Bezant Resources (BZT ) has completed its acquisition of 100% of Metrock Resources and its mineral exploration licences in Southern Botswana, including the Kanye Manganese project.

The copper-gold exploration and development firm agreed to acquire Metrock in December 2020 for an initial consideration payable by the company at completion of £0.405m through the issue of 159 million Bezant shares at a deemed issue price of 0.27p per share.

The Kanye Manganese Project comprises a collection of nine prospecting licenses covering a total area of 4,043 km2 which is located 150 km by road from Botswana’s capital Gaborone.

At Kanye, previous exploration has highlighted numerous manganese prospects which have not been systematically explored. Bezant’s intention upon completion of the acquisition is to undertake a programme of systematic exploration including reconnaissance geological mapping and sampling, accompanied by geophysical overview to evaluate the licences.

The Group’s work will focus initially on PL 129/2019 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.

"We are excited regarding the completion of the acquisition of Metrock and its Kanye Manganese Project which is in an area which has clear evidence of high manganese grades suitable for use in battery metals,” commented Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of Bezant.

He highlighted that the Company has now commenced its plan for an initial exploration programme involving reconnaissance field work and trenching and drilling as appropriate.

Separately, and in regard to the Hope Copper-Gold project which Bezant acquired through its acquisition of Virgo Resources last year, the Group told investors that licence EPL 7170, which was under application at the time of the acquisition, has now been granted and is now registered in the name of its 80% owned subsidiary Hope Namibia Mineral Exploration.

“The acquisition of EPL 7170 is very exciting in that we now have a 130km tract in the Matchless Copper Belt which has not been explored and is highly prospective,” said Bird.

He detailed that the area will be helicopter flown by Bezant in the first half of this year to expedite target generation and hopefully expand its copper gold inventory in the area. 

Bezant outlined that the project area has good infrastructure and a history of successful mines owned by major mining companies. It also added that the survey would occur “at a time when the medium-term price outlook for Copper continues to increase with reports on scarcity of new projects and increasing demand due to the acceleration of EV global production."

Shares in Bezant Resources have increased by nearly 65% in value since the beginning of October 2020 and were trading 9.91% higher this morning at 0.255p following the news.

Reasons to Follow BZT

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.

Last month, BZT said that samples taken from the Hope Copper-Gold Project in Namibia confirmed the group’s assertion that gold should be present at the Gorob-Vendome deposit.

Bezant said the accompanying gold values in the Bezant holes support management’s belief that the gold content could be higher than previously reported in the Gorob-Vendome Inferred Mineral Resource estimate and therefore could add considerable value to the project.

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