Bezant Resources (AIM:BZT) has said due diligence regarding the proposed acquisition of Virgo Resources and its interest in the Hope gold copper project in Namibia is progressing.
The copper-gold exploration group, which reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Virgo Resources last month, has set out technical aspects of the project, including historical data.
The ongoing technical review has identified the project as a high-grade copper-gold volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) project located in Namibia, a mining friendly jurisdiction, it said.
The project area contains a combined Mineral Resource of 10.2Mt at 1.9% copper and 0.3g/t of gold at a 0.7% copper cut-off, reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012).
Due to the fact that many of the historic drill holes were not assayed for gold, the overall gold grade in the current mineral resources of 0.3g/t is interpreted as significantly underestimated.
"This is an exciting potential project for the Company and the more we dig into the archives, it becomes evident that resources quoted were the subject of extensive drilling programmes which gives us added confidence,” said Colin Bird, Executive Chairman of Bezant.
Shares in Bezant Resources opened flat at 0.12p on Wednesday morning.
The combined Mineral Resource is derived from 3 deposits, the Hope deposit, which includes the Hope extension, Gorob-Vendome and Anomaly.
The Hope Deposit portion of the Mineral Resource Estimate was found to have the highest gold grade at 0.84g/t but also has most of historic drill holes that have been assayed for gold from the youngest drill program back in 2009.
Conversely, most of the drilling at the Gorob-Vendome deposit originate from older drill programs in late 70's and early 80's, and were not assayed for gold.
The lack of gold grade information from the copper mineralised intersections within the drill holes at the Gorob-Vendome Deposit is interpreted to have resulted in the gold grade of the deposit portion of the Mineral Resource Estimate being much lower at 0.04g/t Au.
A rockchip survey was completed on the outcropping extent of the Gorob-Vendome mineralisation to show 0.1 - 6.8g/t gold grades in association with the copper mineralisation.
The results are similar to that found at the Hope Deposit and therefore, it is interpreted that the gold grade of the current JORC (2012) Mineral Resource is a significant underestimate.
The group said drill plans have been formulated to address the underestimation in gold grade.
“We intend to re-evaluate the gold contribution and drill as soon as possible further holes at Gorob-Vendome to test for gold where previous statements suggest that there is either none or very little.
In essence, the project represents the opportunity for revaluation but more importantly gives the scope for further discovery of similar type mineralisation as the tenure contains 150km not yet tested,” added Bird.
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