ABU SWAYEL- Copper/Nickel(50% Gippsland)
Location
The Abu Swayel copper-nickel prospect was one of two known major sources of copper in ancient Egypt. This ancient mine is situated 160km southeast of Aswan at Latitude 22o 46' 41.6'' and Longitude 33o 38' 19.2". The Abu Swayel is located 35km to the northeast of the Company's western group of Wadi Allaqi gold deposits.
Historical and previous exploration
Copper at Abu Swayel was mined by the ancient Egyptians during the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (1991-1786 BC) from shallow open cut workings which can be traced over a length of 180m. Ancient furnaces, slag and pottery remains are evidence that on site processing of the copper ore was completed.
In the early part of the 1900s the Nile Valley Company Limited sank a shallow shaft with a cross-cut at the 22m level to test the vertical continuity of the mineralisation. This shaft was deepened to 69m in the 1960s in conjunction with a diamond drilling program of ten holes to test the down dip continuity of the mineralisation over a strike length of 200m. Of the 1,205m of drilling completed, only 21 samples ranging from 1-2m in length were assayed. Three of the holes (DH01, DH02 & DH14) returned significant Cu and Ni values.
Sampling of the cross-cut in the 1960s gave an average 4.11% Cu, 1.76% Ni, 17.81% Fe and 9.94% S over 8m.
Table 1: Abu Swayel - Best Cu & Ni intersections
Location |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Interval (m) |
Cu (%) |
Ni (%) |
DH01 |
21.00 |
23.60 |
2.6 |
1.16 |
0.24 |
DH02 |
25.70 |
29.95 |
4.25 |
1.58 |
0.23 |
DH14 |
48.55 |
49.85 |
1.30 |
2.23 |
0.20 |
Shaft |
30.00 |
40.00 |
10.00 |
1.87 |
1.53 |
Cross-cut |
7.50 |
15.50 |
8.00 |
4.11 |
1.77 |
Except for geological mapping there has been no exploration outside of the immediate vicinity of the ancient workings since the early 1960s.
Geological setting
The mineralised host unit is an elongated, lenticular amphibolite body which can be traced for some 500m along a northwest-southeast strike and enclosed by a garnet-mica schist. Copper-nickel mineralisation occurs both in the amphibolite body and in enclosing host.
The mineralisation contains chalcopyrite, pyrite, nickel-bearing violarite, and ilmenite. The relict textures of the pyrite and the violarite show the primary ores to be pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. The drilling intersected a persistent, apparently stratiform, sulphide-bearing zone of variable thickness, that hosts the mineralised amphibolite body.
Past Exploration
Except for geological mapping there has been no exploration outside of the immediate vicinity of the ancient workings since the early 1960s. The results of the previous exploration clearly show that mineralisation is present at grades and over widths that would be readily detected by geophysical methods such as electromagnetic ("EM") plus induced polarisation ("IP") techniques.
The Abu Swayel licence covers 16km2 of favourable stratigraphy along strike from the old workings which have not been tested for Cu-Ni mineralisation. Much of the area is covered by thin wadi sediments which can be readily explored by means of ground geophysical methods.
Exploration
An exploration programme of geological mapping was completed during the first quarter of 2007 following which a 200m moving loop TEM survey was completed by Australian consultants GPX Geophysical Services over a local grid 1,000m by 440m covering the ancient workings and their extensions. Results of the survey show a good conductor to the north of the ancient workings. The interpreted depth to the top of the conductor below the sand cover is 40 to 50m.
A programme of 760m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling will be completed by the end of September 2005. The programme will include two holes to be drilled to test the TEM conductor. A further eight drill holes along four lines has been proposed to confirm the results of the early drilling and to determine the geometry of the mineralisation. The individual holes will vary in depth from 50 to 100m.
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