| Final Results for 30 June 2009 |
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Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM listed gold and copper exploration and development company operating in the Philippines and Tanzania, announces its audited final results for the year ended 30 June 2009.
Chairman's Statement
It is again with pleasure that I am able to report to our shareholders upon the further progress made by the Company during the last financial year. In particular, we successfully completed our two year exploration programme in respect of our Filipino Mineral and Production Sharing Agreement, that covers a total of 534 hectares in the Guinaoang area of Luzon in the northern Philippines (the “Mankayan Project”). During the reporting period, the Company completed the planned four remaining diamond drill holes, with average depths in the order of 1,000 metres per hole. Between late 2007 to mid 2009, the Company has therefore now completed a 9,778 metre drilling programme (comprising nine holes) along the full strike length of the deposit.
At the time of the project’s acquisition in July 2007, the historical drilling data indicated a non-JORC compliant resource in the order of 166 million tonnes, relating to 1.9 billion pounds of contained copper and 2.9 million ounces of gold. In July 2008, the Company announced the outcome of its digitisation of this historic data, with Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty. Limited (“Snowden”) independently confirming a JORC compliant Inferred Resource at a 0.4 per cent. copper cut-off of approximately 277.7 million tonnes grading at 0.50% copper and 0.42 g/t gold. This represented 3.06 billion pounds (1.39 million tonnes) of copper and 3.8 million ounces of gold within the Inferred Resource. In July of this year, following review of the exploration data obtained from our 9 hole drilling programme, Snowden provided the Company with a significant resource upgrade to 221.6 million tonnes Indicated and 36.2 million tonnes Inferred at a 0.4% copper cut-off. The upgraded Mineral Resource represents an Indicated Resource of 2.42 billion pounds (1.1 million tonnes) of copper and 3.7 million ounces of gold, along with an Inferred Resource of 0.44 billion pounds (0.2 million tonnes) of copper and 0.6 million ounces of gold. Our two year exploration programme has therefore resulted in a 1 billion pounds (52%) increase in the copper content and a 1.4 million ounces (48%) increase in the gold resource. The new Indicated Resource status now accounts for approximately 86% of the total resource (i.e. all categories).
Independent laboratory test work on core samples was also conducted by AMMTEC laboratories in Perth, Western Australia. The test work indicated that excellent copper and gold recoveries of around 94% and 74% respectively, could be anticipated. The high copper and gold recoveries are expected to produce a saleable concentrate with a grade in excess of 30% copper. The metallurgical test work also showed that all impurity elements were below penalty levels commonly quoted by smelters.
In October 2009, the Company extended its subsidiary’s (Asean Copper Investments Limited’s) option, originally granted in 2007, to acquire the remaining 60 per cent. of Crescent Mining Development Corporation for PHP2,000,000 (approximately US$40,000) for a further two years to
October 2011. The option is renewable on a biennial basis for a fee of approximately US$10,000, thereby affording the Company the opportunity to acquire the whole of the Mankayan Project at limited additional cost.
The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Anglo Tanzania Gold Limited, still maintains its 46 per cent. interest in the “Mkurumu Project” in Tanzania, with Anglo Gold Ashanti retaining a similar 46 per cent. stake and the remaining 8 per cent. being held by indigenous Tanzanian locals. An application was submitted to the relevant Tanzanian authorities to renew the Licence for the above Mkumuru Project Area in 2008 and although now approved, there was a considerable processing delay. The Board has reviewed the ongoing commercial viability of the Mkurumu Project and has decided to fully impair the carrying value of the investment in the financial statements for the year to 30 June 2009.
The Company has to date completed the acquisition of a 40 per cent. interest in certain other tenements in Tanzania via its two year earn-in arrangement with two local Tanzanian exploration companies, entered into in May 2008, which will ultimately enable the Company to progressively acquire up to a 50 per cent. interest in return for funding exploration expenditure of US$800,000 from May 2008 (capped at US$100,000 per quarter). The package consists of 9 prospective tenements together with Prospecting Licences covering, in aggregate, some 2,116 square kilometres, and an additional 3 applications for either new licences or renewals, covering approximately a further 455 square kilometres. First pass reconnaissance work to date, including satellite imagery and airborne geophysical surveys, has identified several drainage channels that contained free gold. Systematic heavy mineral drainage and rock sampling work is currently nearing completion at the tenements. The Board is currently reviewing these early exploration results with regards to ascertaining the potential for achieving an Inferred Resource, and I look forward to announcing further news in the first quarter of 2010.
As a consequence of our exploration activities during the period, the Company incurred a consolidated loss after tax (but before impaired investments expensed) for the financial year ended 30 June 2009 of £883,000. Impaired investments expensed for the financial year totalled £889,000.In closing, I would like to again state that the Company’s core “Mankayan Project” has firmed up a resource with the potential to generate a world class mine, especially when compared to its peers in the area throughout Luzon in the northern Philippines. These peers serve to clearly demonstrate the will, stability, port access and infrastructure that exists to support further potential major mining developments in the Philippines. I look forward to reporting upon the Company’s future plans for this flagship Project in the early part of next year. Gerard A. Nealon
Executive Chairman
23 November 2009
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