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| | Namibia - Kavango Project
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| | License Details: The Kavango licenses (10 in total) cover an area of approximately 8,359 km2 in north eastern Namibia in the Kavango region, adjacent to the Angolan border. Lucara's subsidiary - Motapa renewed the 14 Kavango licenses in May 2008 for the two year period expiring October 31, 2009 and allowed the Kavango West licenses to expire on July 24, 2008.
Ownership: 49% - Lucara's subsidiary, Motapa entered into a letter agreement with Namdeb Diamond Corporation Ltd. ("Namdeb") in September 2006 pursuant to which Namdeb was entitled to earn an interest in Motapa's 100% owned Kavango and Kavango West licenses. In December 2006, Namdeb exercised its option to earn a 51% interest in the Kavango and Kavango West license groups by committing to fund a 24-month work program mutually agreed to by Motapa and Namdeb. Namdeb may earn an addition 14% (for a total of 65%) by fully funding the program through to completion of a feasibility study.
Exploration Work Completed to Date
Exploration conducted by Motapa on the three license areas (Kavango, Kaudom and Kavango West) includes sampling, airborne and ground-based geophysics, and exploration drilling. In total over 6,200 heavy mineral samples were collected and processed for Kimberlitic Indicator Minerals (KIM's). A fixed wing airbourne survey collected 32,000 line kilometres of aeromagnetic data and five high resolution magnetic survey blocks were flown by helicopter over high interest areas defined by sampling. Ground geophysical surveys, mainly magnetic and gravity traverses, were undertaken over 69 airborne magnetic anomalies. A number of phases of exploration drilling to test geophysical anomalies have been conducted over the license groups. In total 37 reverse circulation holes have been drilled and 38 diamond core holes drilled. RC chips and core have been sampled and processed for KIM's.
Surface sampling on the Kavango licenses has constrained a significant KIM anomaly, the Omatako anomaly, which consists of mainly pyrope garnet and a subordinate amount of other KIM's including chrome diopside and diamond. The Omatako anomaly is ilmenite poor in contrast to the ilmenite rich Sekereti kimberlites which are barren. The composition of garnets recovered from down hole drill samples, for the most part, are similar to garnets recovered from surface deflation samples in the Omatako anomaly. On the Kavango licenses the KIM's recovered by Motapa suggest that undiscovered diamond bearing kimberlite may be present in the area and there is evidence that at least some of the KIM grains recovered from the Omatako anomaly have a local source. This includes the recovery of garnets which display size, angularity and surface characteristics which are not consistent with regional or longer range transport and the recovery of mantle derived chrome diopside grains (chrome diopside does not survive well in the secondary environment and its presence is generally indicative of a proximal kimberlitic source). The KIM compositions recovered in the Kaudom licenses and the kimberlites intersected during drilling in Kaudom are akin to the compositions observed in the nearby Sekereti kimberlites and are indicative of a very low diamond potential.
The work carried out by both Motapa and Namdeb over the Kavango licenses has led to identification of an area most likely to contain the source of the Omatako anomaly. This selected area has potential for the discovery of high-interest kimberlites.
Plan Going Forward
Further work planned for the evaluation of the Kavango licenses consists of the merging of the GSN and Motapa airborne magnetic survey data, a high resolution airborne geophysical survey over the selected area of interest, anomaly prioritization, ground geophysical surveys and exploration and discovery drilling with associated sample collection. |
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