Matsitama
Copper - Cu
1,668 km2
Drilling
6 licences
Eastport subsidiary, Matsitama Minerals (Pty) Ltd, holds 100% of six prospecting licences that cover 1,668 km2 prospective for copper mineralisation. The licences were renewed for a further two years in January 2022 and are free of any royalty payments.
The six licences cover the majority of the Palaeo-Proterozoic Matsitama Schist Belt, a predominantly clastic sedimentary suite of rocks with minor mafic to ultramafic volcanic intrusives. Mineralisation is copper, lead, and zinc when located in major fault zones, and copper sulphide when found within the schistose rocks. Past and present mining operations within the belt have exploited both styles of mineralisation.
Over the ensuing years, the exploration programme at Matsitama will be dominated by drilling, targeting both styles of mineralisation. Early application of self-organizing maps (SOM) has identified a new large area of favourable alteration that suggests an unexplored area of copper pyrite (Cu-Py) mineralisation stratigraphically below the Thakadu deposit.
By way of background, Eastport entered into an option to acquire 100% of Matsitama Minerals (Pty) Ltd in January 2020. Upon completion of 18-months of significant due diligence, in mid-2022 Eastport Ventures proceeded to complete the acquisition of Matsitama Minerals (Pty) Ltd.
Airborne Spectrem EM Survey
Eastport has acquired a strategic controlling interest over the bulk of the highly prospective Matsitama Schist Belt, a predominantly clastic sedimentary suite of rocks with minor mafic to ultramafic volcanic intrusives. Mineralisation is copper-lead-zinc (Cu-Pb-Zn) when located in major fault zones, and copper sulphide when found within the schistose rocks.
The image to the right shows conductivity at – 225 metres below surface. Red is representative of “hot” conductivity, whilst “blue” is not. Patterns and conductive levels will aid the geological interpretation and drill targeting. The black lines show the licence perimeters, whilst the small white block is the Thakadu Mine, to which Eastport has no claim. The small black dots are drill holes.
Phudulooga Target:
DS07-011 – 4.42% Cu, 5.94 g/t Ag over 3.3m at 24.1m depth
DS07-012 – 3.36% Cu, 3.72 g/t Ag over 3.4m at 85.8m depth
Nakalakwana Deposit:
NH-014 – 2.47% Cu over 10.0m at 65.9m depth
NH-016 – 2.42% Cu over 5.26m at 60.4m depth
Historic Expenditure and Drilling
Eastport’s understanding of Matsitama is greatly enhanced by over US$10 million having been spent on exploration work, including two airborne surveys, over 200,000 rock and soil samples, and over 50,000 metres of drilling, resulting in a significant historic dataset having been compiled.
The forthcoming drilling program is intended to leverage the significant historic dataset available and further explore and understand the Palaeo-Proterozoic Matsitama Schist Belt.
There are over 30 known copper occurrences, of which a number have drill intercepts of exploration significance.
The Company’s Environment Impact Statement was authorised by Botswana’s Department of Environment Affairs in February 2021. The current drill program commenced in Q4 2021 and is ongoing.
Work Programme
Eastport’s work programme will exploit the very significant historic dataset that includes two airborne surveys, over 200,000 rock and soil samples, and in excess of 50,000 metres of drilling, as well as including a compilation and reprocessing of the data.
Once the Company is satisfied with the various layers, it will employ a “trained” self-organizing map (SOM) analysis to identify data associations that will eventually lead to a prospectivity map. Eastport is anticipating new targets to be identified for exploration. Indeed, early efforts using an “untrained” analysis have located an area of unexplored “associations” that are understood to be an alteration halo. Groundwork is underway to further understand this target.
Forthcoming exploration work will be dominated by drilling, but will also be focussed on both styles of mineralisation. An early application of self-organizing maps (SOM) has identified a new large area of favourable alteration that suggests an unexplored area of copper-pyrite mineralisation stratigraphically beneath the Thakadu deposit.