A recently completed core drilling programme at the Pangeni copper project within the Lufilian Arc, in Zambia, by precious and base metal explorer BeMetals Corp, has helped to further define the trend and continuity of the copper mineralisation in both the Ingwe shoot and Nkala zone, says president and CEO John Wilton.

Exploration drillhole D8-C1, completed 1 km from the main Nkala zone trend, at the Nkala northwest target, returned “encouraging” geological and alteration relationships with anomalous copper intervals, “emphasising” the under-explored potential beneath the thin Kalahari sand cover, the company outlines in a statement.

This higher-grade Ingwe shoot is developed within the Nkala zone copper mineralisation that extends for at least 1.4 km along trend and is associated with a bigger envelope of mineralisation that is 1.7 km in length.

Drilling highlights to date include the identification of the Ingwe shoot as a higher-grade copper zone with  dimensions of about 600 m in length, 14 m to 23 m in thickness, and 250 m to 350 m in width.

The Ingwe shoot is situated within the broader Nkala zone, which now extends for at least 1.4 km along the trend of the larger mineralised corridor, covering over 1.7 km in total length.

Additionally, drill hole D8-C1 has encountered promising geology and copper anomalies beneath shallow cover at the newly identified Nkala northwest target.

“It is now clear that the Nkala zone, including its Ingwe shoot, is a significant greenfield copper discovery, the first in Zambia for several decades that, if substantially augmented by additional drill intercepts, has the geological potential to attain meaningful scale,” remarks independent project technical adviser Dr Richard Sillitoe.

The copper mineralisation is sedimentary rock-hosted and bears many hallmarks in terms of style, width, grade and geology of deposits that are currently mined in the Domes region of the Zambian Copperbelt, adds Wilton.

Promising Project

In June, an independent technical review was completed by Sillitoe to validate the interpretation of the drilling results from the 2024 and initial 2025 programmes.

Based on the drilling results to date, the company and its technical partners are now reviewing the data and planning the next optimum steps for the Pangeni copper project. 

This could include geophysical and/or geochemical orientation surveys to evaluate methods that could advance the drill targeting of extensions to the discovered copper mineralisation and identify and test other prospects.

The core drilling was conducted by drilling and sampling company BluRock Mining Services from Kitwe, Zambia.

The core drilling programmes were managed by independent geological consulting and contracting company Remote Exploration, while the samples were analysed by independent and accredited laboratory Intertek Genalysis, having been prepared at their facility in Kitwe. Analytical work was conducted in Perth, Australia.