A special guest at Sedia Riverside Hotel - a large Chameleon. Just moments before this shot the Chameleon put on a great display of dining skills. The tongue can extend upto 1.5 times their body length and it is very accurate. For this dinner the Chameleon was dining on emerging termites that were starting to fly out of their holes in the ground. Ah, a feast fit for a Chameleon!
Arrive at Sedia Riverside Hotel in the comfort of their new luxury courtesy van. Advise them of your arrival time at Maun International Airport and you will be picked up and arrive at the hotel in 1st class style and comport. All aboard for Sedia Riverside Hotel - meet and greet never was so good - feel like a king or queen.Take a few moments and go on a mini safari with Afro Trek Safaris, Botswana:
It is late April and I am on a game drive with Alan and two friends from Italy - Gracia and Massimo. When we left Sedia Hotel at 7:00 am it was chilly. Approaching Moremi Game Reserve, we are just starting to warm up and thinking about some breakfast. Joe, are safari guide, starts to slow down our safari vehicle. For the next 10 minutes we have an extraordinary sighting of eighteen Wild Dogs - resting after a morning kill. Wild Dogs are seldom found in Reserves because they require such a large area within which to hunt.
It was a wonderful start to an exceptional day of game viewing. Elephants were plentiful, Joe found a pride of lions with three cubs - impala, kudo, girrafe, water buck and cape buffalo were spotted. We had a great lunch of chicken and tender beef roast, complete with salad and fruit for dessert. Seven or eight hippos provided the midday entertainment, complete with their occasional base booming sounds.
The day would not be complete without mentioning the birdlife - hornbills, egrets and a great white heron - who watched us eat most of our lunch. Vultures were in the trees around some kill we couldn't get to see. While looking at the lions Alan identified a Pels Owl call, which was unusual considering the time of day. All and all - quite an eyeful and earful.
' Tour d'Afrique' is on it's annual Cairo to Cape Town 12,000km bicycle tour. Over 50 tour riders and support crew were at Sedia for a two day rest. Their trip takes 95 days. The stopover gave them a chance to do a mokoro trip, go for a game flight or just relax around the pool and fill-up with some luxury - like cheese cake. Early Monday morning they were back on the road and heading for Windhoek, Namibia. Everyone looked strong and in great shape. Cape Town and the finish line is calling them. Good Luck to the Tour dAfrique group!
The rates at Sedia Riverside Hotel and Afro Trek Safaris are constantly reviewed taking in to consideration the declining value of the Botswana Pula against the US dollar, so that we always offer the best possible rates to our guests.
Below, we have described how the Mokoro Trails activity is arranged through the Community Trust that owns the concession area in which the trails are done and the rates the Trust charge locally based licensed safari operators , such as ourselves, for the Mokoro Trails activity. The Mokoro Trails activity forms a part of the Community Based Tourism Policy promoted by the Botswana Government in order to encourage rural communities to generate work and earn an income from the resources of the rural areas in which they live, namely the wilderness.
All drive-in Mokoro Trails from Maun are undertaken in the Okavango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust , known as the OKMCT. The OKMCT have outsourced the Mokoro Trail activity to various Safari Operators based in Maun who market the trails and provide transport for the transfers from Maun into the Mokoro Poling stations within the OKMCT Concession Area. The most popular poling Station being at Boro, which is used by virtually all safari operators from Maun.
Afro Trek Rates for the Mokoro Trails Activity, including transfer charges are :
2 Day / 1 Night Trail US $ 110 - 00 per person
3 Day / 2 Night Trail US $ 125 - 00 per person
1 Day Mokoro Trail US $ 90 - 00 per person
( Rates valid for a minimum of four or more persons.)
The OKMCT is totally autonomous in the management of the Mokoro Trails activity and have fixed the daily rates which safari operators are charged as follows :
Licensed Guide with Mokoro US $ 25 - 00 per day
Licensed Poler with Mokoro US $ 20 - 00 per day
Entrance Fee to Concession US $ 6 - 50 per day
These rates exclude transfer charges into the concession poling station, this transfer is provided and charged for by the Maun based safari operator, the transfer charge being added to the OKMCT fixed rates for the mekoro and entrance fees , by the Maun based safari operator.
