27  October 2023

Bezant Resources PLC

("Bezant Resources", "BZT" or "the Company")

Updated Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate

for the Hope and Gorob Copper Project, Namibia

Bezant Resources Plc ("Bezant Resources", "BZT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of an updated Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for the Hope and Gorob copper project situated within EPL 5796 ("the "Project") in Namibia, completed by independent consultants Addison Mining Services Ltd ("Addison" or "AMS"). Bezant Resources holds a 70% interest in the Project.

Highlights

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) has been completed by Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent consultancy based in the United Kingdom and is reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012). Resources are of Indicated and Inferred categories and include:

·    A Total Mineral Resource of 15 million tonnes gross at 1.2 % Cu for 190 thousand tonnes of Cu estimated across the Hope, Gorob Vendome and Anomaly deposits and comprising:

o  Total Indicated Resources of 1.24 million tonnes at 1.6% Cu and 0.4 g/t Au at the Hope deposit.

o  Total Inferred Resources of approximately 14 million tonnes at 1.2% Cu across the Hope, Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly deposits, including approximately 3 million tonnes at 1.7% Cu and 0.4 g/t Au at Hope.

·    The resource estimation has ignored gold content for all prospects other than the Hope target on the basis that many historic boreholes (pre-dating Bezant's involvement) were not assayed for gold and as such Addison could not include gold in the resource compilation.  Based on the Bezant drilling programme Addison concur that it would not be unreasonable to anticipate average grades of 0.2 to 0.4 g/t Au.  The Company are considering a programme to twin certain holes to give the independent consultant the data to include additional gold in the resource estimate.  

·    The MRE identified significant potential for open pit extraction with an open pit resource of 2.4 million tonnes and the potential, assuming favourable Cu grades from further drilling, of increasing the size of the practically open pittable resource for further 700,000 to 1 million tonnes postulating an open pit that could support five years mine life at an annual rate of 500,000 tonnes per year.

·    The MRE identified that deeper parts of the orebody had the potential to be mined underground, utilising a former concrete lined shaft with additional access from the base of the open pit.

·    Total tonnes of contained copper in Mineral Resource Estimate of approximately 190,000 tonnes. AMS postulate that this could be significantly increased by the drilling of untested areas where mineralization is projected and a drilling programme targeted toward increased gold credit, thereby increasing the overall copper equivalent grade.

·    Addison has noted that there is significant exploration potential with extensions to the existing open pit resources being extremely likely and only omitted from the Resource Estimate due to a historic low drill density that precludes conversion to a JORC Resource. Although there are no guarantees, extension drilling could result in further addition to the updated Mineral Resource.    

·    The metallurgical results from direct test work are currently in progress and as such Addison have not considered them during the MRE study. The Addsion MRE considers reasonably assumed metallurgical inputs from historic testwork and prior studies. Any new metallurgical testwork will inform future MRE updates and technical studies.

Colin Bird Chairman & CEO said: "We are very pleased with the outcome of our work over the last two years and we now have a JORC (2012) resource, which our consultant agrees is both capable of significant increase and equivalent copper value. 

Concurrent with the work on the resource study we have been very active on all aspects of the factors which goes toward building a mine.  We are confident that we now have sufficient information, resource modelling, financial modelling and environmental innovative approach to bring a small mine into production, whilst aggressively carrying out further exploration to increase the resource significantly. 

We thank Addison for a very detailed study and their work apart from producing the JORC (2012) estimate, has guided the Company in its approach to overall mine design as well as the proposed extension drilling programme."

Addison Mining Services has stated: "We have enjoyed working with Bezant on the Hope & Gorob project and producing the updated JORC (2012) estimate.  Our work has shown the project to have significant scope beyond the original independent estimate.  Management is well aware of what is necessary to add value both to the current mining study and also the greater exploration potential, including investigation of further gold credits and exploration of the underexplored overturned limb at Hope, which if successful may significantly increase the open pit mining inventory. We wish them well with their efforts."

Project Background

The Hope and Gorob mineral deposits are situated in the Namib Desert of Namibia within the Swakopmund District, Erongo Region. The capital of Namibia, Windhoek, is approximately 250 km northeast of the property and Walvis Bay is about 120 km northwest. The nearest town is Walvis Bay and is the main port city of Namibia. There is an international airport with daily flights to South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town) and several international chain hotels.

The Project location can be accessed by road either from Walvis Bay via gravel roads D1983 and D2186, or from Windhoek via highway M36 and connecting gravel road D2186.

The Hope and Gorob Project is situated within Exclusive Prospecting (EPL) 5796, a 243 km² license held by Hope and Gorob Mining (Pty) Ltd, a 70% subsidiary of Bezant Resources.

