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Tailings processsing company Berkeley Mineral Resources (LSE:BMR) announced on Wednesday its continued verification and assessment work at the Kabwe mine in Zambia. BMR shares were trading 4.3% higher at 2.4p by mid-morning trading.
The announcement comes in connection with the pre-feasibility study being conducted on the resources at the project, washplant, slags, and leachplant.
Drilling
According to the statement, re-drilling of the slag sections of the mine stockpiles commenced today in order to collect data on the material contained within. The company is using percussion drills to obtain assayable samples.
Washplant Resources
After re-measuring the level of resources, the company announced an increase to 573,458 dry tonnes from their previous report of 503,189. The site contains lead and zinc, with the lead grade falling to 7.21% from a previously estimated 7.38% and the zinc grade increasing to 10.66% from 10.45%.
The resources were estimated by Mr. D R Young, a registered professional natural scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.
Leachplant Resources
The company announced that drilling of the remainder of the tailings in the central and southern Leachplant sections is proceeding.
Samples that have been extracted during the drilling process are being sent to the SGS assaying centre in South Africa for verification, says the company. Once the samples have all been collected, the final resource statement will be compiled by The Mineral Corporation, while the pre-feasibility study will be concluded by Metanza.
Company Spotlight
Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc is an AIM listed mineral processing company with an operational focus on Southern Africa, specifically in Zambia.
The company’s strategy is to process tailings at former mines, currently extracting zinc and lead from the tailings dumps in the famous Kabwe mine in Zambia.
The Kabwe mine was in operation from 1906 until 1994 and the tailings dumps still have a considerable amount of residual base metals.
There is also an environmental advantage to extracting the resources from these dumps, as removing these dumps will significantly reduce pollution problems that have existed in the region after 80 years of mining and producing wastes.
Further advantages for the company include an existing infrastructure of roads, power, and railways.
BMR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ng-wena Mining Resources under which it could acquire 76% of the copper tailings from the Roan Antelope mine at Luanshya in Zambia.
References
↑ Berkeley Mining Update
↑ BMR Overview
