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January 27, 2011
It Looks As Though Sabre Is On To Something At Kaskara In Namibia, But Investors Will Have To Wait A Few Weeks For The Precise Details

By Our Man in Oz

Anyone who hasn’t played with a Niton X-ray fluorescence gun should seize the opportunity if it comes their way. The device, which from side-on looks like a flat-nosed Glock handgun, or a ray-gun as drawn by children, is without doubt the most marvellous geological invention since the Land Rover. With a single shot of the Niton, a field “assay” can be obtained of rock samples, drill core, or soil. Its accuracy is not in the same league as a laboratory analysis but the smart use of radiation in this application measures the “fingerprint” of every element in a sample, meaning that a geologist in the field can quickly know if he is barking up the wrong tree. It’s down to Niton that Sabre Resources, a small Australian with a big copper exploration project on its books in Namibia, knows its field crews are barking up the right “copper, lead and zinc” trees.

Followers of Sabre, which has had a devilishly tricky time drilling its Kaskara project near the historic Tsumeb copper mine, might have gleaned the Niton News from the company’s filings at the ASX, though they would probably have not quite understood the message. In one cryptic note Sabre’s general manager of exploration, Matthew Painter, said late last year that “spot sampling using handheld XRF has confirmed elevated copper, lead and zinc values”. All that was missing - and it is a shame because Matthew would have clearly seen the percentages on the Niton’s screen set in the top of the “gun” - was the strength of the mineralised “spot samples”. Apparently, stock exchange reporting rules do not allow Niton readings to be reported.

However, a conversation with Matthew along the lines of that enjoyed by Minesite this week leaves one with the clear impression that Sabre has more than a sniff of something interesting at its Kaskara project, though shareholders will have to wait a few more weeks for the first assays from site. “What I can say is that we are drilling, and we are getting mineralisation, but it’s all oxidised at this stage”, Matthew said. “There is a lot of vanadate material [a copper-lead-zinc mineral]. It means we’re definitely on to something, but what that something is and where most of it is, remains the trick.”

Drilling at Kaskara has been hampered by a series of obstacles. There’s the remote location, the deeply oxidised nature of the rock, and the wet season to contend with. The latter brings the threat of thunderstorms and lightning strikes, a serious problem for drill crews standing next to a rig which can act as a conducting rod. In the last formal ASX filing Sabre noted the interception of mineralisation at Kaskara which it described as oxidised-disseminated and vein-hosted copper, lead and zinc. “The company believes it has intercepted the near-surface oxidised expression of deep-seated copper, lead and zinc sulphide mineralisation”, the filing said.

What’s not said is that the crew at Kaskara has already been able to gather Niton readings which will be them the approximate grade of what’s coming out of the core, as it’s extracted. Matthew said the current hole had a targeted depth of around 200 metres. “We’ve actually been down that far with one other hole and it was oxidised all the way.”

The question which investors want to ask, even if the details will have to wait - and Minesite did ask it - is “is the deep oxidation good, or bad?” “We’re fairly confident that it’s good news”, Matthew said. “The scientific consensus view is that these base-metal bearing vanadate minerals can only form in the weathered portions of sulphide deposits. “In the Otavi Mountain Land the only place you get that sort of thing is around the ore deposits, so we figure it’s rather exciting, even though we haven’t got any numbers back yet.”

That’s when Minesite pops the Niton question. Surely there is an XRF analyser on site? “Yes, we have a Niton gun, and so we definitely know we are hitting mineralisation, but we’re not about to report those readings because it is rather nuggetty mineralisation”, Matthew said. “It will be interesting to see the assays when they come back, with the first expected over the next month. The samples went off just before Christmas, and we’re now waiting for the labs to work through them.”

For Sabre shareholders the slow progress on drilling has been a frustrating time, and some have lost faith, despite the possibility that Sabre might make a discovery “in the shadow of the Tsumeb headframe”. Since trading to a share price peak of A60 cents in late 2009, it has been a rocky slide south for the shares which got as low as A19 cents a few weeks ago, but which have recently climbed back into the A22 cent range.

Geologically, Sabre’s work has great interest, though the big question is whether any discovery will prove commercial. “What we can say is that the drilling to date indicates that there was a lot of mineralisation in the ground previously, which has been dissolved out”, Matthew said. And a final Minesite question: is that what’s been seen at nearby mines? “I believe so”, Matthew said. “But there’s not a lot of documentation about, just plenty of hearsay”. Perhaps not a reason to buy Sabre, yet, but certainly reason to keep an eye out for those first assays.