Noronex Limited Expands Strategic Alliance with South32: A$15M Exploration Commitment, New Botswana Tenements, and Promising Copper Drilling Results Signal Major Discovery Potential
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
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9:11 am
Noronex Limited expands its strategic alliance by adding two Botswana tenements. Early drilling results boost optimism for the copper-rich Kalahari Copper Belt, paving the way for further exploration and potential discoveries that could attract savvy investment interest.
Noronex Limited announced today that it has expanded its strategic alliance with South32 Limited by including two newly acquired tenements in Botswana. The move comes as the company reveals encouraging results from its seven reverse circulation scout drill holes at the Damara Copper Project in Namibia, offering a fresh perspective on regional copper potential. The recent drilling has provided anomalous copper values of up to 800 parts per million in hole 25DARC03 and 740 parts per million in a subsequent scissor hole, which suggests promising mineralization when compared to the regional background levels. These results, along with detailed geological interpretations, echo characteristics found in major copper deposits from the Central African Copper Belt.
The integration of the Botswana tenements under the Strategic Alliance Agreement signifies South32’s confidence in the exploration potential of the region. Under this expanded arrangement, South32 is set to fund a minimum of A$3 million per year as part of a five-year commitment, commencing with an initial A$1 million disbursement in each quarter beginning in FY26. This ongoing funding supports Noronex’s efforts to drill, manage, and explore its highly prospective holdings across the Kalahari Copper Belt. Additional drilling at the Fiesta Project—located on the western closure of a domal structure near the NPF-D’Kar contact—is also continuing, despite intermittent challenges such as adverse weather and rig breakdowns.
The company’s management expressed optimism over the geological findings and the broader implications for both its Namibian and adjacent Botswana projects. Noronex’s technical team has identified several new targets that they plan to test in the second half of the year, with future drilling programs employing modern exploration techniques designed to unlock Tier-1 discovery potential. The detailed reconnaissance drilling program in the Damara terrane has further refined the geological models by comparing basement deposit styles similar to those in Zambia and Congo, thus bolstering the company’s exploration strategy across the region.
Bullish sentiment from this announcement comes from the strong technical indicators presented, including significant copper anomalies and the substantial financial commitment by South32, which underscores confidence in Noronex’s potential for a major discovery. The expanded alliance and systematic exploration strategy enhance the company’s long-term growth prospects and resource base. Conversely, bearish sentiment centers on typical risks inherent in early-stage exploration, such as drilling challenges, the need for further infill drilling to establish ore continuity, and uncertainties associated with extrapolating regional geological models. Nonetheless, the news injects a note of optimism among investors, particularly in light of the robust funding mechanism that mitigates financial risk during this critical exploration phase.