Bezant (BZT), the copper-gold exploration and development company, has conditionally acquired Metrock Resources Ltd ("Metrock") and its manganese mineral exploration licences in Southern Botswana comprising the Kanye Manganese Project.

Consideration

The total consideration for Metrock will consist of an initial payment of 150,000,000 new shares in Bezant and a deferred consideration of £225,000 to be settled in new shares should an Indicated Resource be delineated.

Bezant will also issue 31,800,000 unlisted options exercisable at 0.40 pence per share up to 30 September 2024 and settle Metrock's creditors of £45,100.

Bezant will also acquire loans due by Metrock of £198,213 by issuing a further 84,597,407 new shares and paying approximately £14,900 in cash.

The new shares to be issued on completion of the acquisition represent approximately 6.26% of the enlarged share capital of Bezant Resources.

The Kanye Manganese Project

The Kanye Manganese Project comprises of a collection of nine prospecting licenses located in south-central Botswana south of the town of Jwaneng and west of the town of Kanye and 150 km by road from the capital Gaborone. 

Eight of the nine licenses are held by Cypress Sources Pty Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Coastal Resources Pty Ltd., which in turn is 100% owned by Metrock Resources Limited. 

The ninth licence is held by Coastal Minerals Pty Ltd which is 100% owned by Coastal Resources Pty Ltd.

The licenses cover a total area of 4,043 km2 in aggregate and provide the holder with the right to prospect for Metals.

Geological setting

The target for manganese mineralisation is manganiferous shale horizons located on the contact between the Taupone Group and the underlying Black Reef Formation. 

This geological setting is similar to that of the Giyani Metals Corp manganese occurrences on their Kwgakgwe Hill (K-Hill), Otse and Lobatse projects, which are located just a few kilometres off the Kanye property. 

K-Hill comprises a manganese-rich black shale formation within the lower Taupone Group containing an Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.24Mt @ 27.3% MnO at a cut-off grade of 8.9% MnO prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101. (As reported by Giyani Metals Corp. in April 2020). 

A full Feasibility Study is currently under way on this project, with completion due in H1 2021.

Previous exploration on the Kanye property has highlighted numerous manganese prospects, which have not been systematically explored. These include:

  • Moshaneng Borrow Pit where a number of grab samples assaying up to 71% MnO are reported from massive manganese mineralisation
  • Mheelo prospect, where reports mention that "pure manganese ore to a depth of 1.8m was intersected and the base of the mineralization was not reached". Historical channel samples on the Mheelo Prospect (located within PL129/2019) yielded grades of 53.1% to 74.2% MnO
  • Loltware Prospect, approximately 4km to the west of Mheelo where historical reports note manganese outcrop with sample assays up to 43.6% MnO
  • Lowe Prospect, comprised of chert that yielded historical manganese assay results up to 58.5% MnO; a local talc mine where six large bulldozed trenches are reported with historical sample assays up to 54% MnO

It is the Company's intention upon completion of the Acquisition to undertake a programme of systematic exploration including reconnaissance geological mapping and sampling, accompanied by geophysical overview to evaluate the licences.

Work will focus close to the Giyani Metals K-Hill deposit where most of the known manganese occurrences are located. This will be followed by detailed sampling, trenching and RC drilling to evaluate confirmed high-grade occurrences.

Prospecting Licences

Prospecting Licences are issued for three years with two options to renew, each period not exceeding two years.

The holder of a Prospecting License is entitled to enter onto any land to which its Prospecting License relates and may prospect thereon for the minerals to which the Prospecting License relates, drill bore holes, make excavations, erect camps and erect temporary buildings for machinery necessary for prospecting purposes. 

The Prospecting Licences are for metals and were issued for initial three-year terms and expire between 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2022.

 

Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of Bezant, commented: "Bezant has in the last year been focussing on Southern Africa and has made significant additions to its copper gold portfolio in both Zambia and Namibia. This growing presence in Southern Africa gave rise to the opportunity to acquire the Kanye Manganese Project in Botswana in an area where high grade battery manganese has been discovered which is much sought after for tomorrow's energy storage equation. 

“The underlying mineral licences represent exploration rights to a very large area of highly prospective manganese bearing ground. Botswana has an excellent reputation as a host for foreign mining investment and continues to be very supportive of mining initiatives. We are very excited with this opportunity, the project has clear evidence of manganese and immediate drill ready targets which we intend to pursue early in the New Year once the Acquisition has completed."

 

Shares in BZT have performed particularly strongly over the past three months, rising from 0.14p in October to trading up 2% to 0.245p following today’s news.

 

Reasons to Follow Bezant Resources 

Bezant is focused on building ‘significant value’ in projects from highly cost-effective work programmes. Following its work in delineating mineable reserves at our Mankayan project in the Philippines, it is now focused on gold-copper exploration and development activities. 

BZT has repositioned its portfolio as copper demand continues to surge. In 2020, it has ramped up its copper projects by acquiring Kalengwa in Zambia and the Hope project in Namibia.  

As a result, the Company is now ‘well positioned’ in the gold-copper space just as Copper prices jump well above pre-COVID-19 levels, with the commodity seeing its highest quarterly increase since mid-2009 as a result of resurgent sales in China with demand for copper forecast to double by 2030.