The Hope Copper-Gold Project is located on the southwestern most point of the Matchless Amphibolite Belt (MAB) and the deposit is characterised by surficial quaternary sand and gravel overlying the Swakop Group of the Damara Supergroup. In this area the Matchless Member consists of two main bands of amphibole-bearing schists, metagabbros, and intercalated metapelitic rocks of the Kuiseb Formation. The geology strikes east- north-east through the area, and to the west it has been deformed into a major asymmetrical syncline, known as the Hope Synform. This is over folded towards the southeast. Two distinct amphibolite layers of the southern limb appear to amalgamate on the northern limb, where they locally reach a combined thickness of 500 m.

The Hope and Gorob prospects have undergone numerous phases of exploration, undertaken by 8 or 9 companies within the project history dating back to the late 1800's and early 1900's. The project has seen multiple phases of drilling over its history. Drilling used in the MRE over all prospects is summarized as follows and presented in Figure 1.

·    28 Diamond Drillholes by Bezant Resources over 2,680 m (2020 and 2023)

·    118 Diamond Drillholes by Kuiseb Mining over 36,900 m (2006 to 2008)

·    78 Drillholes by JCI over 18,680 m (1973 to 1976)

·    26 Drillholes completed by SA Vendome over 5,470 m (1971 to 1973)

·    119 Open Hole Percussion drillholes completed by JCI (1971) over 5416 m were used by previous consultants for Resource Estimation. AMS consider this data unreliable due to grade smearing and cross sample contamination and have excluded them from the estimate.

Figure 1: Summary map of drilling and deposit areas.

No MRE has been completed by AMS for Anomaly East.

Mineral Resource Estimate

An update to the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Hope and Gorob Project has seen Mineral Resources estimated for in-situ mineralisation and reported in accordance with the JORC code (2012). Wireframe restricted block models were generated for the copper and gold mineralization at the Hope, Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly prospects. Gold was not estimated for all areas due to lack of assay data.

Resources are of the Inferred and Indicated category for Hope and Inferred for all other deposits and are set out in Table 1. Open pit Resources are reported at a 0.25% Cu% or CuEq% grade and 0.70% for Underground Resources. Due to the low number of Au assays at Vendome and Anomaly no Au content is reported, but maybe expected to be in the region of 0.2 to 0.4 g/t based on the data at Hope and Bezant and Kuiseb drilling. At Gorob increased gold grades may be realized by continued exploration due to the low number of Au assays.

Table 1: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for the Hope and Gorob  Project, Namibia. *Gross representing 100% estimated Resources - Bezant has a 70% interest in the Hope and Gorob Project

Notes relating to Mineral Resource Estimate:

1.    The independent Competent Person for the Mineral Resource Estimate, as defined by the JORC Code (2012 edition), is Mr. Richard Siddle, MSc, MAIG, of Addison Mining Services Ltd since November 2014. The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is 30^th of May 2023 and was signed on the 29^th of August 2023. Mr Siddle has completed a site visit between 27^th April and 28^th April 2023.

2.   No mineral reserve estimates have been undertaken. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured, however it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration and verification including infill drilling, further verification of legacy drillholes via twin drilling and metallurgical testing. Following further exploration it may be possible to convert some of the Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources.

3.    Copper Equivalent is based on assumed prices of US$9,000 per tonne Cu, US$1,800 per oz Au and US$20 per oz. recovery and selling factors (see below) were incorporated into the calculation of Cu Eq values. It is the Company's and Competent Persons' opinion that all the elements included in the metal equivalents calculation (copper, gold and silver) have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.

4.     Cu Eq% is calculated as Cu% + (Au×0.512)

5.     Cut off grades assume a Cu price of $9000 per tonne and Au price of $1800 per troy ounce at 85% and 90% payability respectively, a treatment charge of $183.35/t of Cu metal is also applied. Process recovery is assumed as 88% for Cu and 65% for Au. Operating costs are assumed as $14/t for processing and $1.5/t for G&A, $30 for underground mining and $2.5 to 3 for open pit mining. An additional allowance of $0.5 is made for ROM transport assuming a shared processing facility.

6.     Indicated and Inferred mineral resource categories set out in the table above at cut-off grades >0.25% CuEq/Cu for open pit and 0.7% CuEq/Cu for underground mining comply with the resource definitions as described in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The JORC Code, 2012 Edition. Prepared by: The Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia (JORC).

7.     Numbers are rounded to reflect the fact that an Estimate of Resources is being reported. Rounding of numbers may result in differences in calculated totals and averages. All tonnes are metric tonnes.

8.     Pit slopes were assumed as 45 degrees in overburden and fresh rock. No geotechnical studies have been completed to support this assumption and the requirement for shallower pit slopes may serve to materially reduce the open pit mineral resource.

