Business
Ivanhoe Mines Quadruples 2024 Exploration Budget to $90 Million
Exploration focused on the Western Foreland, following the high-grade Kitoko copper discovery Kitoko's newly discovered copper horizon on the Kibaran Basement s
About this update from Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. Class A
[{"type":"text","content":" Exploration focused on the Western Foreland, following the high-grade Kitoko copper discovery Kitoko's newly discovered copper horizon on the Kibaran Basement significantly increases prospectivity of the Western Foreland for tier-one discoveries Expanded 2024 exploration program targets expansion of Kitoko's 1.9-kilometre length, open in all directions Ivanhoe Mines to test geologic model discovered in hole DD008 in vast areas of the Western Foreland with newly enhanced prospectivity Ivanhoe Mines in discussions with multiple potential strategic investors Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo--(Newsfile Corp. - December 7, 2023) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF) Founder and Executive Co-Chair Robert Friedland and President Marna Cloete announced that the company is substantially increasing its group exploration activities and budget for 2024. The group budget for 2024 will quadruple to approximately $90 million, with exploration activities primarily focused on the 2,654-square-kilometre Western Foreland Exploration Project. The budget increase follows the November 28, 2023 announcement of the geologically significant, high-grade Kitoko copper discovery, as well as the maiden Mineral Resource estimates for the Makoko and Kiala high-grade copper discoveries, as announced on November 13, 2023, in the Western Forelands. The Kitoko discovery confirms the presence of a globally significant high-grade copper mineralizing system. Kitoko's copper mineralization is hosted in near flat-lying siltstone of the lower Grand Conglomerate, similar to the geologic setting observed at the Kamoa, Kakula, Makoko and Kiala high-grade, sedimentary copper discoveries. All of these discoveries, including Kitoko, in the Western Foreland share the same characteristics of mineralization being bottom-loaded with the highest copper grades occurring at the base of each sedimentary, copper-mineralized horizon. However, what differentiates the Kitoko discovery from the previous Kakula, Kamoa, Makoko and Kiala discoveries, is that the Kitoko discovery exhibits two remarkably different characteristics. Firstly, the mineralization is hosted within the Grand Conglomerate, directly overlying the Kibaran Basement rocks (see Figure 1) with no underlying Mwashia sandstones. This is significant as Ivanhoe Mines' geology team previously conceived that the sandst...