For a group of say 10 doing a two day / one night mokoro trail , the charges by the OKMCT would be just under US $ 40 per person. Afro Trek transfer charges into the Mokoro Poling station in the concession area are about US$ 40 per person ( In and Out of the concession area ) and are included in our rates given above.
Since the Boro Poling station lies under 20 kms from Maun and, we feel this rate to be fair and reasonable and covers our transfer costs , ground crew costs , public liability insurance costs, administration costs and vehicle maintenance costs.
The Afro Trek Mokoro Trails depart from the Riverside Hotel campsite for the Boro or Ditshipi Poling Stations. For the Mokoro Trails Transfers we use customised Toyota Landcruisers with rear mounted game viewing seats with a trailer for the luggage.
We feel the above transparency in our rate structuring is important, so that our passengers know where their money is going and that it will encourage more people to participate in a Mokoro Trails and in so doing meet some of the Bayei Tribe who live in the OKMCT concession area and have a real eco-tourism experience at a fair rate. All our guides and drivers are from the region, two of them being from the Kopano Trust area so passengers are given a good insight into the culture and traditions of the people.
Jim Quirke, Kimmo Pentalla, Ambruse Blaine, John O'Kelly and Philip McBride - just doing it!
The rainy season is slowly drawing to a close. It is still 'wet and wonderful' on the outside and nice and dry inside. Standing next to the Terrace Pool Bar can give you much to look at - like this photo. Looking over the rooms and beyond the Conference Centre, we can see nature in all her beauty.Lioneses Resting With Carcass - Paradise Pools, Moremi
Elephant Enjoying Mud Bath
Early January brought some friends from Canada for a visit to Maun. One of the things we did was a mobile safari with Shylock Raborokwe, into Moremi Game Reserve. The video above shows a huge male elephant enjoying a very wet mudhole. We saw pleny of game - hippos, kudu, impala, wildabeasts, sable, dudiker, crocs, saddlebacked storks, spur winged geese, lions....
Moremi is very wet this year. Northern Botswana is having a heavy rainy season - most places already have over 300mm and some are over 400mm. With 6 to 8 weeks still to go for prime rain times, it could be well above our average rain fall of 460mm.
The Pink Caravan has made a December visit to Sedia Riverside Hotel with 2 buses of Swedish travellers. They are a group of adventurers and holiday makers. First they plan their activities - game flights and trips into the Okavango Delta. Then they make merry.With all the spirit of Christmas merrymakers they carry-on into the night - swimming, shooters, playing pool, singing and talking. There are at least 50 people in the group and everyone seems involved in the festivities. We wish them well on the remainder of their 5 country tour and hope they all have a Happy New Year!
Discovery Metals released the following statement and resumed trading today. ZP021
ASX & BSE: DML AIM: DME
SHARE PRICE: AUD$0.62 SHARES: 128.1M Market Cap: A$79.4M
ASX RELEASE
10th December 2007
Total Copper Resources increased by
46% to 46.1m tonnes at Maun Project, Botswana
Highlights
• New inferred resource at Plutus prospect of 14.5Mt @ 1.3% copper (Cu) and 13 g/t silver (Ag) at
a 0.6% Cu cut-off
• Total Inferred Mineral Resource for the Maun Copper Project has increased overall by 46% to
46.1 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, at a 0.6% Cu cut-off
• Plutus is open to the south-west and further extension drilling is planned
• During 2007 total Inferred Mineral Resources for the Maun Project have now been increased by
130% (from an initial 20 Mt @ 1.2% Cu)
Discovery Metals Limited (ASX/BSE:“DML”) (AIM:“DME”) announces a further 46% increase in the
Total Inferred Resource within the Company’s 100% owned Maun Copper Project in North-West
Botswana.
