This follows a successful IPO earlier this month which saw the company pocket $6.5 million for its Namibian exploration push.
At Karibib, Kaoko Metals’ (ASX:KAO) team led by in-country manager Lisias Pius has mobilised to site and started field activities.
The program will include high-resolution drone surveys, validation of historical mapping to finalise drill collar locations and targeted grab sampling to refine drill targets.
Pitting and trenching over a priority IP anomaly are also planned, alongside detailed field work at the Pots prospect, which is considered prospective for tungsten and beryllium.
In parallel, drilling contractors have begun site visits ahead of planned Karibib drilling.
At Chalkos, a local contractor is undertaking site access improvements in preparation for initial fieldwork and drilling.
Kaoko considers the engagement of Namibian contractors and communities as a core component of its operational strategy and commitment to responsible development in the country.
“We listed with a clear strategy to hit the ground running and that is exactly what we are delivering,” said Kaoko’s managing director Gerard O’Donovan.
“Teams are now active across both projects as we rapidly advance towards maiden drilling.”
Chalkos is considered a district-scale copper-silver opportunity within the emerging Kaoko Copper Belt – an underexplored geological corridor interpreted to be analogous to the globally significant Central African Copperbelt spanning Zambia and the DRC.
The Central African Copperbelt hosts some of the world’s largest and highest-grade sediment-hosted copper deposits, including operations run by mining heavyweights Glencore and Barrick.
Sediment-hosted deposits account for about 20% of global copper supply and are prized for their scale and grade.
Chalkos contains sediment-hosted and structurally controlled copper and silver mineralisation, with a 20km mineralised strike and a further 20km of prospective ground yet to be systematically explored.
Continuous high-grade outcropping mineralisation has so far been mapped along just 700m of the broader 20km trend.
Chalkos is also interpreted to sit within the same stratigraphic setting and along strike to the historical Tsumeb mine, which churned out 1.7Mt of copper at an average grade of 4.3% Cu.
Nearby, Midas Minerals’ (ASX:MM1) Otavi project hosts a resource of 10.5Mt grading 1.6% Cu.
Despite the project’s prospective geology, the Chalkos tenure has only seen limited modern exploration.
Previous rock chip sampling returned assays grading as high as 69.6% Cu and 2030g/t Ag.
Kaoko has defined multiple high-priority drill-ready targets, with drilling scheduled to start in the near term.
Karibib lies further south in the underexplored Damara belt, adding a multi-commodity dimension to Kaoko’s exploration portfolio.
The project hosts a 20km by 2km northeast-southwest trending structural corridor known to contain multiple mineralised zones.
Several priority walk-up drill targets have been identified, alongside broader regional potential.
Near-surface copper, gold, silver and tungsten mineralisation has also been confirmed, with rock chip sampling returning grades up to 28.4% Cu, 26.3g/t Au and 453g/t Ag.
Channel sampling at the project averaged 2.72% Cu, 56.7g/t Ag, 0.54g/t Au and 0.22% WO3.
Meanwhile, reconnaissance drilling in 2022 intersected multiple zones of visual copper mineralisation.
Standout results included 4m at 1.98% Cu, 0.92g/t Au and 0.72% WO3 from 9m in one hole, and 4m at 1.35% Cu and 0.68g/t Au from 24m in another.
Karibib also benefits from its proximity to established mining operations, offering geological validation and logistical advantages.