9.     The absence of metallurgical results from direct test work currently underway in relation to Hope & Gorob are not incorporated in the report due to delays in receiving them from the laboratory. Their non-inclusion is not considered material for the purpose of reporting updated resources in accordance with JORC (2012).

10.  The Mineral Resource Estimate set out above are quoted gross with respect to the Project. Bezant Resources has 70% interest in the Project and accordingly the Net attributable to the Company is 70% of the quoted gross.

Description of Modelling and Estimation Techniques

The Mineral Resource Estimate was based on the wireframe interpretation of the mineralised units at each deposit. At the Hope project mineralisation occurs in a recumbent synform fold structure and consists of 4 mineralized horizons. True thickness is modelled as 1.5 m to approximately 8 m and typically around 5 m. The axial plane of the fold dips 35-40° towards the 340° (north-northwest), along strike to the northeast mineralization plunges by around 13°, extending from surface in the western most part of the deposit to around 450 m below the surface in the eastern most part. The strike length of the deposit is almost 2 km. The Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly deposits are more tabular in nature.

Mineralization at Gorob is hosted in two units dominated by quartz-schist and dipping approximately 38° to 320°(northwest). The lower unit is present only in the central part of the modelled area where the upper unit displays a lower degree of continuity. Mineralization ranges from surface and is interpreted to continue down dip for almost 900 m to a depth of approximately 550 m and approximately 850 m along strike. The mineralized units are modelled as having a true thickness of 1.5-8 m with mean thickness of 4 m.

Mineralization at Vendome is hosted in one unit dominated by quartz-schist and magnetite-quartzite and dipping approximately 40° to 340°(north-northwest). The unit bifurcates in the deeper southwest portion of the deposit. Mineralization ranges from surface and is interpreted to continue down dip for almost 700 m to a depth of approximately 500 m and approximately 500 m along strike. The are no drilling intercepts in the uppermost southwest quadrant of the model and mineralization here is extrapolated along strike and up dip. The mineralized units are modelled as having a true thickness of 1.5-8 m with mean thickness of 3.5 m.

Mineralization at Anomaly is hosted in sub vertical units with a strike to the northeast. The units bifurcate and join along its length varying between 2 and 3 distinct units. Mineralization is interpreted to extend from surface to approximately 270 m below the surface. Drilling has generally targeted the same level approximately 130 m from surface in the northeast half of the deposit, to the south a set of deeper drillholes test down to a depth of approximately 230 m. Mineralization is modelled as typically being 1.5 to 4 m thick, additional drilling in this deposit may significantly change its geological interpretation.

At all deposits patchy areas of oxidation are observed along fractures but no clear oxide-sulphide transition is observed. The amount of oxide material is expected to either not be material or it is expected that it might be amenable to floatation after sulphidation with sodium hydrosulphide and or ammonium sulphide, subject to further exploration and testwork.

The wireframe volumes were used to restrict the block models and the block models were rotated to fit the geometry of the deposits. Block sizes were selected with the aim of having a block size roughly 1/3 to 1/4 of drill spacing. The models were sub-blocked accordingly to preserve the domain boundaries.

Table 2: Block Model Parameters

Grades were estimated using Ordinary Kriging on a volume-by-volume basis, discretization was used to account for change of support. Cu was estimated for all deposits and Au in Hope only due to lack of data in other deposits. Kriging Neighbourhood parameters are presented in Table 3. Prior to estimation and geostatistical analysis data was composited to 2 m intervals, the minimum accepted composite length was 1 m, residual values were added to the last interval, length weighted averaging was used for grade values. At Anomaly 1 m composites with a minimum length of 0.5 m was used to aid in variogram analysis (due to the spatial distribution and number of data). No top capping was deemed necessary except at Vendome samples over 3% Cu were capped at 3% for 20% of the search distance and used their original value inside that distance.

Table 3: Kriging Neighbourhood parameters.

Models were validated by comparison of declustered and clustered statistics, histograms and visual inspection in cross section and 3D.

The amount of data and lower confidence in collar locations for Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly restricts the classification of these Resource to the Inferred Category. No topographic model was available and a low resolution 30 m cell size Digital Terrain Model is used to model elevation.

Areas in the Hope deposit which were informed by recent BZT drilling and Kuiseb drilling are considered for indicated resources. While risk and uncertainty still remain in those parts of the estimates largely informed by the Kuiseb drilling, the sampling has largely been systematic and continuity reasonably well demonstrated in areas covered by this same drilling. Two areas were considered for Indicated resources where the supporting data is considered of sufficient quality to allow for preliminary mine planning. Blocks informed by 2 or more drillholes and having a Kriging Standard error of <0.35 were classified as Indicated. Small, isolated volumes were removed, and 4th lowest mineralized horizon was also excluded due to less apparent continuity.

