JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed exploration and development company Orion Minerals, which is developing a zinc and copper project at Prieska in the Northern Cape, on Wednesday announced the second tranche of its two-tranche share issuance to raise $7.86-million.

The total $11-million capital raise will progress the Prieska project’s bankable feasibility study, which is scheduled for completion in early 2019, as well as support the exploration programmes under way on the company’s Northern Cape tenements.

Headed by CEO Errol Smart, the company last month reported positive assay results from a further 13 drilled intersections at the Prieska project, where 68 intersections, including 12 drilled for metallurgical testwork, have been completed in the deep sulphide target since May 2017.

There are currently 18 diamond drill rigs deployed for infill drilling to increase sample density in the deep sulphide mineral resource, with the objective of achieving an updated mineral resource estimate.

Advanced feasibility work already includes provisional mine development layouts and awaited is the final block model, which will be brought to a conclusion once drilling is complete.

The base Prieska project is already sufficiently substantial as a standalone project, with the regional exploration upside piquing interest in the share, which rose by 4.65% in Johannesburg by close of business on Wednesday.

Sufficiently cashed up from the sale of its Australian assets and the $5-million from Independence group in May, Orion is engaging in eye-catching simultaneous hot pursuit on both the project front and regional exploration front.

Orion has initiated investigations into the early mining of potentially significant remnant zinc/copper mineralisation within accessible areas of existing mine infrastructure left by former South African mining house Anglovaal.

All key services still remain on site at the Prieska project, which was mined previously between 1971 and 1991.

The large volume of historic hard copy and digital data recovered is helping to advance Prieska’s mining prospects.

Drilling within the confines of historically drilled mineralisation continues to verify the grade and width as historically reported.

On the exploration front, semi-massive and injected-stringer sulphide veins have been intersected at Orion’s Rok Optel nickel/copper prospect, in the Areachap Belt, where intersections are providing geological proof of concept for Orion’s expectation that the Jacomynspan group of intrusions has good potential to host high-grade massive sulphide mineralisation similar to the Nova-Bollinger deposit, in the Fraser Range, in Western Australia.