Ortac Resources Limited (AIM:OTC), an exploration and mine development company, has recently announced that high grades of copper have been found at the Kalaba Copper-Cobalt project in Mwinilunga, Zambia’s north western region.
Three out of nine trenches that were sampled by Zamsort Limited, a Zambian company which owns 100% of the Small-Scale Mining License (SML) over the Kalaba Copper-Cobalt project and where Ortac currently holds secured convertible loan notes, indicated 95 metres at 2.08% copper, 30 metres at 2.10% and 20 metres at 1.73%.
The grades found by Zamsort are up to three times the average grade of 0.7% copper that is found in porphyry deposits which are the largest source of ore and account for about 60% of the world’s total copper reserves while 45% from USA according to a research from Princeton University.
The trench results are an indication of the grade of copper that Zamsort wants to process through a leach plant that will be soon constructed to shift the project from mine development to cash generating position, explained Ortac CEO Vassilios Carellas.
Ortac has so far invested USD 1.2 million in Zamsort to support the mine development stage and thank to the convertible loan notes, a collateral to finance a company’s activities while it is not profitable yet, it can take a 19.35% stake at the Kalaba Copper-Cobalt project.
