Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BEZ) has announced new appointments to its board and issued a half-year report that said the period was one of consolidation and acquisition, with its focus shifting to Southern Africa.
The group is not yet at the revenue stage but the group’s executive chairman, Colin Bird, said the board “feels very confident with the underlying quality of our project portfolio in copper and gold since they are in metals which have short and mid-term strong potential”.
Operating expenses in the half-year declined to £261,000 from £388,000 in the same period of last year and the company ended the reporting period with roughly £413,000 in cash.
In a separate announcement, the copper-gold exploration and development company said Raju Samtani and Ed Slowey will be joining the board with immediate effect, as finance director and technical director, respectively.
Samtani currently serves as finance director of Tiger Royalties and Investments PLC.
Slowey has more than 40 years' experience in mineral exploration, mining and project management including working as a mine geologist at Europe's largest zinc mine in Navan, Ireland and was exploration manager for Rio Tinto in Ireland for more than a decade, which led to the discovery of the Cavanacaw gold deposit.
"We have announced in the last six months significant additions in Zambia and Namibia to the company's attractive portfolio of copper projects and more recently the commencement of exploration at the Hope Copper-Gold project in Namibia. Managing finance and geology are both areas of importance in the development of an exploration company with an expanding portfolio of projects. I am therefore very pleased to announce the appointments of Raju and Ed whose considerable experience in these two areas will be a valuable addition to the company,” chairman Colin Bird said in the statement.