Bezant Resources plc (LON:BZT) is positioning its Mankayan copper project in the Philippines for the next upward leg in the commodity cycle, according to Peter Bird, executive chairman.
The fundamentals for base metals are very encouraging and particularly for copper he believes, with global demand forecast to double by 2030.
READ: Bezant Resources reverts back to copper after strategic review
“History indicates that we are currently at that stage of the commodity cycle where large mining company executives have received the benefit of excessive cost cutting, in the form of increased profits, and now have their shareholders enquiring as to whether this is sustainable.
“Historically, this has led large mining companies to seek to acquire new projects which have a high geological confidence, but which have only been modestly evaluated from a financial and economic perspective.
“The Board firmly believes that the Mankayan Project is well positioned to be potentially developed into one of the world's next significant copper mining projects.”
Earlier this year, Bezant exited its Choco alluvial platinum operation in Colombia to concentrate on Mankayan’s development and also its Eureka acreage in Argentina.
Losses in 2017 were £4.63mln, of which £3.6mln were all of the costs related to Choco.
Since the year-end, the company has raised £600,000 in new funding.