Kula grabs high-grade niobium ground in Malawi, Africa.
Kula Gold has formed a joint venture to acquire the Wozi niobium and tantalum project on the prospective African Rift Belt in Malawi, 225 kilometres north of the south-east African country’s capital.
Malawi’s mining and minerals regulatory authority has recommended that an exploration licence for the project be granted, subject to the completion of an environmental study.
Kula Gold holds 75 per cent of the joint venture, with the remaining 25 per cent held by African Rare Metals (ARM), an unrelated third party.
Kula will solely fund the initial exploration program of US$100,000 (A$159,585) while ARM has a 2 per cent net smelter royalty. ARM may dilute to a 10 per cent interest, when it will be free carried until a decision is made to mine.
Kula identified the Wozi project from anecdotal information and research that showed it to have been previously explored for niobium and tantalum, including during 2007-2008, when Mantra Resources held the ground.
Mantra reported its results under an earlier 2004 JORC code, which may not be consistent with the improved standards of the later 2012 JORC code. However, Kula says it has no reason to consider Mantra’s results unreliable.
Work by Mantra in 2007 brought to light significant apparent widths of surface niobium mineralisation pointing to the project’s sizeable potential, with results already prompting Kula to consider early maiden scout drilling near the middle of the year.
Amidst a robust global gold market, Kula has identified the Wozi Niobium project as a very interesting high impact, low-cost niobium/tantalum opportunity to add to the company’s portfolio whilst advancing the flagship Mt Palmer gold mine near Southern Cross in WA.
Dawson said Kula’s board and team had considerable relevant experience in Africa in discovery, construction and successful mining operations, which could benefit the development of the project.
The niobium-tantalum mineralisation at Wozi is contained within the mineral pyrochlore, which occurs in a nepheline syenite intrusive stock.
Pyrochlore is a complex oxide of niobium, sodium and calcium often found in alkaline rocks, pegmatites and metamorphic contact zones.
Nepheline syenites are highly prospective targets for peralkaline intrusive-related niobium and tantalum mineralisation.
Kula says historical soil sampling defined significant north-south oriented niobium anomalism in an area designated Anomaly C that appears to parallel part of a mapped western marginal zone of the nepheline syenite stock.
Soil sampling was undertaken on east-west oriented lines spaced 100 metres apart. The core of the anomaly carried better than 0.4pc columbite (niobium pentoxide) over a zone measuring about 800m by 300m and is open to the north.
Kula says the best linear east-west soil sampling results across the broad niobium anomaly include runs of between 350m and 550m long with quite consistent average grades between 0.44pc and 0.48pc columbite. No tantalite assays were reported from the program.
Two historic east-west oriented sample trenches 280m and 192m long were put in 200m apart, across the centre of the soil sampling grid and the soil anomaly. Results from one trench ran 145m at 0.55pc columbite and 119ppm tantalite (tantalum pentoxide) in addition to another 41m going 0.54pc columbite and 122ppm tantalite.
A second trench ran its full length of 192m at 0.49pc columbite and 158ppm tantalite.
Sampling mostly included weathered saprolitic material due to depth limitations, with 1m samples being composited to 5m intervals for assay.
The trenches highlight wide zones of niobium mineralisation within the soil anomaly, running better than 0.5pc in places from both the east and west ends of the shoulder-deep trenching, suggesting the niobium signatures could be open-ended across strike.
The margin of the syenite stock in the vicinity of the initial soil sampling and trenching is a compelling starting point for a new phase of modern exploration.
Kula’s 5.5 square kilometre exploration licence embraces igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Precambrian to Lower Palaeozoic basement of the Mozambique orogenic belt.
The belt lies within the Malawi rift valley system, which forms part of the greater East African Rift Valley system.
Kula is planning an early start to field work when the exploration licence is granted, which is expected to be in the first quarter of the year.
The work is slated to include confirmatory and expanded geological mapping, likely to be focussed initially on the syenite stock margin, accompanied by further soil and rock-chip sampling. First-pass scout drilling is planned for the second quarter, subject to mapping and sampling results.
Kula is also keeping an eye out for additional tenure in the highly prospective region.
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