Hana mining, the copper-silver explorer, said that it has no ‘doubt’ that the Banana Zone deposit near Ghantsi is rich in minerals, adding that the recent drilling results indicated that the life-span of the proposed mine will be longer than originally thought.
“Given the success of the drilling program, we are becoming more confident that the Banana Zone will become an operation with a long mine life,” Marek Kreczmer, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Hana Mining said.
He added: “We are pleased with the drilling results from Banana Zone, which have proven, without doubt, that the entire mineralized strike length of Banana Zone exhibits good continuity given that the copper-silver was encountered at every single hole.”
The latest drilling results means that the strike length has increased by five kilometers to 64 kilometers – a move that is expected to embolden Hana Mining to ramp up its plans of operating a mine in Ghantsi area.
Hana Mining has long indicated that it has plans for eventually operating copper-silver open pit mine at Banana Zone ÔÇô outside GhantsiÔÇöcloser to D’Kar.
“Our focus is on the Banana Zone simply because of its size and folding. We are looking at the potential of an open pit mine,” Fred Stahlbush, of Hana Mining, told Botswana Resources Sector conference earlier this year.
The move comes as the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed company is working around the clock to obtain a mining license for the area within the next two years.
The company is also working on plans to confirm the projects by 2011 and apply for the mining license between 2011/12, while the commissioning of the mine is slated for 2014.
Preliminary calculation indicates that the first 31 kilometers of the area is seating on approximately 2.38 billion pounds of copper and over 45 million ounces of silver.
Kreczmer said the latest drilling, which also covered part of Chalcocite Zone “will give us many mining scenarios”.
Lately the company was granted the local asset status by Non Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) that will enable it to raise cash locally if need arises.
Hana Mining has a concession area of 2,169 kilometers where it is presently exploring copper-silver deposits.
The Ghantsi area is expected to benefit from a raft of national developments, which includes the proposed Botswana- Namibia rail line and the expansion of Moropule Power Plant.
