Aim-listed Botswana Minerals has announced that an AI-driven review of legacy geological records identified primary copper sulphide and altered copper minerals in historical drill cores from holes originally drilled in search of uranium and diamonds.
AI identified and connected the copper evidence by analysing more than a gigabyte of legacy reports, with some over 50 years old, that had never been integrated into a modern copper model, demonstrating the power of AI to unlock value from vast historical datasets.
The data, including copper and nickel sulphides noted in historic boreholes, points to a concealed mineralised corridor beneath shallow Kalahari cover within the the company’s licences.
Alongside the primary chalcopyrite, Botswana Minerals has reported that the historical records show altered copper minerals, including malachite and chrysocolla.
Together, the company says, these directly confirm the AI-generated target corridors and strengthen the model for concealed copper and base metal mineralisation beneath the Kalahari cover.
The company also highlights that the significance of AI in this application can be attributed to its ability to recover and connect this evidence from more than a gigabyte of records spanning over 50 years and several separate exploration campaigns within a matter of days, which is work that would be impractical to do manually, thereby turning overlooked legacy data into a focused field programme.
“We now have primary copper mineralisation, altered copper minerals and a confirmed geological model, a material step forward for the company. Our next step is to accelerate the northern licence work, get into the field, re-log and re-scan available core, and continue building out the opportunity across the southern licences,” Botswana Minerals chairperson John Teeling comments.
Fully funded fieldwork is expected to take place in the company’s northern licences, which will be accelerated by prioritising and ranking the targets, enabling rapid mobilisation on the highest-value prospects, and field checks will be undertaken over the highest-priority copper, zinc, lead and nickel corridors, including mapping, sampling and validation of historical drill locations. – (Mining Weekly)
