Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) has moved closer to its goal of production in 2017 - by starting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for its Mahab 4 and Maqail South deposits in Oman.
Lodging the EIA is an important milestone in developing the combined deposits, which lie in the Block 5 licence, as an integrated operation.
The document is expected to take around six months to prepare and then go through approvals.
The two projects host an indicated and inferred resource of 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) at 2.2% copper and high grade intercepts of up to 56.35 metres at 6.21% copper.
It also has gold potential meaning the firm could evolve into a mid-tier copper and gold producer in a relatively short time frame.
Chief executive David Archer said: "The tempo of our work is increasing and studies that will form the basis of our plans, such as metallurgical testwork and various baseline studies, are now underway.
"The higher grade nature of the two deposits makes them attractive for priority mine development to be followed by the development of other deposits such as those on Block 4.
"Following an intensive round of drilling over recent months, an updated mineral resource for both Maqail South and Mahab 4 will be released in Q4 2016, which will form an important part of our mining studies regarding a mine development targeted for late 2017."
The environmental reports are for an open-cut development at Maqail South and an underground development at the Mahab 4 deposit.