Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BZT) remains confident of finding a partner for its Mankayan copper project in the Philippines even though the process is taking longer than anticipated.
Substantial effort has been put into improving Bezant’s understanding of the Mankayan project and marketing its potential in a very systematic manner, said Colin Bird, executive chairman.
“The Mankayan project has been well disseminated into the trade and investment arena,” he said, adding “its potential will be recognised as copper prices improve and mid-tier/major industry players renew their search for sizeable emerging copper projects."
In February, Bezant published a report on the options for developing the large copper project.
Options that proposed included a smaller scale lower cost sub-level caving operation and two larger block caving options.
Elsewhere, in Argentina, work is ongoing on environmental permits for the Eureka copper-gold project, which should be completed in the second quarter.
Bezant has also earmarked US$200,000 to assess whether to take up the option on the Buffalo project acquired last week. Losses in 2018 reduced to £1.2mln (£4.6mln).