcrete code.
A large part of the Damara Belt is covered by calcrete (which can be up to 50m thick) or wind-blown sand or both.
This extensive cover has deterred many previous attempts to find gold, and some companies still consider the Damara Belt unexplorable.
Today, large parts of the belt remain untested.
Osino cracks the code
However, the discovery at Twin Hills by Osino Resources proved that geophysics, innovative sampling and assay techniques, followed by bedrock sampling is a highly effective methodology to explore in covered areas.
Most of the gold deposits discovered in Namibia to date are typical orogenic in style.
The latest good news from Namibia is that Canadian listed Ongwe Minerals (under CEO David Underwood basically the old Osino team) is mobilising a Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rig to start its inaugural bedrock sampling campaign at the Belmont Gold Prospect.
Ongwe’s flagship Namibian projects
Ongwe Minerals has two flagship projects in Namibia: The Khorixas Gold Project and the Omatjete Gold Project.
The Khorixas Gold Project contains the Belmont Prospect, while the Omatjete Project contains the Manga Prospect.
The Khorixas Gold Project is situated just 60 km west of Osino’s Eureka gold project adjacent to the northern margin of the Damara Orogenic Belt.
Manga is an orogenic gold system, 30km along strike from the recently discovered Kokoseb gold deposit by Australian company WIA Gold.
According to Underwood the team has started their much-anticipated bedrock sampling program at the Belmont Prospect.
“Bedrock sampling is an exploration tool that was instrumental in the 2019 discovery of the 3.1Moz Twin Hills gold deposit by Osino Resources,” says Underwood.
Ongwe has mobilised an RC drill rig to embark on a +6,000m RC bedrock sampling campaign which will be split between the Belmont prospect (Khorixas) and the Manga prospect (Omatjete).
“A total of 4,000m is planned for Belmont and 2,000m for Manga with flexibility to increase the scope if infill sampling is required,” says Underwood.
WhtAfrica’s Business Trip to Namibia (operated by Endorphin Expeditions)
WhyAfrica tracks and visits early-stage exploration and mining development projects across Africa.
Remember that WhyAfrica will visit Namibia later this year for one of our brand new 10-day-long WhyAfrica Business Trips (operated by our sister company tour operator Endorphin Expeditions).
Image: Ongwe has mobilesed an RC drill rig. Image credit: Ongwe.
Namibia a happy hunting ground for gold explorers