Exploration Potential

There is significant exploration potential on the Project with opportunities to add tonnes at all prospects and realize an improved Au credit across the Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly prospects which have seen little in the way of assaying for Au. Upside potential amenable to open pit mining is presented in Table 4. The numbers and ranges are conceptual in nature and may not be realized. Further discussion of the exploration potential follows.

At the Hope deposit the transition to the selected pit and underground mining much of the resource is informed by drilling completed by JCI, (Figure 1). This drilling was selective in its sampling, with sporadic sampling of the upper overturned limb of the plunging fold which hosts the mineralization. The dominant direction of drilling from south to north does not adequately test this upper limb and as a result, potential exists to expand the selected open pit under favourable stripping ratios by drilling from the north of the structure, twinning the JCI drillholes and systematically sampling the drill core. Approximately 3500 m of drilling is recommended and should results be favourable Cu grades may improve by approximately 0.1-0.3 % while increasing the size of the practically open pittable Resource to a range of 700 kt to 1 mt. Additional drilling targeting the overturned limb further down strike has the potential to add additional underground Resource tonnes by approximately 20% to 30% of the current underground Resource tonnes.

At Gorob, Vendome and Anomaly, the potential to add additional open pit tonnage is limited in the modelled areas, however along strike potential exists at all deposits. There has not been systematic sampling of Au, Anomaly has no gold assays, Vendome has only 16/273 assays for Au and Gorob 113/466. Clearly there is potential for additional gold credits in all deposits which may be expected to be in the region of 0.2 to 0.4 g/t with locally higher grades in excess of 1 g/t. Extension drilling also has potential realize to mineralized tonnes in the open pit and underground Resources.

Table 4: Exploration potential summary across all prospects.

Figure 2: Exploration potential at Hope

Comparison to Previous Mineral Resource Estimate

The previous Mineral Resource estimates for the Hope and Gorob Project were completed by Measured Group and dated October 2019 prior to Bezant Resources involvement in the project. All Mineral Resources were reported using a cut-off grade of 0.7% Cu. Over all deposits the Updated AMS models contain almost the same contained metal as the Measured Group models. However, between deposits there are significant differences in the contained Resource tonnage, metal and Cu grade (Table 5). Generally, the AMS models contain 1.4 times the tonnage and seven tenths of the Cu grade.

Reasons for the differences in the estimate are described as follows:

·    Drillholes with missing samples within the interval were ignored and in places the wireframes appear to cut across sections of drillholes with no sampling. No missing intervals have been inserted into the composite file.

·    Wireframe modelling appears to have focused on preserving the higher grades, the models pinch and swell and zig zag to avoid areas of lower grade between drillholes. In places extremely narrow sub-meter intervals, as thin as 30 cm are included in the model with no account for a minimum selective mining unit.

·    The composite file includes the open hole percussion drilling, where these drillholes display clear smearing down the hole and have been used for wireframing and block model interpolation. This results in enlarged volumes which are likely not present.

·    A Comparison of the composite mean and block model mean for the Hope deposit shows the composite mean was 1.83% Cu while the volume weighted mean of the block model was 2.05% Cu. Indicating over estimation, 47% of the tonnage in the model and 52% of the contained Cu is attributed to blocks which were informed by 1 drillhole. Only 6% of the tonnage in the model is informed by 3 drillholes. This is indicative of local conditional bias brought about by tight search neighbourhoods which do not span between drill fences, resulting in undersmoothing. Wireframe modelling appears to have biased the input data toward the higher grades and this is further compounded by the undersmoothing, preserving higher grade areas in an unrealistic fashion.

·    Similar problems were identified at the other deposits, particularly with respect to local conditional bias. The Gorob and Vendome deposits were modelled as one despite being ~1km apart and used drillhole data from both deposits stacked on top of each other.

Table 5: Comparison, Measured Group vs AMS MREs.

AMS models reported at 0.7% Cu cut-off over all material.

Technical Sign off

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Mr R. J. Siddle, MSc, MAIG Principal Resource Geologist for Addison Mining Services Ltd. Mr. Siddle is an independent Competent Person within the meaning of the JORC (2012) code and a Qualified Person under the AIM rules, having over 15 years' experience in the industry. Mr. Siddle has reviewed and verified the technical information that forms the basis of, and has been used in the preparation of, the Mineral Resource Estimate and this announcement, including analytical data, drilling logs, QC data, density measurements, and sampling. Mr. Siddle consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Siddle was assisted in the preparation of the estimate by Ms P. M. Mierzwa, Mr L. D. Harvey and Mr J. N. Hogg who worked under the direction of the Competent Person and are thanked for her involvement and contribution to the study.  

Glossary

For further information, please contact:

or visit https://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").

JORC 2012 Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections.)

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.)

Section 3 Estimation and Reporting of Mineral Resources

(Criteria listed in section 1, and where relevant in section 2, also apply to this section.)