Copper-Cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Developing the Potential
African Metals Corporation is a Canadian company focused on the discovery and development of significant high grade Copper and Cobalt deposits in the highly mineralised Katanga Copper Belt of the world renowned Africa Copper Belt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”).
The Democratic Republic of Congo 
The DRC is located in west-central Africa and is the third largest country in Africa, occupying approximately 2.3 million square kilometers. The capital of the country is Kinshasa, which is located in the west of the country, on the Congo River. The total population is approximately 65 million. The official language is French, although Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo and Tshiluba are also spoken.
The political situation in the DRC has improved significantly in recent years, and in 2006 the country held its first free elections in more than 40 years. Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of the Presidential election on November 15, 2006.
The economy of the DRC has historically been dominated by its resource sector. The copper belt region of the country, in the southern Province of Katanga, is renowned as one of the richest mineral regions of the world. Adverse political events led to a significant reduction in national output however, diamonds, copper and cobalt remain the principal foreign exchange earning exports for the country.
The economic conditions of the DRC are improving as a result of recent political stability in the country. Leading this economic growth is the mining sector, especially in Katanga Province, where African Metals has its operations.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are actively engaged in the DRC and are assisting in the development of coherent legislative and economic reforms. As part of this effort, in July 2002, the Government introduced a new mining code based on the Australian standard, which has significantly improved the investment climate for the mining industry and is encouraging renewed international investment.
In 2007 China agreed to invest more than US$5 billion in mining and infrastructure, predominately in rail, roads and other hard infrastructure.
African Metals Corporation’s Projects
 African Metals has an option to earn an 80% interest in 8 properties covering 682 square kilometers within the prolific Katanga Copper Belt in the southeastern part of the DRC. The Katanga copper belt contains numerous high grade copper, cobalt and zinc deposits. Together with the adjoining Zambian copper belt, this forms one of the greatest metallogenic provinces of the world, much of which remains unexplored.
A recent history of successful exploration has lead to several deposits being discovered and mined in addition to the major historical copper cobalt ore bodies including Kinsevere, Kalakundi and Tenke-Fungurume at 550mt @ 3.5% Cu and 0.3% Co and Kolwezi at 760mt @ 4.4% Cu. The Etoile mine lays some 20km to the west of AFR’s project and contains a respectable resource totaling 11.4mt of 5.97% copper and 0.95% cobalt.
The Project is underlain in part by the Roan Supergroup which contains more than 230 base metal occurrences within the copper belt. Three historical copper and one gold occurrence are known to exist on the AFR licences.
Recent Exploration Results
 The Company has defined four extensive copper-in-soil and copper and cobalt-in-soil anomalies of approximately 1,200 by 800 metre size and approximately 1,000 metre by 400 metre size respectively. Several other single point soil anomalies with cobalt of up to 0.03%Co and copper of up to 0.1%Cu were also identified and require follow up work. The anomalies have been interpreted as being hosted by sediments of the Roan Super Group which hosts numerous high grade copper, cobalt and zinc deposits.
Initial interpretation of Landsat imagery by AFR completed in late 2008 produced a total of 21 areas of interest or targets within the eight licences. The targets were based on a combination of interpreted geological and structural trends and geomorphological characteristics.
Subsequent extensive soil sampling programs in late 2007 and follow up infill sampling in late 2008 on the licences resulted in the delineation of two copper and manganese anomalies of approximately 1,200 by 800 metres and two copper and cobalt anomalies of approximately 1,000 by 400 metres within licences PR5144 and PR5145. Several other single point cobalt and copper anomalies were also identifed but require follow up work to define their potential size. The soil sampling has produced single samples showing up to 0.1 % Copper and 0.028 % Cobalt on lines approximately 200 metres apart.
 Initial field investigation of the anomalies confirmed the leached nature of the ground covered by the 2007 sampling and the development of a lateritic profile in considerably flat terrain. The flat terrain and leached environment are considered significant, as the low tenor of the broad copper and cobalt soil anomalies suggest they represent a dispersed halo masking subtle remnant mineralisation.
Infill soil sampling has further defined the extent of the anomalies on PR5144 and PR5145, and also highlighted up to six smaller scale anomalies in 3 of the other 6 licence areas.
Three of the Landsat interpreted target areas on PR5144 and PR5145 are coincident with three of the four large geochemical copper and cobalt in soil anomalies, possibly related to the intersection of Roan Group sediments with a deep seated northeast trending fault structure.
Two of the target areas on PR5146 are coincident with medium sized geochemical copper and cobalt in soil anomalies, probably related to outcropping Roan Group sediments and north plunging fold structures, with a north-northeast trending fault structure. The outcropping pyritic dolomitic siltstones of the Roan Formation and Roan Conglomerate in this licence have an approximate strike length of over a 4,000m.
A small artisanal mining operation extracting malachite copper mineralization was noted 2km west of licence PR5145 extracting ore using both mechanized and manual methods, with the pits extending to the southeast towards AFR’s licence boundary. Niton and laboratory analysis of rock samples collected from the workings returned values up to 20% copper.
The Company will now plan follow-up drilling of the anomalies during the next dry field season to test depth extensions to the known anomalies.
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