Zone 5 and the adjacent deposits are characterised as structurally controlled, sediment hosted strata-bound copper-silver deposits.

Zone 5 has a deposit strike length of 4.2km with mineralisation dipping at 56 degrees to the south-east over an average thickness of 10m. Mineralisation is situated in the hanging wall sequence, 30m above the contact between the D'Kar Formation and Ngwako Pan Formation. Mineralisation is sub-parallel to lithology and typically cross-cuts host units from the lower D’Kar limestone unit in the south-west to the carbon rich siltstone unit and interbedded alternating siltstone and sandstone unit toward the north-east. The host rock assemblage is sandwiched between two competent sandstone units; the footwall Ngwako Pan quartzite sandstone and the hanging wall Marker sandstone. The down dip extension of mineralisation has been drilled to a maximum depth of 1,200m vertically below surface. The deposit remains open at depth (down dip) and partially along strike.

Mineral boundaries were interpreted to distinguish areas that comprised overburden, oxide plus sulphide minerals and sulphide-only assemblages. The near surface mineralised zone was identified as a transitional sulphide zone that contained both oxide and sulphide minerals. The boundary between this zone and the sulphide only undulates parallel to topography between 60 and 80m depth below the surface. This boundary was defined by acid soluble copper and total copper ratios, lo ........

The Zone 5 mine is a bulk mechanised mine, designed for a total production rate of 3.65Mtpa through three (3) mining corridors, with a single mining corridor production rate between 1.0Mtpa to 2.0Mtpa. The ore is transported to surface via a truck haulage system. The mine design is based on a Long Hole Open Stoping (LHOS) mining method. The first section of the mine incorporates pillars and no pastefill, and then as depth increases pastefill will be used to improve overall resource recovery.

Stope production has been designed around the use of 9m3 (21 tonne) loaders and 60 tonne haul trucks. In the mining areas, in specially designed truck loops, the loaders transfer the ore from the ore passes to the trucks. Given the current depth of the known mineral resource, trucking was deemed the most practical and the least capital-intensive option. From the loading points, the trucks travel up the decline(s) to the surface for dumping of the ore at the Run Of Mine (ROM) pads.

Given that the orebody has a strike length of more than 4km, it necessitated dividing it up into mining corridors due to the mining method selected, with twin decline systems dedicated to servicing each corridor. (the North Corridor starts as single decline.) The twin decline layout allows for more than 1,000m coverage of strike extent of the orebody, while offering multiple orezone attack points, highly productive layouts, and significant redundancy.

Surface access, through unco ........

The Boseto sulphide concentrator was upgraded from its original 3.0 million tonnes per annum nameplate capacity, to 3.65 million tonnes per annum to treat the Zone 5 ores. The ores respond well to conventional sulphide flotation, producing approximately 155,000 tonnes of high-grade copper concentrate at 40% Cu and 375g/t Ag. Since commissioning in mid 2021 the process plant has been successfully operated at design capacity and is achieving design performance parameters. The concentrate will be road hauled to port, for shipping and sale on the international market.

Metallurgical processing involves conventional bulk sulphide treatment and recovery including:
- 3-stage crushing and single-stage ball milling;
- Flash flotation, followed by conventional rougher flotation;
- Cleaner flotation with Jameson cells;
- Concentrate Regrind using Glencore HIG mill;
- The process is widely used in the base metals industry.