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ReGIonAL RoUnD-UP AFRIcA

Si6 stays the course

atrick Holywell calls it his Plan B, even if and 28.9 g/t silver from 24m at Dibete. “Botswana has its challenges naturally
Pit was really his Plan A. “We got back some massive sulphide being in Africa, but it all comes down to
Si6 Metals Ltd was heading down a dif- stringers in that deep diamond hole, but we the people on the ground. We’ve got Steve
ferent path when Holywell was appointed actually didn’t hit the target that we were Groves who has actually lived in Botswana
chairman in late 2019, but it quickly became hoping to,” Holywell said. for some five years and been involved with
apparent the company’s proposed new di- “The positive is that we still got some low- us for much longer, and our country manag-
rection was not going to make it past the grade nickel and copper results and a bit of er has also been involved for circa 10 years,
starting gate. PGMs, so we’re doing some deep surveys so we’ve got the right people.
Despite being an accountant by trade, – downhole, AMT, dipole-dipole – that will “It’s challenging at times with contractors
Holywell is a self-confessed resources en- come to a conclusion in the next month or in country, but that’s not too dissimilar to try-
thusiast with a particular passion for explo- so and then we’ll go back and drill around ing to get a drill rig in the Pilbara at the mo-
ration and he was especially keen for Si6 to the resource and other areas which are ment.”
remain in that space. more prospective for copper-silver.” Si6 bolstered its portfolio last year with the
Given his involvement with resurgent ex- Si6 holds seven exploration licences cov- addition of the Monument gold project, near
plorer De Grey Mining Ltd in the lead-up to ering about 1,500sq km in Botswana, with Laverton in WA, where a 4,400m RC drill-
the Hemi discovery, the only option on the three of those under JV with liquidated nick- ing programme over the Korong and Waihi
table for Si6’s incoming chairman was to ap- el-copper miner BCL Ltd. prospects was recently completed.
ply a fresh set of eyes Best intersections
to the company’s included 6m @ 3.15
existing portfolio of g/t gold, 5m @ 3.22
base metal assets in g/t and 5m @ 2.03
Botswana. g/t at Korong and
“I’m a resources 4m @ 5.89 g/t gold
guy through and and 3m @ 2.45 g/t
through, so Plan B at Waihi. Drilling
for me was to actually data will be used
work on the Botswa- to upgrade the ex-
nan project,” Holywell isting resource of
told Paydirt. 860,000t @ 1.8 g/t
“It’s elephant coun- gold for 50,000oz
try and I really want- later this quarter.
ed to have a good Monument lies
crack at it because I just north of Da-
think there’s an op- cian Gold Ltd’s Mt
portunity to prove Morgans operation
that we’re on to a se- which hosts the
rious discovery over Si6 holds seven exploration licences covering about 1,500sq km in Botswana. The company’s same banded iron
there.” main focus is the Maibele North base metals project formation contain-
Si6’s portfolio in- ing gold mineralisa-
cludes the Maibele tion.
North project which hosts a small inferred A preferred bidder from Canada is under- “Most of the drilling is only 150m from sur-
resource of 2.38mt @ 0.72% nickel and stood to be reviewing the BCL assets which, face, so there’s plenty of deeper targets to
0.21% copper with some PGM credits. if revived, could provide a future processing chase,” Holywell said.
The mineralisation has previously been de- pathway for any economic resources on the “Waihi hasn’t had as much spend as Ko-
scribed as broadly similar to other ultramafic Si6 tenure. rong, but it’s looking pretty similar. Along-
intrusion-related mobile belt nickel discover- The liquidation process, which has been side that we’ve got some regional targets
ies such as IGO Ltd’s Nova-Bollinger and ongoing since 2016, has not impacted Si6’s with different rock types [syenite/felsic in-
Chalice Mining Ltd’s Julimar project in West- ability to explore on the aforementioned li- trusives] which haven’t really been tested.
ern Australia. cences. Nearby syenite analogues include Gold
A single diamond hole testing the miner- Due to current COVID-19 travel restric- Fields [Ltd’s] Wallaby deposit and Dacian’s
alised horizon previously intersected at Mai- tions, Holywell hasn’t been unable to visit the Jupiter deposit.”
bele North was drilled to a depth of 500m projects he fought so hard to retain. How- Si6 reported a cash position of $5.2 mil-
in January. While the assay results were ever, his experience so far dealing remotely lion at the end of the March quarter which
mixed, Holywell said the company could with his Botswana-based crew has left him should be more than enough to fund the
use that information, as well as current sur- with nothing but praise for the Southern Af- company’s exploration ambitions in both
vey work, to plot its next move. rican nation. Botswana and WA for at least the next 12
Si6 is also planning to undertake follow- “I think most people understand Botswana months.
up drilling on several encouraging intersec- is a pretty good place to operate and obvi- – Michael Washbourne
tions previously reported, including 7m @ ously Sandfire [Resources Ltd] committing
11.8% copper and 717 g/t silver at the Air- to developing their project over there has
strip prospect and 18m @ 1.78% copper helped put us on the map,” Holywell said.

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