Arc Minerals Limited (LON:ARCM) is making good progress with metallurgical test work on oxide ore from the Kalaba copper and cobalt prospect in Zambia.
Commissioning of a commercial scale demonstration plant starts this month with batch processing to commence early in the New Year.
READ: Arc Minerals reveals significantly higher grade cobalt results from shallow drilling at Kalaba Cobalt-Copper Project oxide portion
Two potential leaching routes being assessed to optimise the process and significantly reduce operating costs.
Kalaba is on the Zamsort licence, which is 66% directly owned by Arc Minerals, while it also has a convertible loan note.
“There is now only one remaining minority interest in Zamsort, namely Kopara, and we have recently agreed with Kopara to jointly fund all future expenditure at Zamsort,” today’s statement said.
“Drilling to date has exceeded our expectations in terms of the size of the potential deposit and we have identified a significant copper/cobalt deposit with copper equivalent grades of approximately 0.60% copper equivalent and current metal prices," it added.
The four most recent holes have intersected elevated copper grades ranging from 0.50% to 1%, including 128 metres at 0.74% copper equivalent from the surface.
At Casa, a 3mln oz gold JORC resource in the DRC, several non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have been signed with interested third parties for a potential sale and/or joint venture, Arc said.
Losses for the six months to September were £1.17mln.
Arc raised £2mln in October through a placing at 4.5p.