Bezant Resources PLC Regulatory News (BZT)

13 Jul 2009 07:00

Bezant Resources Plc

("Bezant" or the "Company")

JORC Compliant Resource Upgrade,

 Mankayan Project, Philippines

Snowden independent JORC compliant Highlights:

Mineral Resource upgraded to 221.6 million tonnes Indicated and 36.2 million tonnes Inferred at a 0.4% copper cut-off:

New Indicated Resource of 2.42 billion pounds (1.1 million tonnes) of copper and 3.7 million ounces of gold: 

New Inferred Resource of 0.44 billion pounds (0.2 million tonnes) of copper and 0.6 million ounces of gold: 

Independent upgrade of total resource, reported by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Limited, in accordance with the 2004 JORC Code:

Bezant's 24 month drilling campaign has resulted in both a resource category upgrade and an overall resource increase from historical estimates of approximately 1 billion pounds of copper and 1.4 million ounces of gold

Historical resource estimate at time of acquisition of 166 million tonnes with 1.9 billion pounds of copper and 2.9 million ounces of gold

New resource estimation represents an approximate 52% copper content increase and a 48% gold resource increase:

Indicated Resource equal to approximately 86% of total resource. 

Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM listed gold and copper exploration and development company operating in the Philippines and Tanzania, today announces an upgrade of its JORC compliant mineral resource as set out in Table 1.

Table 1. Total Mankayan Mineral Resource as at July 2009 (0.4% Cu cut-off)

The independent technical report, dated July 2009, commissioned from Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd ("Snowden") of West Perth Australia, provides further confirmation of the Company's belief that its Mankayan Project represents a world-class copper and gold deposit. The upgraded resource estimate approximates to 2.9 billion pounds of copper and 4.3 million ounces of gold within the Indicated Mineral Resource at 221.6 million tonnes and the Inferred Resource at 36.2 million tonnes, respectively.

The new resource estimate follows the successful completion of the Company's drilling programme conducted over the last 24 months. The Snowden's Report confirms that the Bezant drilling programme has resulted in an upgrade of the initial non-JORC compliant resource to that of a JORC compliant Indicated Resource and significantly increased the size of the total resource. As announced on 15 June 2007 (at the time of the project's acquisition), the historical resource estimate was 166 million tonnes with 1.9 billion pounds of copper and 2.9 million ounces of gold. The new resource estimation therefore represents an approximate 1 billion pounds (52%) increase in the copper content and a 1.4 million ounces (48%) increase in the gold resource. The status of Indicated Resource now applies to approximately 86% of the total resource. The first step in the development of this resource estimation was reached on 21 July 2008 with the establishment of a JORC compliant Inferred Resource of 277 Mt, grading at 0.5% copper and 0.42 g/t gold. 

The JORC compliant mineral resource estimate was based upon the combined results of approximately 55,000 metres of diamond drilling conducted over 55 holes at the Mankayan Project. This independent technical audit was undertaken and completed by Snowden using the terms and guidelines of The Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code, 2004 edition).

Gerry Nealon, Executive Chairman, commented: "We are extremely pleased to announce this independent resource upgrade resulting from the very successful completion of our drilling programme, which we believe represents a significant increase in shareholder value. We have successfully completed all of the goals outlined at the time of the project's acquisition in June 2007 and have not only advanced the deposit to a JORC compliant Indicated Resource level, but have also increased both the copper and gold content by around 50% from historical estimates." 

Dr. Bernard Olivier has reviewed and approved the technical information contained within this press release in his capacity as a competent person, as required under the AIM rules. Dr. Olivier is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. 

For further information, please contact:

Gerry Nealon

Executive Chairman, Bezant Resources Plc

Tel: +61 41 754 1873

Bernard Olivier

Executive Director, Bezant Resources Plc

Tel: +61 40 894 8182

James Harris / Matthew Chandler

Strand Partners Limited

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Alastair Stratton / Anu Tayal

Matrix Corporate Capital LLP 

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3206 7000

Laurence Read / Beth Harris

Threadneedle Communications (UK)

Email: Laurence.Read@threadneedlepr.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7936 9696

Mob: +44 (0)7979 955 923

or visit http://www.bezantresources.com

Notes for editors:

Mankayan Copper and Gold Project, Philippines

The Mineral and Production Sharing Agreement covers a total of 534 hectares in the Guinaoang area of the Philippines (the "Mankayan Project").  This is located in the Mankayan-Lepanto mining district, an area of porphyry copper belts in the Philippines and is similar to several deposits that have already been developed, such as the St Thomas deposit near Baguio City.  The site is adjacent to the copper/gold mine owned and run by Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company.  The Mankayan-Lepanto area has been mined for centuries and is readily accessible by both road and air.  The Mankayan deposit was discovered in the early 1970s and since then has been extensively drilled, with four historical programmes being completed covering more than 45,000 metres of diamond drilling over 48 holes. From late 2007 to mid 2009 the Company completed a 9,778 metre drill programme over 9 holes along the full strike length of the deposit to expand and test the validity of the historical drilling results and to provide samples for density and metallurgical analysis. 

Glossary of technical terms: