19 Aug 2010 11:34
Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc
("BMR" or "the Company")
Further re placing and acquisition of Kabwe tailings dumps
Further to the announcements made on 13 and 17 August 2010, Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc, an AIM listed company engaged in the reprocessing of tailings dumps at Kabwe in Zambia, announces that completion of the transaction to secure the rights to process the remaining tailings dumps at the Kabwe Mine in Zambia, as described in the Company's announcement of 1 June 2010, has been slightly delayed and is now likely to occur during the week commencing 23 August 2010.
The Company has also delayed the admission to trading on AIM of the 136,666,666 new ordinary shares to be issued pursuant to the placing referred to in the announcement of 13 August, as the placing is conditional on the Company securing the rights to process the tailings. The Company will not now be proceeding with the further placing announced on 17 August.
Further announcements will be made as required once the date for completion of the transaction and the placing is known.
Contacts:
Masoud Alikhani, Chairman, Berkeley Mineral Resources 020 7408 1181
Jonathan Wright, Seymour Pierce 020 7107 8000
Michael Padley / Gary Middleton, Lothbury Financial Services 020 7868 2010
Notes to editors
BMR is a minerals company with a primary strategy of investing in tailings processing. By accessing dump deposits with known grades and metallurgy, it avoids exploration or mining costs, has a secure licence and fixed environmental criteria, and can produce concentrates according to viability at current market prices.
The Kabwe deposits, located approximately 110km north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, were discovered in 1902. From 1906, Kabwe was a significant mine. By the time it closed in 1994, due to depletion of the massive sulphide mineralisation and lowered metal prices, it had produced about 1.8m tonnes of zinc, 800,000t of lead, 7,800t of vanadium pentoxide and lesser quantities of cadmium, silver and copper. After closure, most of the mine complex was sold off on a piecemeal basis. Berkeley's project is part of an overall plan to re-assemble the Kabwe site into a single entity operating under a single Large Scale Mining Licence.
The waste dumps at Kabwe cover an area of about 1km² and contain over 7m tons of various waste residues with an estimated combined metal content of 455,000t zinc and 368,500t lead.
BMR benefits from the existing infrastructure at Kabwe, including processing plant, good roads, water supply, ample power, local labour and direct on-site sidings connection to overseas markets via international railways to South Africa and to Indian Ocean ports.
For further information please see the Company's website at http://www.bmrplc.com
The directors of Berkeley Mineral Resources accept responsibility for this announcement.