Proactive investors

North River is assembling a portfolio of resource opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa at various stages of development.

This portfolio comprises significant well developed gold, copper and other base metal assets in Namibia; gold, tantalum and uranium assets in Mozambique and a historic interest in the Coronet Hill Project in Australia.

Namibia Overview

Namibia is an independent, democratically governed republic that lies on the south western coast of Africa and forms part of the Southern Africa region.  Windhoek, the capital city, is located in the centre of the country, with other major towns being Tsumeb and Keetmanshoop as well as the ports of Luderitz and Walvis Bay.  Namibia is sparsely populated with around 2 million people.  All major towns are linked via a network of sealed roads, with regional access through maintained gravel roads.  Rail networks provide vital transport routes from South Africa, as well as a local network serving the smelter complex at Tsumeb and ports of Walvis Bay and Luderitz.

Namibia’s chief economic sectors include mining (contributing 12.4% of GDP in 2007) with the country being the world’s fifth largest producer of uranium and agriculture, which contributes 9.5% of the country’s GDP (2007) and consists mainly of cattle and sheep-raising.  The country’s fishing grounds are some of the world’s richest and fish processing is one of the country’s main industrial activities.  The Namibian economy is closely linked with South Africa, with the Namibian Dollar being pegged to the South African Rand.

Namibia is also a primary source for gem-quality diamonds.  It is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa, the world’s fifth largest producer of uranium, and the producer of large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver and tungsten.

In Namibia, all mineral rights are vested in the state.  The Minerals Prospecting and Mining Act of 1992 regulates the mining industry in the country.  Policy has been designed to facilitate and encourage the private sector to evaluate and develop mineral resources.  The Directorate of Mines endeavours to promote the optimal exploitation of Namibia’s mineral resources and integrate the mining industry with other sectors of the economy for the socio-economic development of the country.  Namibia’s varied geology encompasses rocks spanning more than 2,200 million years.  Most of the country’s surface area has excellent bedrock exposure, while the remainder is covered by young surficial deposits of the Kalahari and Namib Deserts.  These rocks occur in the central and northern parts of the country.  Extensive low grade porphyry style Cu-Mo deposits have been delineated within the Haib Group located in southern Namibia.

Dordabis Copper Project - For more in depth info, please click here

Located 90km south of the Namibian capital, Windhoek, the Dordabis Copper Project contains four known copper deposits covering over 882km².  Coincident magnetic and gravity anomalies have been identified which supports the potential for a IOCG mineralisation model similar to that found at the Olympic Dam and Ernest Henry deposits.  The drilling programmes completed in 2008 by Kalahari Minerals predominantly targeted the Koperberg, RK and Swartberg prospects.

Witvlei Copper Project - For more in depth info, please click here

The Witvlei Copper Project covers five known copper deposits located over a region of 650km².  North River is currently appraising 250,000 tonnes of previously defined historic resources and is aiming to quantify a resource base that will support a viable and sustainable operation.  Data generated in 2008 by Kalahari Minerals from the drilling programme targeting three deposits – Malachite Pan, Okasewa and Christiadore, is currently being reviewed and analysed to determine the project’s viability.

Namib Lead/Zinc Project - For more in depth info, please click here

North River Resources holds 100% of the Namib Lead Zinc Project, which is centred on the previously producing Namib Lead Mine, which was in operation from 1965-1992.  The underground mine remains semi-developed and preliminary metallurgical test work undertaken yielded favourable results indicating good separation of Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) with high recoveries and grades.

Ubib Gold/Copper Project - For more in depth info, please click here

North River Resources owns 100% of the Ubib Copper/Gold Project which is located 15km south-west of Namibia’s longest producing gold mine, the four million ounce Navachab Gold Mine.  A 1.4km of laterally continuous gold in soil anomaly has been identified within a Ferruginous shear zone.  Best rock chip assay from the targeted drill area returned 10 g/t Au and 1.6 g/t Ag.

Mozambique Overview

The Company announced the intention to acquire five licences in two project areas in Mozambique in July 2009.  These licenses exhibit anomalous gold, tantalum and uranium and extensive early stage exploration work has been completed by OmegaCorp Minerais Limitada, the previous owner.

Murrupala Gold & Tantalum Project - for more in depth info, please click here

The Murrupula Project is located in Numpula Province, 600km east of the Mavuzi Project and 70km south west of the regional city, Nampula.

The record of historical exploration activity in the Murrupula licence area has been limited to a few scattered eluvial and shallow, hard-rock pegmatite occurrences recorded on regional mapping.

Field work completed by Omega has included reconnaissance phase exploration of the regional and project geology, a review and interpretation of the regional radiometrics and aeromagnetic data, car and foot-borne reconnaissance geological mapping of the Murrupula licence area at 1:50,000 scale and a 416, -80 mesh, regional stream sediment sampling programme.

Mavuzi Gold & Uranium Project - for more in depth info, please click here

The historical Mavuzi uranium mine and a second old production centre, the Castro mine, constitute the Mavuzi Prospect, where the initial discovery of uranium in 1948 resulted in the reported production of 50 tonnes of U3O8 between 1948 and 1950 with uranium mining continuing until 1974.

The style of the recognised Mavuzi uranium prospects are shear-hosted, late stage, potassic, carbonate silica replacement and disseminated uranium-iron oxide mineralisation.  The deposits form in crosscutting relationships to a variety of host lithologies, including anorthosites, gabbros, calc-silicate rocks and gneisses.

Australia Overview

The Company has a historic interest in a licence in the Northern Territory of Australia, through a farm-in agreement with Segue Resources, the holder of the Coronet Hill licence and an exploration licence application (ELA 27332).

Following drilling programmes conducted by North River and the acquisition of assets in sub-Saharan Africa, which the Board consider to have greater potential to create value for shareholders, the Coronet Hill Project has been deemed of low importance in the near term.

Coronet Hill

Coronet Hill is situated 220 kilometres south east of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

A programme of work has been conducted by North River at Coronet Hill over the past three years which included geochemical and geophysical techniques to identify priority targets for drilling.  A programme of gradient-array induced polarisation (IP) has highlighted zones of high chargeability indicative of massive to disseminated sulphide mineralisation along the fault that will require further geochemical sampling and detailed geological mapping.

The Company is, at this time, focussing on the development of its sub-Saharan assets however Shareholders will be updated as to developments at Coronet Hill when appropriate.