Mpama South is a high-grade tin development project adjacent to Alphamin’s Mpama North mine, which is currently operational. The Company has received results for another 12 drill holes since the updated Mineral Resource for Mpama South was announced on March 29th, 2022, based on 102 drill holes.
The vast majority of the new assays are extensional in nature, containing intercepts far outside the current Mineral Resource. They will be included in an update to the Mpama South Mineral Resource, which is expected to be released in the second quarter of 2022.
Mpama South’s mineralization stays open in multiple directions, and management is optimistic about the project’s future resource growth prospects. In March 2022, the drilling program shifted to an infill focus to boost the confidence of Mpama South’s Inferred and Indicated Resources.
Subsequent drilling beyond the prevailing Mineral Resource area has intersected visual cassiterite, and results for areas outside of the existing Mineral Resource as well as in-fill are expected in the coming months.
The latest batch of results at Mpama South includes the best intercepts to date, with many thick and high-grade intercepts on the deposit’s down dip side. The apparent widths of a few significant intercepts from the most recent batches of drill hole assays are listed below:
- BGH104: 16.2 m @ 3.01% Sn, including 5.75 m @ 6.94 % Sn, both from 459.4 m
- BGH107: 7.2 m @ 6.0 % Sn from 496.9 m, including 4.0 m @ 10.31% Sn from 498.2 m
- BGH110: 17.5 m @ 5.57% Sn from 459.2 m, including 8.6 m @ 10.35% Sn from 468.1 m, the best intercept to date at Mpama South
- BGH111: 15.3 m @ 4.37% Sn from 334.4 m
Mpama North Drilling Update
In July 2021, expansion drilling on the Mpama North Mine resumed, with the Mpama North Deeps target as the first target. The first drill holes revealed significant structural complexity, which was linked to a cross-cutting fault that limited the target’s reach.
However, between this cross-cutting fault and the deepest intercepts from the 2015 drilling, numerous thick and high-grade intercepts of visual cassiterite were intersected at the Deeps target, extending known mineralization along strike northwards.
The most considerable intercepts in the Deeps target from the latest batches of drill hole assays are mentioned below as an apparent width:
- MND019: 14.4 m @ 21.75% Sn from 432.2 m, including 6.8 m @ 40.57% Sn from 436.4 m
- MND020: 14.4 m @ 5.92% Sn, including 11.0 m @ 7.51% Sn, both from 484.9 m
The “East-Extension” target at Mpama North was first drilled in April 2022. The target is directly below and to the east of the existing Mpama North Mineral Resources, which are still open in this area. Numerous pre-mining exploration drill holes in the area intercepted the tell-tale alteration linked with mineralization and also thin mineralization, and mineralization is expected to continue eastwards.