Shuka Minerals drilling contractor appointed at Kabwe drilling
Shuka Minerals Plc, an African focused mine operator and developer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ox Drilling Limited as the drilling contractor for the Phase 1 drilling programme at the Kabwe Zinc Mine via its Zambian operating subsidiary, Leopard Exploration and Mining Limited. The Ox-operated drilling campaign is scheduled to commence in mid-May 2026 and will be supported by the Company’s geological consultants GeoQuest Limited.
The Phase 1 c.2,000m diamond drilling programme will consist of PQ and HQ sized core targeting known mineralised zones around and beneath the previous workings at vertical depths ranging from 100-500m. The results from this first phase of drilling, coupled with ongoing exploration, which includes airborne and ground magnetics as well as surface sampling and mapping, will enable the Company to finalise the locations for the balance of the broader 10,000m Phase 2 programme and subsequent JORC resource and reserves upgrade later in 2026.
This is the first resource drilling being undertaken at Kabwe since the 1970s. As previously reported, the Company’s objective for its 2026 exploration programme is to achieve a 50% increase to the existing resource of 6.8Mt @13.3% Zinc and 3.3% Lead with an estimated in-situ value of US$4 billion (Behre Dolbear NI 43-101 2023). The current programme is also designed to better understand the Silver, Vanadium, Germanium and Gallium at Kabwe concentrations and metallurgy as a by-product of the Zinc and Lead production.
