Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources is drilling for copper at the Harena deposit in Eritrea
Nevsun Resources is currently extracting copper from the Bisha copper mine, of which it owns 60 per cent. The Harena deposit is located 10km south of the Bisha mine and processing plant, and was drilled as part of the 2014 Bisha Exploration Programme.
According to the company, the Harena deposit has indicated a primary resource of 1.8mn tonnes comprising copper, zinc, gold and silver. However, geologists might explore further due to the presence of an extensive volcanic footwall unit, which could indicate the presence of a strong mineralising sytem.
The exploration programme was designed to expand the known resource down to a depth of about 250 metres from surface, added officials.
Cliff Davis, CEO of Nevsun Resources, said, ”We are excited to see continued success in our 2014 exploration program. The Bisha area remains under-explored and our known resources remain open for further expansion. We look forward to more success as we continue to assess Harena and the potential of the Bisha VMS belt.”
The company has set aside US$10mn to US$12mn for exploration this year. In June 2014, an airborne versatile time domain electromagnetic geophysical survey was completed over the entire Mogoraib river exploration licence, the Bisha mining agreement area and the Harena mining licence. The results of this survey is expected to be revealed later in the year.
