Kavango reports high-grade gold results at Zimbabwe project

British-listed miner Kavango Resources Plc has reported encouraging gold estimates at Bill's Luck Prospect within its Hillside Gold Project in Zimbabwe, after drilling confirmed high-grade mineralisation and strong continuity at depth.

The results reinforce Zimbabwe's growing reputation as a high-potential gold destination and highlight the country's largely untapped mineral wealth. Bill's Luck, characterised by structurally complex reefs and a history of gold production, is emerging as a key asset that could significantly expand Kavango's gold footprint in the region.

Kavango said the drilling programme has paved the way for a maiden mineral resource estimate, expected to formally quantify what the company increasingly believes is a significant gold resource.

Bill's Luck is one of four prospects at the Hillside Gold Project, alongside Britain, Nightshift and Steenbok. Kavango operates three projects in Zimbabwe but is currently prioritising Hillside, which comprises 44 gold claims covering 503 hectares. The company's other local assets are the Nara Gold Project and the Leopard Project.

"The resource drilling programme at Bill's Luck was designed to establish a maiden mineral resource estimate to support and inform future mine planning and scheduling, while also unlocking the full value of what is increasingly believed to be a significant mineralised system," Kavango said in a statement.

The programme involved an initial wide-spaced diamond drilling phase, followed by infill diamond drilling and a separate reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign along strike to the northwest and southeast. In total, 7 714 metres were drilled, comprising 3 556 metres of RC drilling and 4 158 metres of diamond drilling. Results from the RC programme are expected in the coming weeks.

Kavango said drilling intersected the currently mined Main Reef, as anticipated, but also confirmed the presence of an additional mineralised reef running parallel to it. Further reefs were also intersected in both the hanging wall and footwall.

"The diamond drilling results, together with the RC drill programme, will now be used to inform a maiden mineral resource estimate at Bill's Luck," the company said.

Originally mined between 1916 and 1950, Bill's Luck produced about 17 000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 7.7 grammes per tonne. Since then, activity at the site has been limited to informal mining and small-scale retreatment.

Kavango is now focusing on advancing Bill's Luck towards development, including plans to commission a 50-tonne-per-day pilot carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant. Gold mineralisation at the prospect is structurally and hydrothermally controlled, occurring along shear zones with quartz-sericite-chlorite alteration, disseminated sulphides and vein-controlled syntectonic quartz-sulphide veins.

Zones of higher vein density coincide with intense deformation, including quartz boudinage, pressure shadows and mylonitic veins, which act as key mineral traps. Late-stage mineralised veins that crosscut earlier structures point to a prolonged, multi-phase mineralisation history.

Kavango interim chief executive officer Peter Wynter Bee said the drilling results had exceeded expectations.

"The resource drilling programme at Bill's Luck has demonstrated that the mineralised system extends to depths greater than 220 metres and exhibits continuity both along strike and at depth," he said.

"With the incoming RC results, we hope to define a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate in the near future, which will inform mine planning and scheduling at Bill's Luck and underpin our assessment of the project's longer-term production potential."

Kavango said it would provide further updates in due course as it moves to increase gold production at the project.