Savannah Resources moves a step closer to Oman mining licences

Savannah Resources announced the issuance of letters of no objection from all eight ministries for both the Mahab 4 and Maqail South mining licence applications on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm is a 65% shareholder in the Omani company Al Fairuz Mining - the holder of the Block 5 exploration licence, which included those two high-grade copper deposits.

It said letters of approval or ‘no objection’ had been received from all eight ministries for the Maqail South and Mahab 4 Mining Licence applications, marking “excellent progress” towards the grant of mining licences for the first two of a planned series of high-grade copper mine developments in Oman.

Savannah said it would now seek to conclude the licensing process with the Public Authority of Mining for the issuance of the two licences.

“We are delighted that the Maqail South and Mahab 4 mine developments have each now obtained all eight ministerial sign-offs as we seek to conclude the mine licensing process with PAM” said Savannah CEO David Archer.

“In light of the very favourable copper price environment and strong interest from potential off-takers for high-quality copper concentrate, we are excited to be moving closer to being the first new copper mine development in Oman for a number of years and look forward to finalising the licensing process with PAM.”

Archer said that, alongside its licensing progress, the company had been participating in the government-sponsored Tanfeedh Labs sessions, which provided an “excellent opportunity” to bring together the stakeholders related to the mining industry in Oman and provide an industry sounding board for the proposed new mining law in Oman, which was moving towards adoption and was focussed on making Oman's mining environment more attractive to investors and supporting the development of the industry.

“This is something we are of course very supportive of as we believe it is an opportune time to be bringing two new mines on-stream in Oman.”