The latest increase follows the definition of an Inferred Mineral Resource of 14.5Mt @ 1.3% Cu and
12.6 g/t Ag, at a cut-off of 0.6% Cu, at the Plutus Prospect within the Maun Project (Figure One).
It means that during 2007, the total Inferred Mineral Resources for the Maun Project have now been
increased by 130% (from an initial 20 Mt @ 1.2% Cu).
Discovery Metals’ Managing Director, Mr Jeremy Read, said today that ongoing drilling on the Maun
Project was proving to be very successful with three Inferred Mineral Resources defined from five
prospects drilled during 2007. “Drilling is yielding a high conversion rate of prospects drilled to Inferred Mineral Resources status which is highly encouraging,” Mr Read said. “ Plutus is a shallow deposit and we would expect that a significant portion of the identified resource could be mined in an open pit,” he said.
“The Zeta prospect pre-feasibility study is now well underway, our regional exploration program is
being ramped up and with the significant growth in our resource base we are looking forward to an
exciting 2008,” Mr Read said.
For further information on this release and Discovery Metals generally, please contact:
Jeremy Read MANAGING DIRECTOR
Ph: +61 7 3218 0202 + Mb: +61 409 484 322
jeremy@discoverymetals.com.au
Nominated Advisor – RFC Corporate Finance Limited, Contact Jamie Wright Ph: +61 8 9480 2508
AIM Broker – Fox-Davies Capital, Contact Richard Hail Ph: +44 20 7936 5200
UK PR- Conduit PR, Contact Jane Stacey/Jos Simson Ph +44 (0) 20 7429 6606/ + 44(0) 7922 923 306
ASX & BSE: DML AIM: DME
SHARE PRICE: AUD$0.62 SHARES: 128.1M Market Cap: A$79.4M
Plutus Prospect Inferred Mineral Resource
Discovery retained the services of Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (“Snowden”) to perform an
estimation and report tonnage and grade of the copper-silver mineralisation located at the Plutus
Prospect. The Plutus Prospect occurs along strike to the north east of the previously reported Petra
Inferred Mineral resource and contains sedimentary exhalative style copper mineralisation.
The resource estimation completed by Snowden utilised the results from 21 diamond drill holes
drilled by Discovery Metals Limited and a further seven historical diamond drill holes and one
Discovery reverse circulation (RC) drill hole (Figure Two). The collection and validation of the drill
hole data was completed by Discovery with Snowden reviewing the quality assurance and quality
control (QA/QC) data for the Discovery drilling. Snowden did not view the drill hole logs but did
review the assay certificates and QA/QC data for the Discovery drilling. Although there was no
QA/QC data for the historical drilling, Snowden observed a close correlation between the Discovery
and historical drill hole data sets and therefore considered the historical data to be adequate for
defining an inferred mineral resource.
The Discovery drill holes were drilled on sections approximately 500m apart with typically two 70m
spaced drill holes per section. Six of the historical diamond holes occur on separate cross sections
with a Discovery drill hole.
Snowden produced a 3-dimensional mineralisation interpretation based upon the drill hole
intersections. The interpretation defined a planar zone of mineralisation sub-divided into two
domains. The footwall domain is defined by the eastern geological contact of the hangingwall
siltstones and shales with the footwall sandstones and the western hangingwall boundary defined by
a 0.6% Cu cut-off. The second domain consists of mineralisation extending from the 0.6% Cu cut-off
boundary to an upper boundary at a 0.1% Cu cut-off. Surface trenching has exposed outcropping
mineralisation and therefore the interpretation extends to the surface. The interpretation extends to a
depth of 200m. The strike length of the interpreted mineralisation is 7,000m and extends 200m north
and south of the last sections of drilling.
Ordinary kriging with top cutting was used to estimate the copper and silver grades into a 100 mN by
10 mE by 10m elevation block model using search and estimation parameters defined from the
variography (Figure Three). Short range copper and silver continuity is poor due to the wide spaced
nature of the drilling conducted over the area. A dry bulk density of 2.8t/m3 was applied as a
constant to report the tonnage.
