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Bezant Resources to fight Mankayan decision

Published: 15:05 21 Feb 2017 GMT

Court case
The DENR has already revoked the contracts of some 25 mining companies in 2017

Bezant Resources plc (LON:BZT) has been formally notified that its Mankayan Project in the Philippines is deemed to be situated within a "watershed area".

This means the project is subject to possible cancellation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), unless, as requested by the authorities, Bezant’s associate, Crescent Mining and Development Corporation (CMDC), can demonstrate why it should not be.

The news does not come as a total surprise, as Bezant had effectively written off the project in its 2015/6 accounts, but CMDC will, in any case, be providing a response to the DENR.

"We are clearly disappointed by the DENR's notification with respect to the potential cancellation of CMDC's MPSA [Mineral Production Sharing Agreement] alongside the 74 other affected MPSAs,” said Ed Neal on, chairman of Bezant.

“We believe that the DENR has acted without appropriate authority and are further disappointed by The Philippine President Duterte's support of DENR's actions. We will be responding to the DENR request in due course, but will also take a longer term pragmatic view on the likelihood of a successful outcome, the potential to achieve a future sale or JV for the project and the costs involved in maintaining this non-core project given the current political environment in the Philippines,” Neal on said.

"To date, the company has returned more capital to shareholders (8p per share in May 2013) than has been spent, in aggregate, on the acquisition, exploration and development of the Mankayan Project, funded by the historic option consideration received from Gold Fields Netherlands Services BV. We will continue to focus our efforts on our Copper and Gold exploration project in Argentina and our promising Colombian Platinum and Gold development project," Neal on declared.

Shares in Bezant Resources fell 0.37p to 1.58p on the news.

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