Bezant gets conditional option to acquire 50pc of Zambia's Buffalo project

Copper-gold exploration and development company Bezant Resources has entered into a binding memorandum of agreement with KPZ International, it announced on Tuesday, granting it a conditional option to acquire a 50% interest in small-scale copper mining licence 15164-HQ-SML in the Republic of Zambia, which contains the Buffalo exploration project.

The AIM-traded firm said under the terms of the agreement and as consideration for the 50% interest in Buffalo, Bezant was required to complete an initial assessment of the licence area at a cost of up to $0.2m by 1 February 2020.

Throughout the initial expenditure phase, Bezant said it would retain the right at its sole discretion to cease expenditure on the initial assessment and withdraw from the option, whereupon all other obligations under the agreement would be terminated.

All expenditure during the initial expenditure phase would be invested directly in the Buffalo Project, rather than being paid to the project's sponsors, Beant explained.

It said the Buffalo Project was located 300 kilometres north west of Lusaka, accessed via tarred road and then 150 kilometres of gravel and dirt road from Kasempa town.

The project was situated in the Central Zambian IOCG belt, which the firm said had long been recognised as being of “high potential”, but which remained underexplored compared to the more well-established Zambian Copper Belt.

Historic records of exploration and mining at the Buffalo Project existed from 1899, with a 6% copper zone reported by Rhodesia Congo Border Concession in the 1920's from pitting in siliceous, brecciated and hematitic siltstone.

Four diamond holes drilled in the 1960s by Chartered Exploration recorded a best intercept of 28m at 1.0% copper, including 6m at 1.87% copper.

Limited small scale mining was taking place in the project area on “obviously visible” ore outcrops, with Bexant saying that after extraction, the ore was hand-sorted to further upgrade the ore.

Composite grab sample collected from the ore zone by Bezant assayed 3.17% copper and 0.97 grams per tonne of gold.

A steeply-dipping mineralised zone had been traced over 80m along strike and continuing into the hillside, which was between 15m and 20m wide with a central high grade gossan zone between 3m and 5m across.

Application was being made for the licence to be extended to cover gold in addition to copper.

“We have decided to pursue our copper mission in Zambia as the country has excellent copper mining fundamentals and is known to have transparent mining legislation,” said Bezant executive chairman Colin Bird.

“The Buffalo Project is a well established concession, which has the benefit of good historic work more directed to small scale mining.

“The Central Zambian IOCG belt has significant exploration potential, but has always played a secondary role to the main copperbelt in Zambia to the north which has hosted many large, world-class underground copper mines.”

Bird said the company would commence its initial assessment on “clearly defined” veins, with apparent significant strike and the potential future opportunity to commence small-scale mining supplying ore to third party processing plants.

“I am most pleased to have negotiated this agreement and see the potential for achieving shareholder value enhancement in a stable jurisdiction with a long history of copper mining.”

Laurence Read, chief executive officer of Bezant, added that the agreement fit well with Bezant’s global copper mission.

“We intend to swiftly assess and analyse all potential copper development opportunities for the Buffalo Project with a view to maximising value creation for all of our stakeholders.”