Koryx Copper has a 100% interest in 1054137 BC Ltd, which, in turn, has a 100% interest in Haib Holdings (Pty) Ltd. (formally Deep South Mining Company (Pty) Ltd.), a Namibian subsidiary which holds a 100% interest in Haib Minerals (Pty) Ltd, which holds the exploration rights to the Haib Porphyry Copper property.
- subscription is required.
Summary:
The Haib copper deposit is a porphyry copper deposit of Palaeoproterozoic age, approximately 1,880 Ma.
The Haib license is underlain by the Haib Subgroup volcanics of the ORG and VIS rocks on the eastern half, with an unconformity into the Karoo Sediments on the western half. The Haib volcanics are primarily composed of a feldspar porphyry (FP) andesite with minor amounts of intercalated rhyolite in the north. The VIS intrusives are a mix of GD-granite composition rocks, generally forming large batholiths intruding the Haib volcanics.
All the rocks on the license have an east-west orientation/elongation, which is interpreted as arc-parallel. Two large east-west shear zones have been identified on the property: one just north of the deposit (20 m to 50 m wide), and a broader one several kilometres south of the deposit (over 1 km wide in parts). Structural mapping and logging show a variety of orientations to veins, faults, and shears. The most common vein sets trend NW-SE and dip SW, east-west and dip south, with a few that trend north-south and dip east. All these vein sets are considered orogenic in nature and post-date the porphyry copper mineralisation. There are a few faults with large offsets, with the majority of faults having only several metres offset. The shear zones accommodate the most displacement.
The Haib deposit contains the main rock types: GD, FP, Quartz Feldspar Porphyry (QFP), Quartz Feldspar Porphyry 2 (QFP2), Quartz Biotite Porphyry (QBP) and X-Porphyry (XP).
FP is the earliest rock type formed, which is intruded by QFP, QFP2, QBP, and XP. All the porphyries before QBP and XP are cut by mineralisation and related veins. The rock type previously recognised as Quartz Porphyry (QP) has now been reinterpreted as a hydrothermal breccia related to an early phase of QBP.
QFP and QFP2 are porphyritic GDs and essentially represent the uppermost portions of a GD batholith to the south. There is a broad spectrum of rocks between these two end members, representing the complex nature of the batholith.
The QBP and associated hydrothermal breccias are found at surface in the northwestern corner of the deposit, dipping at roughly 70° to the south and striking NW-SE. They are truncated by a large east-west shear zone in the north, and displaced to > 400 m depth to the SE by a north-south, quartz-impregnated shear zone/fault.
XP is a late pulse of dacitic dykes with < 4% biotite phenocrysts (FP has no biotite phenocrysts), which intrude all the other rock types. Hydrothermal breccia containing clasts of the other porphyries are common. It is volumetrically minor, with a zone of dykes and breccia found along the southwest margin of the deposit (Grumbley, 2017).
Work by Koryx has built on that of Teck, confirming that much of the contained copper is within igneous-hydrothermal breccia, with narrow higher grade zones in remobilised quartz-rich veins and shear zones. The breccias mark the roots of the porphyry system and are targets for deep drilling and further copper mineralisation.
The Haib porphyry system is interpreted to have been emplaced at a deep level. This is indicated in the hydrothermal alteration, Early Halo veins and general lack of A veins (cf. Cernuschi et al., 2023). It has also been deeply eroded, which means that any original advanced argillic lithocap or sericitic (phyllic) blanket has been removed.
Alteration
Age dating of Haib rocks by separation of zircon and apatite, on which laser ablation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to derive the U/Pb ratios, indicated an age of 1,880 Ma for the volcanics (Grumbley, 2015). The entire region has undergone two phases of greenschist facies metamorphism, which have mainly produced a metamorphic assemblage of chlorite-calcite-epidote-green biotite without significant deformation (Miller 2008). Most of the rock exhibits typical porphyry copper type alteration zones associated with mineralisation.
A potassic hydrothermal alteration zone coincides with the main mineralised area in Target 1, and surrounding areas (Targets 2-4) are dominated by phyllic and propylitic alteration haloes. Propylitic sericite alteration appears to overprint the earlier potassic zones. Silicification, chloritisation and epidotisation are widespread.
Mineralisation
The principal sulphides in the Haib body are pyrite and chalcopyrite with minor molybdenite. Bornite, digenite, chalcocite and covellite are also occasionally recorded. There is no major development of a supergene zone, probably due to high rates of erosion associated with the Orange River canyon. Near-surface oxidation has led to the formation of malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, minor cuprite and chalcocite, generally along fracture.
zones. Oxide copper rarely extends to depths in excess of 30 m on these fracture zones. While the oxide zone volumetrically represents a fairly minor proportion of the deposit, grades are significantly above average. This may result in some leachable copper from the oxide material. These portions of the deposit have not been examined in detail and there is significant potential to improve their volume and grade.