29 August 2023
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDER INFORMATION
Pensana
Plc
("Pensana"
or the "Company")
Update
on Sampling Results from the Coola Exploration
Licence
Pensana is
pleased to report on analytical results received from sampling at
the Sulima West and Benge Novo targets completed in 2022. Both
targets occur within the Coola Exploration License
(No059/02/01/T.P/ANG-MIREMPET/2020)
located 40 kilometres north of Longonjo. Results recently received
include:
-
analytical
results from the soil sampling programme conducted over the Sulima
West carbonatite rare earth element (REE) target in October of last
year;
-
whole rock
geochemistry and analytical results for the significant
apatite-maghemite-monazite outcrop at Sulima West; and
-
XRD, whole
rock geochemistry and analytical results of Benge Novo alkaline
complex deeply weathered clays for bauxite and ionic clay
potential.
Sampling
highlights include:
-
soil
sampling at Sulima West clearly identifies an area of approximately
500 x 300 m (~15 hectares) with >
2% TREO in soils with a core zone of high-grade soils reporting
>4% TREO;
-
whole
rock geochemistry results from the apatite-maghemite-monazite
sample returned 22% P2O5,
26.8%
CaO, 40.5% Fe2O3
and
0.7% TREO; and
-
clays
at Benge Novo returned grades of up to 1600 ppm
TREO.
Exploration
activities are scheduled to continue throughout 2023 with
geophysical surveys (magnetics/radiometrics/gravity) commissioned
for Q3 2023, and further mapping, trenching, sampling and
mineralogical studies scheduled for the remainder of the
year.
Exploration
Manager, Grant Hayward,
commented:
“We
are extremely happy with the results of the soil sampling over
Sulima West which identified an area of roughly 15 hectares with
greater than 2% TREO in soils. The soil anomaly includes the Trench
1 where very encouraging REE results were sampled
(14 Nov 2022:
Exploration Results from Coola Exploration License).
It is
suspected that the REE enriched regolith represents the near
surface expression of a deeply weathered supergene enriched
carbonatite as is the case at Longonjo. In addition, high grade,
regolith hosted, residual apatite has been identified at Sulima
West with grab samples of over 20% P2O5
reported.
Ground
geophysical surveys including magnetics/radiometrics and gravity
commenced in August 2023 with
resulting data to be utilised for further target generation.
Further trench and pit sampling of the soil anomaly and prospective
geophysical targets will take place later in the year once the
geophysical data has been processed and
interpreted.”
Sulima
West Soil Sampling
Two
hundred and thirty-eight soil samples were collected on a
50 m x 50
m sample spacing over an area of 650
m x 800 m covering the area of
identified historic trenches and surroundings at the Sulima West
target. Individual soil samples are from 10-20 cm below surface,
were sieved to <0.5 mm, bagged and dispatched for ICP-MS
analysis at IGEO Laboratories, Luanda. QA/QC samples were submitted, and the
laboratory results were within acceptable limits.
The soil
sampling clearly identifies an area of approximately 500 m x 300 m (~15
hectares) with >2% TREO in soils within which a zone with >3%
TREO is delineated.
Figure 1: Sulima West REE target - TREO% in soils with
grade contours
Five of
the historic trenches excavated during the 1970’s are included
within the >2% TREO soil anomaly. Due to safety issues such as
possible wall collapse only the southernmost trench (Trench 1) has
been logged and sampled to date. Trench 1 comprises 68 m of iron/manganese enriched lateritised
regolith and was sampled at 2 m
intervals returning values of between 0.3 and 9.7% TREO, with an
average of 3.4% TREO over 68 meters reported. Pit 1, which occurs
within the >4% TREO in soil anomaly, returned 4.3% TREO over a
vertical distance of 6 metres.
The
remaining 4 historic trenches within the anomaly will be cleaned
and made safe and will be sampled during late 2023. A large portion
of the >4% TREO in soil anomaly occurs to the SE of the historic
trenches and this area will be trenched and sampled during
2023.
Apatite-Maghemite-Monazite
Sample
A
representative sample of the 800
m2
outcropping
secondary, supergene apatite-maghemite-monazite regolith has been
submitted for Mineral Liberation Analysis at SGS laboratories,
South Africa. This work
is currently in progress.
Initial
whole rock geochemistry results received from SGS returned 26.8%
CaO, 40.5% Fe2O3,
22% P2O5,
2.4% TiO2
and 0.7%
TREO. These results indicate that approximately 50% of the rock is
apatite. Further work is being done to delineate the extent of this
rock type the area having the potential to host a significant
phosphate resource.
Benge
Novo Clay Sampling
Whole rock
geochemistry and analytical results of clays collected from the
deeply weathered Benge Novo alkaline complex were received. Clays
were collected to determine possible bauxite and ionic clay
potential. The clays showed a low Al2O3
content
(<18%) with no bauxite minerals identified, however, the clays
typically contain up to 1600 ppm TREO. The REE distribution shows a
typical LREE distribution.
XRF
reports 65% SiO2,
18% Al2O3,
4.4% K2O
and 3.5% Fe2O3.
XRD work reported 46% quartz, 23% microcline, 26% kaolinite and 5%
phlogopite.
The Benge
Novo complex is vast (10 km minimum in diameter) and soil covered.
Further mapping, sampling and geophysics is required to effectively
assess and explore this prospective alkaline complex.
