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Berkeley Mineral in talks over new Zambia acquisition
Berkeley Mineral Resources (LON:BMR) said today it is advanced discussions over a significant copper tailings acquisition in Zambia.
There were no other details other than extensive data already exists but Berkeley said the acquisition would require substantial new investment.
The Zambia-focused group also added it is advanced stage negotiations to acquire a licence to all of the residual underground ore bodies remaining at the closed Kabwe mine, together with the infrastructure.
The ore estimate is in excess of 22 million tonnes comprising 1.2 million tonnes of zinc, lead, silver, cadmium and other valuable minerals, BMR said.
The firm bought all of the outstanding above-ground stockpiles at the lead-zinc-silver tailings project in June for a total cash consideration of £6.6m.
Earlier this month, it revealed it would sell the washplant tailings without further processing due to the high cost of a dedicated washplant flotation plant and the need to remove the potentially polluting material from site as soon as possible.
The sales would also bring in “substantial regular cash flow” as well as speeding up the pre-feasibility study on plans for a leach plant at Kabwe. There was also an upgrade in measured resource to 573,458 dry tonnes from 503,189 previously.
Washplant sales are planned to start in the first quarter of 2012 and BMR is negotiations with potential off-take partners for the supply of zinc and lead concentrates.
Chairman Masoud Alikhani said: “The outlook for the company is positive. We have acquired the rights to above-ground stockpiles containing substantial amounts of metal. Entering production of our first long-life project at Kabwe, with cash generation scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2012, will transform BMR into a significant base metal supplier.”
For the year ended 30 June 2011, Berkeley posted a loss of £2.5 million before tax compared with a loss of £0.5 million for the prior year. Net assets at the year-end were £18.6 million (2010: £0.3 million).
Kabwe, formerly known as Broken Hill, is located 130 kilometres north of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.The mine occupies three square kilometres south of town. Discovered in 1902 Kabwe commenced operations two years later with the mine closing in 1994.