Serval Resources (AIM:SRVL), the AIM-listed copper-silver explorer, said assay results from its Kaoko Basin project in Namibia have confirmed high-grade mineralisation across multiple prospects, with a best individual sample returning 37.8% copper and 573 g/t silver.
That sample, expressed as 45.49% copper equivalent, came from the Otjozongombe West prospect, one of six prospects sampled on licence EPL 7081, where the company said multiple samples returned grades above 10% copper equivalent.
The results confirmed mineralisation in outcrop stretching over a strike length of approximately 5 kilometres and included the delineation of a new prospect, named Okamborombonga, taking Serval's total confirmed copper prospects in the Kaoko Basin to 13 from 12.
The Kaoko Basin, in north-western Namibia, forms part of the Neoproterozoic Damara Orogenic Belt and is interpreted as an extension of the Central African Copperbelt, one of the world's leading sediment-hosted copper-silver provinces.
Serval holds a four-licence, 789 square kilometre package in the basin, with EPL 7081 its priority licence, hosting the Omatapati, Horseshoe and Otjozongombe West and East prospects.
The previous owner, Kalahari Copper, drilled more than 9,000 metres across the Kaoko Basin projects, with intercepts including 13 metres at 5.03% copper equivalent at hole OGW005 and 13 metres at 3.32% copper equivalent at hole OPR002.
Following completion of geological mapping across EPL 7081, announced on 8 September, Serval collected 114 surface grab samples, of which 68 were submitted to ALS Laboratories for multi-element geochemical analysis, covering quartz vein-hosted, stockwork, disseminated and fracture-fill copper mineralisation styles.
The samples included both supergene oxide and hypogene primary sulphide copper minerals, and the new Okamborombonga prospect sits in the Nosib Group, a rock unit not traditionally associated with copper mineralisation.
"This is an excellent set of results from our first systematic sampling campaign, whereby surface grab samples were collected quickly and cost-effectively during routine geological mapping," said chief executive Robin Birchall.
"It is encouraging that the samples have returned grades of this quality across multiple prospects and over a significant strike length, showing us signs of a large fertile mineralised system, rather than an isolated occurrence," he said.
Birchall said the results will directly inform target selection for the company's maiden drilling programme, which Serval has previously said it is targeting to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, with an initial mineral resource estimation targeted for 2027 subject to additional funding.
The company said the assay data will now be integrated with its existing geological, structural and geophysical datasets to prioritise and refine drill targets ahead of that programme.