Mankayan Project

RNS Number : 3276U

Bezant Resources PLC

23 June 2009

 

Bezant Resources Plc

('Bezant' or the 'Company')

Final Drilling Results at the 

Mankayan Project, Philippines

Highlights:

• A total of 629m copper-gold porphyry intersected in drill hole BC-56. 

• 156m of higher-grade intersections in BC-56 with average copper grades of 0.64%, average gold grades of 0.65 g/t and average silver grades of 1.50 g/t. 

• BC-56 has extended the previous undefined north western boundary of the deposit. 

• Completion of 11,000m Mankayan drilling programme.

Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM listed gold and copper exploration and development company operating in the Philippines and Tanzania, today announces assay results for the final three completed diamond drill holes (BC-56, BC-57 and BC-58) at its Mankayan Project, located 260km north of Manila in the Philippines. 

BC-56 was drilled to a vertical depth of 1,100m. Assay results have been returned for a total of 629m of mineralised core for the interval 471m to 1,100m, with the average assay results for the entire 629m of intersections being as follows:

Interval (m)	Cu (%)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)
471 - 1,100	0.40	0.44	1.05

The hole, BC-56, is located in the previously undefined and open north-western part of the deposit. The significant mineralisation intersections in the hole therefore extend and further delineate the north-western boundary of the deposit.  Highlighted intersections shown in Table 1 below, comprise 156m of composite intersections with weighted average grades of 0.64% Cu, 0.65 g/t Au and 1.50 g/t Ag. 

The Company also completed the drilling of two resource estimation related inclined holes (BC-57 and BC-58) within the previously defined low-grade (<0.3% Cu) early or syn-mineral hornblende quartz diorite porphyry (QDP) and the intra-mineral quartz diorite porphyry (IQD). The holes served to further define the extent of the low-grade area. Despite this low-grade area being excluded from the resource estimations, it still contains the following intersections:

Hole ID	Interval (m)	Cu (%)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)
BC-57	174 - 489	0.29	0.49	1.35
BC-58	318 - 543	0.32	0.38	0.79

Gerry Nealon, Executive Chairman, today commented:

'It is a pleasure to announce the completion of the current exploration programme at our Mankayan deposit, comprising approximately 11,000 metres of diamond core drilling over the last eighteen months. The enlarged drilling and geotechnical database has now been submitted to the Snowden Group for their final independent verification. We look forward to updating the market with their revised resource estimation, which will also further delineate the encouraging higher grade zone within the deposit. We are optimistic in receiving this independent report within the course of the next few weeks'. 

To view the full Table 1: Highlighted Intersections within hole BC-56, paste the following link into your web browser:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3276U_-2009-6-23.pdf

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

For further information, please contact:

Gerry Nealon

Executive Chairman, Bezant Resources Plc

Tel: [phone]

Bernard Olivier

Executive Director, Bezant Resources Plc

Tel: [phone]

James Harris / Matthew Chandler

Strand Partners Limited

Tel: [phone]

Laurence Read / Beth Harris

Threadneedle Communications (UK)

Email: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

Mob: [phone]

or visit http://www.bezantresources.com

Notes for editors:

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, with the Mankayan-Lepanto area having been mined for centuries and being 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.  Last year, the Company announced an independent JORC compliant Inferred Resource, reported by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Limited, of 277.7 million tonnes grading at 0.50% copper and 0.42 g/t gold. The independent Resource estimate serves to support the Company's belief that its Mankayan Project represents a world-class copper and gold deposit, containing approximately 3.06 billion pounds (1.39 million tonnes) of copper and 3.8 million ounces of gold.

 

END

 

 

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