2007 Annual Report
Address by the Chairman
It is my pleasure to present to you the Annual Report for the year to 30 June 2007.
A significant proportion of effort during this financial year was applied to developing an initial resource at the Company’s Kihabe Zinc Project in north western Botswana. The Company controls a major portion of a Proterozoic belt which covers an area of some three thousand square kilometres and spans the border between Namibia and Botswana. This Proterozoic belt is highly prospective for base metals.
With the completion of some thirteen thousand metres of RC drilling along the Kihabe mineralised zone, two and a half kilometres long, the Company engaged Ravensgate, a firm of independent consultants, to produce an initial resource statement. In April this year, the Company announced an initial resource of 11 million tonnes of 2.55% zinc equivalent. At today’s metal values, the contributions to this resource are in the order of 70% zinc, 25% lead and 5% silver and in excess of 95% of the current, initial, resource is in the indicated category.
Subsequent to this resource estimate, the Company has completed some two thousand metres of diamond core drilling, the assay values from which, to date, have shown significant potential to increase the overall grade of the resource. Common zones of mineralisation intersected in both the RC drilling and diamond core drilling have returned zinc assay values from the diamond core which are on average close to 60% higher than the assay values returned from the RC drilling. Further diamond core drilling is currently being conducted at Kihabe to confirm any grade increment and also to increase the overall resource tonnes. Any overall resource grade increase will only be determined with a revised resource calculation once this drilling has been completed.
It should be noted that the Kihabe resource has been generated from only one of a number of geochemical anomalies that occur both in Botswana and Namibia along this Proterozoic belt. Significant potential exists to develop further resources on both sides of the border. This potential will be tested with ongoing drilling programmes. Of particular note is an area ten kilometres south of Kihabe where the Company has discovered an in-situ gossan that has returned assay values of 21.95%, zinc 7.63% lead and 6.6 oz/t of silver.
At Tsumkwe in Namibia the Company has now isolated some specific areas where it believes good potential exists for the discovery of kimberlites in its ongoing exploration.
The Company’s Telfer project in Western Australia is currently under review by parties with the potential to forming a joint venture.
I should like to extend my thanks to those shareholders who have continued to give their support to the Company during the year, particularly in regard to the fund raisings that the Company has been involved with.
To our staff members, I am grateful for their continual commitment and allegiance, especially when called upon to work in remote areas in Africa.
Nigel Forester
Chairman & Managing Director
