Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BZT), the copper-gold exploration and development company, said exploration work has started at the Hope Copper-Gold Project, Namibia.
This first phase of work by Bezant will focus on exploration licence EPL5796 hosting the Hope and Gorob-Vendome massive sulphide deposits, part of a combined indicated and inferred mineral resource within three closely spaced deposits of 10.2mln tonnes @ 1.9% Cu (copper) and 0.3 grams per tonne (g/t) Au (gold) at a 0.7% Cu cut-off.
The aim is to drill test a geophysical anomaly immediately north of the Hope deposit and to drill confirmatory holes at Gorob-Vendome, primarily to establish the gold tenor at that deposit and thereby add significant value to the project resource. Previous drill core at this prospect was not checked for gold, Bezant noted.
A review by the company of previous natural source audio magneto-telluric (NSAMT) geophysics data at the Hope deposit indicates the presence of an untested, sub-parallel conductor a short distance to the north. This may suggest the presence of a hidden second or multiple shoot system over 3 kilometres (km) of the strike. Two or three diamond drill holes are planned to test this target, with further drilling to follow if mineralisation is confirmed.
The exploration company added that previous geophysical surveying and structural interpretation at Gorob had highlighted a possible continuation of the deposit to the northeast. It is planned to carry out a further ground electromagnetic (EM) survey here to better define the target prior to possible drill testing.
"The Namibian Copper/gold Hope and Gorob project represents an exciting acquisition in the right metals since we are very optimistic for the fortunes of copper for the immediate future and world general volatility should maintain gold prices. From our desktop work gold appears to be underestimated especially at Gorob and we will be testing for the presence of gold as one of our key missions,” revealed Colin Bird, the executive chairman of Bezant.
“The immediate area around Hope and Gorob deposits contains many anomalies and we will be doing reconnaissance drilling on those anomalies. We will also carry out geophysical EM to identify further extensions of both deposits. This work will precede geophysical test work over the 150km of extrapolated strike which has the potential to increase the overall size of our copper and gold holdings,” he added.