QMSD Mining Co Ltd
QMSD Mining Co Ltd (“QMSD”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Doha-based Qatar Mining (“QM”). QMSD was created solely for the purpose of mineral exploration in Sudan and is headquartered in Khartoum. The company started formal operations in Sudan in April 2013 primarily in Block 62, in Red Sea State, secured by way of a formal Concession Agreement with the Sudanese Ministry of Minerals. The additional block, contiguous to B62, block 62b was secured in July 2014. These blocks cover an area of 5,110 km2 (figure 1). QMSD maintains a permanent exploration camp in Block 62 (Figure 2).
Exploration work on Block 62 has been continuous since 2013. The first Exploration Year (April 2013 to March 2014) included remote sensing alteration and geological mapping, ground-based mapping and drainage sampling to generate targets. This work quickly focused on a geochemical copper and gold anomaly at Jebel Ohier (JO) (Figure 3). Significant hydrothermal alteration was identified in outcrop at JO, pointing to the presence of a major mineralizing system. Surface rocks at JO are completely obscured by desert varnish making geological interpretation difficult.