About
the Coola Exploration Project
The Coola
Exploration Project located in Angola, approximately 160 km east of Port of
Lobito covers an area of 7,456 square kilometres.
The
Coola Exploration Project consists of three highly prospective
targets namely the Sulima West carbonatite, the Benga Novo alkaline
complex and the Coola carbonatite. The three highly prospective
targets are located between 40 and 100 kilometres north of
Pensana’s Longonjo project.
Pensana,
through Coola Mining LDA in which Pensana holds a ninety percent
interest, was granted the Coola exploration license in May 2020 and
has since completed multiple field programmes in 2020, 2021 and
2022 involving geological mapping, rock chip sampling, trench and
pit sampling, stream sediment sampling, initial radiometric
surveys, close space soil sampling and assaying confirming rare
earth mineralisation across all three carbonatites/alkaline
complexes.
Sulima
West is a 4.2-kilometre diameter alkaline carbonatite ring complex
with a corresponding high radiometric
response
occurring immediately to the south of the Benga Novo intrusion and
to the west of the Sulima ring structure. 10 historic trenches each
of about 90 metres in length located in the western segment of the
structure were identified and corresponded with the highest
radiometric response. Twenty-two initial reconnaissance samples
were extracted from the trenches in 2021. During this sampling, it
was observed that the trenches were excavated into an
iron/manganese-rich laterite very similar in appearance to the rare
earth element laterite developed over the Longonjo carbonatite.
Results of this initial sampling returned significant values for
rare earth oxides with up to 10.6% TREO encountered in the laterite
and averaging 4.2% TREO. Manganese oxide values of up 15.9% MnO and
averaging 7.2% MnO were also reported. In Q2 2022, further trench
and pit exploration activities were conducted at the Sulima West
target, reporting initial rare earth grades of up to 9.7% TREO
averaging 3.4% TREO over 68 metres at surface in the trench and up
to 5.2% TREO, averaging 4.3% TREO over 6 metres at surface for the
pit. The presence of highly anomalous TREO of >10%, the
anomalous radioactivity, outcropping fenite, as well as significant
manganese and supergene apatite, are all supportive of a
carbonatite at depth.
The Benga
Novo intrusion is interpreted as a very large caldera occurring
immediately to the north of the Sulima West intrusion. It is
regarded to be at least 8 to 10 kilometres across and is
characterised by flat, deeply weathered soils with a solitary
alkaline granite outcropping in the south eastern part. The
identification of a significant, clay dominated, deeply weathered
regolith over parts of the main Benga Novo intrusion may
additionally be prospective for the occurrence of ionic clay hosted
REE deposits. The Benga Novo intrusion is believed to be vast
(approaching 100 km2) and the potential for alkaline silicate
related mineralisation such as REE, Nb, U and Zr is deemed
positive.
The Coola
carbonatite is a roughly circular body, measuring about 900 metres
across as inferred from the limited outcrops of carbonatite and
fenite. The circular shape suggests that the Coola carbonatite may
be a ring dyke or breccia pipe, similar to the carbonatite at
Longonjo. Rock chip sampling of the 0.9 km diameter Coola
carbonatite ring dyke returned values of between 0.6% and 4.9% TREO
(average 2.6%). Soil geochemistry over the covered carbonatite
returned values of between 0.37% and 13.18% TREO (average 3.21%).
Mineralogical studies of the Coola carbonatite identified the rare
earth mineral to be bastnäsite, which occurs as discrete veins,
veinlets, and segregations within the carbonatite. Soil
geochemistry over the fluorite-rich zone at Coola identified an
area of 13 000 m2 with average fluorite values of 17% (Calcium
Flouride) CaF2. Economic grades of REE mineralisation in the form
of bastnaesite has been located in banded dolomitic carbonatites at
the Coola carbonatite.
About
Angola
The
Angolan government has implemented a modern mining code with an
attractive fiscal regime and a range of investment incentives
including tax exemptions and customs duty exemptions. Over the past
decade it has also made significant investments in
business-critical infrastructure such as railways, ports, bridges,
and roads.
The Lobito
Corridor railway, the historic 1739 km umbilical cord to the
strategic minerals mined in the Copperbelt straddling the DRC and
Zambia, is now under concession
management by the Trafigura/Mota-Engil led Lobito Atlantic Corridor
consortium. Alongside the management of Lobito Port, it is the
latest under the roll-out of government privatisation initiatives.
Angola currently enjoys a power
supply surplus following mega hydro-electric projects and expansion
of the national grid.
Angola’s
economic profile has improved significantly over recent years, with
the country’s public debt falling from 131% of gross domestic
product in 2020 to 66% in 2022. The IMF has projected that the
economy will grow by 3.5% in 2023.
Following
an upgrade by Moody’s in late 2021, all three major rating agencies
raised their credit assessment of the country’s sovereign debt in
2022, with Fitch and Moody’s upgrading the country outlook from
neutral to stable in the second half of the year.
The
information contained within this announcement is considered by the
Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the
Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No.596/2014. Upon the publication of
this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside
information will be considered to be in the public domain. The
person responsible for arranging for the release of this
announcement on behalf of the Company is
Paul Atherley,
Chairman.
-
ENDS –
For
further information, please contact:
Shareholder/analyst
enquiries:
Pensana
Plc
Paul Atherley, Chairman IR@pensana.co.uk
Tim George, Chief Executive Officer
Rob Kaplan, Chief Financial Officer