Noronex gets the copper Snowball rolling in Namibia

Noronex has snapped up the opportunity to acquire the 2,000sqkm Snowball project in Namibia that has the potential to host a large copper deposit.

There are many reasons for the company to be excited, starting with the project being located in the highly-prospective Kalahari copper producing belt on a paleogeographic high under shallow sand cover.

In addition, targets have already been defined for Noronex (ASX:NRX) to jump straight in with ground geophysical surveys and drilling.

Snowball is also located just 30km northeast of the company’s flagship Witvlei Project that has a current resource of 10 million tonnes at 1.3% copper and where it recently commenced a 10,000m drilling program to test five high priority targets.

This neatly extends its land package by over 250% to about 2,700sqkm with control of over 100km of strike on the Kalahari copper belt.

Neighbouring operators include major companies such as Rio Tinto and Sandfire Resources, which just serves to further highlight the prospectivity of the region.

The company is also proceeding with a share placement to raise $4.5m at 12c per share to accelerate exploration.

“We are excited to report on the successful acquisition of the Snowball project. This acquisition significantly expands our footprint in the Kalahari copper belt, a belt that has demonstrated the potential to deliver large sedimentary copper discoveries,” chief geologist Bruce Hooper said.

“The Snowball project contains extensions of our Witvlei project, where we are currently drilling, as well as the highly prospective Snowball structure that is the key link to the shallowly covered mineralised horizons of the Kalahari copper belt.

“We will extend our geophysical and drilling campaigns onto the area as soon as we complete due diligence and gain access.”

Capital Raising

To accelerate exploration, Noronex is undertaking a placement of almost 37.9 million shares priced at 12c each to raise more than $4.5m.

Its board and senior management are also putting their skin into the game by investing a further $200,000 into the company under the same terms subject to shareholder approval.

Snowball project

The Snowball project lies along strike with Witvlei on the mineralised NPF-Eskadron Formation and covers a highly prospective basin margin high linking the mineralisation in the Witvlei sub-basin with the Kalahari copper belt extending into Botswana along the Ghanzi Ridge.

Interpretation of the regional aeromagnetics and gravity shows a clear continuation of the prospective stratigraphy from Witvlei under cover to the northeast.

Noronex added the complex magnetics were due to compressional deformation of the basin margins over a former basement high, a setting that hosts large-scale sedimentary copper deposits such as Zone 5 in Botswana and Kamoa-Kakula in the Congo.

Five priority targets have been identified at Snowball to date.

The company is acquiring Snowball under a joint venture transaction that will see it acquiring 80% in the tenements by funding up to $4m in expenditure over four stages by April 2026.

It also has the option to acquire the remaining 20% by making a $3m payment up to the decision to mine.

This JV agreement is subject to a 60-day due diligence period.

This article was developed in collaboration with Noronex, 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.