A mineral resource of 14.5Mt @ 1.3% Cu and 13 g/t Ag, using a block cut-off grade of 0.6% Cu has
been reported for the Plutus Prospect and classified as Inferred in accordance with the guidelines of
the 2004 JORC code. The grade and tonnage values listed in Table One are an accumulation of
blocks above a given cut-off within a portion of the Plutus mineral resource block model defined by
criteria based on proximity to drill holes and confidence in estimation continuity.
A second round of drilling is being considered for Plutus in order to test the extension of the
mineralisation to the south west and to conduct infill drilling with the goal of improving the
classification of Plutus mineral resource to an Indicated category.
For further information on this release and Discovery Metals generally, please contact:
Jeremy Read MANAGING DIRECTOR
Ph: +61 7 3218 0202 + Mb: +61 409 484 322
jeremy@discoverymetals.com.au
Nominated Advisor – RFC Corporate Finance Limited, Contact Jamie Wright Ph: +61 8 9480 2508
AIM Broker – Fox-Davies Capital, Contact Richard Hail Ph: +44 20 7936 5200
UK PR- Conduit PR, Contact Jane Stacey/Jos Simson Ph +44 (0) 20 7429 6606/ + 44(0) 7922 923 306
ASX & BSE: DML AIM: DME
SHARE PRICE: AUD$0.62 SHARES: 128.1M Market Cap: A$79.4M
Table One – Plutus Inferred Mineral Resource
Cut-Off (%) Cu (%) Tonnes (Mt)
0.0 0.9 22.2
0.2 1.0 19.8
0.6 1.3 14.5
1.0 1.4 11.6
1.2 1.5 7.9
Further information on the Company is available on its website: www.discoverymetals.com.au
ZP033
ZP030
Drawn: RRM Drwg No.:
Prepared: JR Date: Dec 2007 FIGURE 3
Level 8,
410 Queen Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
Tel. +61 7 3218 0222
Fax +61 7 3218 0223 ABN 29 104 924 423
3D OBLIQUE LONG-SECTION
PLUTUS PROSPECT, MAUN COPPER PROJECT
0.6% - 1.0% Cu
<0.6% Cu
1.0% - 1.3% Cu
>1.3% Cu
N RT O H
Whatever your motivation - see the 'big 5', travel the Okavango Delta, bird watching, seeing the heart of Africa, going on safari or just a family trip - Moremi Game Reserve deserves serious consideration. It is one of the best game reserves for variety of habitats, undisturbed viewing of game and closeness to travel facilities. To do more research go to Google search and look for botswana, moremi_game_reserve, wildlife. I also have a couple of websites with Moremi Game Reserve information, photos, video and sound. Afro Trek Safaris, Botswana and botswana wildlife will give you good backgroud perspectives, Put yourself in the picture, get yourself on safari.
Guests from Windhoek had two very special days with Shylock Raborokgwe. On day 1 they went on a mokoro trip in the Okavango Delta and ended the day with a game flight. On day 2 Shylock took his guests on a day trip mobile safari in Moremi Game Reserve. They saw plenty of game - elephants, kudu, impala, hippo....
The highlight of the trip was a lion sighting. No only did the safari guests get some great photos, but there was enough time for Shylock to get a couple of photos of his own. Tautona is the name given the dominant male lion in a pride or area. I think that is what we are looking at in the picture. If I had been there, I would have been listening for the lion roar. For us, Shylock is the 'Tautona Safari Guide. '
Regardless, these guests had two days they will never forget. What a way to spend a weekend or two spare days in your busy schedule. Give it some thought - see the Okavango Delta by air, water and safari vehicle.
Go wild. Go to the wilderness. Go to Botswana! Find out why you should be in Botswana. Visit Botswana's Hot Spots. The Okavango Delta is one of the world's great inland waterways and wildlife rserves.
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