Arc Minerals (LSE:ARCM) sat at 3.7p this morning after announcing that it will begin an aerial study of its flagship Zamsort Copper-Cobalt Project this week.
The high resolution airborne geophysical survey will cover around 1,000km2 at the Zambia-based project and is expected to take around two weeks to complete. It will examine numerous new targets that sit alongside the Kalaba copper-cobaltprospect, where Arc is currently conducting an 11,000m drilling programme.
Kalaba’s licence covers nine of 30 high priority targets ranked by a previous JV in the area operated by Anglo American and is near First Quantum’s Sentinel and Kansanshi and Barrick’s Lumwana mines. The project has an existing near-surface estimated copper-cobalt oxide resource of 16.59Mt at 0.94pc copper and a historical exploration target of 150Mt, making it one of the most significant projects of its type in Zambia.
Following completion, the data from the survey will be processed to highlight potential new zones of mineralisation and prioritise areas for further drilling and possible joint ventures with other mining companies. Arc’s executive chairman Nick von Schirnding added:
‘The results of the airborne reconnaissance programme, which will be completed for less than $100,000, will be correlated against Arc’s existing soil geochemical data sets, the final parts of which are currently being analysed.’
Arc is currently working towards production at Kalaba. It expects processing to take place at the site’s commercial-scale demonstration plant, which is approximately 75pc complete. As it stands, the business has already stockpiled 10,000 tonnes of screened ore grading 2.1pc copper and 0.3pc cobalt at the site.
It is also in the process of building a new management team at Zamsort who will be undertaking a full assessment of current operations including historical exploration data and optimising the plant.
Earlier this month, the firm announced a £2m fundraise underpinned by two new institutional investors and backed by several members of senior management. The money will be used to fund exploration and development work at Kalaba and for general working capital purposes.
Arc also owns a 100pc interest in Casa Mining, a private company that has a 71.25pc stake in the Akyanga gold deposit in the DRC. At the end of July, the business rose 12.5pc after reporting that a JORC mineral resource for Akyanga had almost doubled to 3m ounces of gold averaging 2.16 grams per tonne.