Arc Minerals (AIM:ARCM) said an induced polarisation (IP) survey at its Virgo project in Botswana has extended the inferred contact between two key rock formations to 18 kilometres, more than four times the length previously mapped.
The AIM-listed explorer is targeting Tier 1 copper deposits in Africa, with Virgo sitting in the Zone 5 corridor of the Kalahari Copper Belt, adjacent to MMG's Khoemacau mining project.
The survey identified several high-priority chargeability and resistivity anomalies along the contact, which the company says straddles, within metres, two priority discoveries inside MMG's licence area, the Mawana Fold and Zone 9.
"The results of the geophysical programme exceeded our expectations," said chief executive Remy Welschinger, adding that the contact within licence PL135/2017 was "over four times longer than we originally expected in previous years".
3D Earth Exploration carried out the ground magnetic and IP survey as a follow-up to a 2024 campaign, extending the mapped contact by 14 kilometres to the east.
The work also flagged an area of structural complexity near the southern end of the Mawana Fold, which the company sees as a potential trap site for larger deposits.
Arc expects to finalise its drilling contractor imminently, with drilling due to start in early August.
The company will hold an investor presentation on the Virgo project on 30 July at 16:30 BST via Investor Meet Company.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Arc Minerals' induced polarisation survey at Virgo has extended the mapped geological contact between two rock formations to 18 km—more than four times the previously mapped extent—and identified multiple high-priority geophysical anomalies along it. The contact straddles discoveries within adjacent MMG licences, positioning Arc to test a substantially larger exploration target than originally scoped; drilling is due to start in early August, making this a material de-risking step ahead of the field test.
- MMG's Khoemacau project sits adjacent to Virgo; the extended contact now spans discoveries within MMG's own licence area (Mawana Fold, Zone 9), which may inform MMG's own exploration strategy or create partnership/acquisition interest in Arc's data and results.
For a junior explorer, a fourfold extension of a prospective contact with multiple anomalies is a material expansion of the drilling target and reduces the risk that the initial drill programme will miss the deposit entirely. However, Arc remains pre-resource and commodity-price-exposed; the investment case turns on whether drilling validates the geophysical signals and whether any discovery can be developed or sold.
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