30 November 2021

Bezant Resources Plc

("Bezant" or the "Company") 

Contracts signed for Hope drilling and studies for mining licence application

Bezant (AIM: BZT), the copper-gold exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has mobilised a drill rig to test several new airborne EM targets in the vicinity of the Hope and Gorob copper-gold deposits in Namibia and has commenced work in preparation for a mining licence application over the Hope-Gorob copper-gold project area.

Highlights:

·    A drill rig has been mobilised to undertake at least 2,000m of diamond drilling to test a number of new airborne EM conductors in the vicinity of the Hope and Gorob deposit cluster on the Matchless belt in Namibia

·    The drilling has the potential to add to the existing JORC (2012) - compliant mineral resource base

·   Bezant has also engaged consultants to undertake work on an updated scoping study and an environmental screening and baseline study covering the Hope-Gorob deposits, with the aim of preparing for a mining licence application before the expiry of the current exclusive prospecting licence in October 2022

·   The studies will cover such areas as geotechnical engineering, underground mine planning and scheduling and financial assessment, as well as groundwater, biodiversity and dust monitoring

·    Work has already commenced on data review/evaluation and environmental monitoring

Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of Bezant, commented:

"We consider Namibia a very supportive jurisdiction and we are doing all necessary to progress plans for a mining application at Hope-Gorob.

We are excited about the planned drilling programme - we have an already established resource and the geophysics suggests the potential to mirror that resource. A drill rig is on site and we look forward to reporting on progress as the programme advances."

Diamond Drilling Programme

Modelling of data from Bezant's helicopter-borne EM survey, covering about 3,000 line kms along a 130km strike extent of the Matchless Copper Belt, highlighted several highly prospective drill targets on EPL 5796 (refer to RNS dated 29 September 2021). The EM survey was designed to look for buried extensions of the Hope and Gorob-Vendome deposit cluster on EPL 5796, as well as testing the extensive underexplored potential through EPLs 7170 and 6605.

The drilling plan envisages completion of 8-10 holes on the identified targets on EPL 5796, commencing in late November and likely to continue into January 2022 after the Christmas break. The aim of the programme is to discover new copper-gold zones adjacent to the established deposits which have the potential to increase the mineral resources that will be available to a future mining operation.

Mining Licence Application

Bezant has initiated work in preparation for a mining licence application covering the Hope-Gorob copper-gold deposit cluster. The current exclusive prospecting licence covering the deposits will expire at the end of October 2022 and the Company has commenced studies that will be incorporated into a mining licence application to be submitted before the expiry of the exclusive prospecting licence. A contract has been signed with Practara (Pty) Limited, a boutique economic solutions consultancy firm of South Africa, for an update of the project scoping study for inclusion in the mining licence application and a further contract has been signed with Namisun Environmental Projects and Development of Namibia to undertake an environmental screening and initial baseline study on the area.

The updated scoping study will cover the following areas:

·    Data review and gap analysis of provided information in the data room

·    Review of Rock Engineering and Geotechnical constraints

·    Revision of the underground mining method, access approach and production scheduling

·    Update of OPEX and CAPEX Costing

·    Financial assessment

·    Combining all the above in completing a comprehensive Mine Works Programme (MWP) in support of a Mining Licence application

The environmental screening study will cover:

·    Groundwater and surface water

·    Biodiversity

·    Archaeology

·    On-site dust monitoring

·    On-site weather monitoring

Hope Copper-Gold Project Background Information

Project Area: The Hope Copper-Gold project comprises three exclusive prospecting licences, EPL 5796, EPL 7170 and EPL 6605, totalling approximately 1,053km², located in central Namibia approximately 100km to the south west of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.

Regional Geology and Mines: The area covered by the Hope Copper-Gold Project is characterised by superficial quaternary sand and gravel overlying the Swakop Group of the Damara Supergroup. The area is dominated by massive mica schists of the Kuiseb Formation of the Pan-African Damara Orogen. These lithologies host multiple high-grade copper-gold Besshi Type massive sulphide deposits, such as the historically mined Otjihase Copper deposit (>16Mt @ 2.2% Cu & 1.2g/t Au) to the northeast of the Hope property.

JORC Resource: The Hope Copper-Gold Project covers a significant portion of the highly prospective Matchless Copper Belt. The Bezant project area contains a series of copper deposits, of which three (Hope, Gorob-Vendome and Anomaly) make up a combined Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 10.2Mt @ 1.9% Cu and 0.3g/t Au at a 0.7% Cu cut-off, reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012), containing 192kt of Cu metal and 3,190kg of Au. Approximately 30% of the Mineral Resource tonnage is classified in the "Indicated" Mineral Resource category with the balance in the "Inferred" Mineral Resource category and the estimate was based on 339 drill holes for a total of 63,855 metres.

For further information, please contact:

or visit http://www.bezantresources.com 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").

Qualified Person:

Technical information in this announcement has been reviewed by Edward (Ed) Slowey, BSc, PGeo, technical director of Bezant Resources Plc . Mr Slowey is a graduate geologist with more than 40 years' relevant experience in mineral exploration and mining, a founder member of the Institute of Geologists of Ireland and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules.  Mr Slowey has reviewed and approved this announcement.

Glossary

A 'Mineral Resource' is a concentration or occurrence of solid material of economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such form, grade (or quality), and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade (or quality), continuity and other geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge, including sampling. Mineral Resources are sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories.

An 'Indicated Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit.

An 'Inferred Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes.

"Au"     Gold

"Cu"     Copper

"EPL"   Exclusive Prospecting Licence

"g/t"      grammes per tonne

"kt"       thousand tonnes

"Mt"     million tonnes