Significantly higher grades of silver, copper, lead and zinc have been confirmed at Vast Resources PLC’s (LON:VAST) Faneata tailings dam in Romania.
The upgrade follows initial drilling work at the asset, which is located near the company’s Baita Plai polymetallic mine.
Results show a 24% rise in the average value of silver to 9.15 grams per tonne (g/t).
Copper saw a 12% increase to 0.10%; lead an 84% increase to 0.12%; and zinc a 14% increase to 0.16%.
Vast said the best results were: 1.5 metres (m) at 25 g/t silver, 0.56% copper, 2.67% lead and 1.56% zinc; 1.5m a 30 g/t silver, 0.37% copper, 0.87% lead and 0.45% zinc.
Further metallurgical test work will be undertaken to determine optimum processing routes to recover the contained metals and support completion of a feasibility study planned for the second half of the year.
“A feasibility study, based on the JORC resource and associated metallurgical test work, will set the parameters for developing Faneata into a new revenue stream for the company, bolstering on-going production at the company's Manaila polymetallic mine in Romania and Pickstone-Peerless gold mine in Zimbabwe,” said Roy Pitchford, chief executive of Vast.
"With 40 years' worth of prospective material collected from the high grade Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine, Faneata represents a near-term, low-cost, revenue generative development opportunity,” Pitchford added.
The company’s intention is to use its existing plant and equipment at Baita Plai to recover metals from the tailings dam.
“These results not only strengthen our confidence in Faneata's commercial potential but also give validation to our development strategy, whereby enhanced processing technologies are used to realise the value potential of an asset, and in this case, establish Faneata as a stand-alone mining operation,” Pitchford said.
Broker SP Angel said the recent drilling at Faneata suggests that Vast Resources expects to upgrade the historic resource when it completes the new estimation study later this month.
“Although the average of the new assay results suggests that reported grades may be higher, we would not necessarily expect the increase to be in proportion to the increased average for the assays,” the broker cautioned.
“Of greater significance, in our view, will be the results of the metallurgical testing which will give a guide to the levels of recovery which can be expected from the re-treating of the Faneata tailings,” the broker added.
Vast shares were up 2.4% at 0.624p in a falling market on Monday morning.