Drilling has begun at Havilah Resources’ Kalkaroo tenements, following mobilisation of the contractor drilling rig and associated equipment to site this week.
The program is funded by OZ Minerals under a strategic alliance with Havilah, and follows several months of drillhole planning and preparatory work, including heritage clearance surveys of proposed drilling sites and securing drilling approvals from the mining regulator in South Australia.
The exploration drilling will initially focus on seven separate high priority copper prospect areas within Havilah’s exploration licence region that surrounds Kalkaroo. The objective is to locate additional copper resources close to Kalkaroo that could be additive to the existing JORC mineral resource and so enhance its development prospects.
The program comprises 12,530 metres (firm — 66 drillholes) and 7370m (contingent — 39 drillholes) of RC drilling for a total budget of up to $4 million over an estimated six month period. Drilling is planned to start in the south and move progressively northwards.
Havilah technical director Chris Giles said the miner was delighted to be working with OZ Minerals, recognised as a highly successful copper mine developer and operator.
“Initially we have selected a series of prospects each with known copper mineralisation, which lie within potential trucking distance of Kalkaroo,” he said.
“A minimum number of firm drillholes is planned to test each prospect, with the capacity to complete further contingent ones if initial results are encouraging.”