Belararox up and running at new African copper play

Belararox has begun exploring the Kalahari copper belt project it picked up last year in Botswana.

Belararox will conduct mapping and soil sampling to refine targets for future drilling. Pic: Getty Images

• Six week field program underway at Kalahari copper belt project in Botswana

• 2000m EM survey expected to develop targets for drilling mid-year

• Project close to several world-class copper and silver orebodies

 

Special Report: Belararox has commenced exploration at its Kalahari copper belt project in Botswana, ramping up exploration in the world’s fastest growing red metal province.

The company added the Kalahari project in the middle of last year, giving it a position in two of the most significant new exploration domains in the copper world.

That includes the flagship Toro-Malambo-Tambo (TMT) asset in Argentina, which  neighbours the Filo del Sol and Josemaria deposits where BHP (ASX:BHP) recently sealed a US$3bn deal that will see it and fellow mining behemoth Lundin open the prospective Vicuna frontier.

And when it picked up the KCB project in September 2024, Belararox (ASX:BRX) added 4,286km2 of prospective tenure across 14 prospecting licences in Botswana.

Notably, there are several world-class copper-silver orebodies in proximity and along strike of the licences, including Sandfire’s Motheo copper mine, MMG’s Khoemacau mine, with BHP also entering the region in a deal to explore with ASX junior Cobre (ASX:CBE).

It’s a highly prospective region for copper discoveries, and Belararox has now taken a further step to realising its potential, completing a detailed review of the geology and geophysics data with a focus on the D’Kar/Ngwako Pan (DKF/NPF) contact and targets along strike from existing copper deposits.

A six-week field program is now underway with detailed mapping and soil sampling aimed at refining targets at the project for a drilling program later in the year.

This kicks off with over 2000km of an electromagnetic survey across three priority tenements.

Following up compelling copper targets

The project is located in a geological setting with the potential to host significant deposits of copper and silver, both low-risk, stable commodities with significant growth potential.

BRX has devised a cost-effective exploration strategy that aims to rapidly reduce the search space with regional geophysics programs and subsequent validation drilling, with exploration activities consisting of target generation, target definition and finally target drilling.

“The exploration team has identified compelling targets at our Kalahari Copper Belt Project,” BRX managing director Arvind Misra said.

“We are excited to have commenced the on-site target generation program and develop these targets for drill testing as soon as possible.

“KCB fits well with our approach that combines focused copper exploration and a proven team in regions rich with resources operated by global leaders, to position us for significant discoveries.”

The company expects that – after interpreting geochemical data from soil samples and EM data – four or five of the best targets will be testing in a ~2000m drilling program in June or July this year.

The Kalahari copper belt has become a hotbed of discoveries of sedimentary-hosted copper deposits in recent years, joining with the Congo and Zambian copper belts to make southern Africa the fastest growing source of the critical future-facing metal.

This article was developed in collaboration with Belararox, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Belararox up and running at new African copper play