30 August 2017
Bezant Resources Plc
("Bezant" or the "Company")
Gold-Platinum Sampling Programme at the HGE-082 Licence Area, Choco Project, Colombia
Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM quoted gold and platinum mining company, announces that gold- platinum sampling is now underway at the HGE-082 licence area located approximately 4km from its current mining operations at the Choco Project, Western Colombia.
As announced previously, the Company holds an option over the HGE-082 licence comprising 91 hectares versus the smaller, and significantly historically mined, 75 hectares of the FKJ-083 licence area which forms the current focus of mining operations. Bezant is interested, in aggregate, in over 2,600 licenced hectares covering the extensive gold-platinum placer fields in the Choco region, where platinum was first discovered in the 19th Century. The Company is focussed on bringing Colombian projects into production in accordance with local regulatory requirements and best international operational practices..
Following the recent commissioning of its first mining operations, the Company is now pursuing a low-cost expansion strategy, seeking to build a series of production plants for under US$500,000 in construction costs per plant, that can be rapidly deployed and fed with placer gravels. It is the objective of Bezant to develop a production expansion strategy based upon additional plants with positive cashflow and operating profit to generate a sustainable, margin at the group level.
An overview map of the Choco Project licence areas, currently owned and held under option, is available at: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2676P_-2017-8-30.pdf
Feasibility Testing
An exploration programme, sampling the HGE-082 licence area with respect to potential future mining, is ongoing with test pitting and sampling activities underway. Initial samples are currently being processed at the Company's laboratories at its central mining office for its Choco Project. The Company is not seeking to define delineated resources, but rather to test throughput suitability and placer spreads for future implementation of mining operations.
The Company further expects to be able to announce an update with respect to its first mining recovery operations on the FKJ-083 licence area, in the near term and the final results of the exploration sampling by Q4 2017.
Commenting today Bernard Olivier, CEO of Bezant, said:
"With commercial mining operations recently commenced, Bezant is now assessing the gold and platinum recovery potential for the other licence areas comprising the Choco Project. We look forward to updating the market on our current mining operations in the near term as well as the results of our exploration activities once completed and interpreted. The Company's objective is to build cashflow and develop a less capital-intensive gold and platinum recovery model, deploying flexible, small-scale plants on known Colombian placer beds. The Choco region of Colombia is one of the largest precious metals placer regions in the world and Bezant is believed to be the first company to employ modern mining operations in the area."
For further information, please contact:
Bezant Resources Plc Bernard Olivier Chief Executive Officer Laurence Read Executive Director / Communications Officer Strand Hanson Limited (Nomad) James Harris / Matthew Chandler / James Dance Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited (Broker) Lucy Williams / Duncan Vasey / Heena Karani Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker) Elliot Hance or visit http://www.bezantresources.com |
Tel: +61 40 894 8182 Tel: +44 (0)20 3289 9923 Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 3494 Tel: +44 (0)20 7469 0930 Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 8300 |
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
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