Agreement signed to acquire Shuak copper property

RNS Number : 8624P

Central Asia Metals PLC

22 November 2016

 

22 November 2016

CENTRAL ASIA METALS PLC

("CAML" or the "Company")

Agreement signed to acquire Shuak copper property in Kazakhstan

Central Asia Metals plc (AIM: CAML) is pleased to announce that it has today signed a framework agreement at the third UK-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) to acquire an 80% effective interest in the subsoil use contract (SUC) for the Shuak copper exploration property in northern Kazakhstan.

Summary

·	Framework agreement signed to acquire SUC for Shuak copper exploration property in Kazakhstan from local company GRK-Aksu.
·	Agreement signed at the ICG, in the presence of Mr Yerlan Khairov, Vice Minister of Investments and Development, Republic of Kazakhstan and The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Minister of State for Trade and Investment of the UK.
·	Total consideration of $2 million to be invested by CAML in exploration activities.
·	Shuak extensively explored during Soviet period.
·	Pre-GKZ (State Commission on Mineral Reserves) resource of 327,000 tonnes of contained copper at a grade of 0.66% Cu.

The Shuak property

Shuak is a copper and gold exploration project in the Akmola Oblast region of north Kazakhstan, approximately 300 kilometres north of the capital city, Astana, and 40 kilometres north east of the regional centre, Stepnogorsk.

The licence area is 197km² and contains three target areas that warrant immediate and detailed exploration for copper and gold. The area hosts two mineralisation styles that are of particular interest to CAML. These are:

-	saprolite hosted oxide and enriched copper, gold and molybdenum mineralisation that may be amenable to copper production by solvent extraction - electro winning (SX-EW) processing, and;
-	copper, molybdenum and gold bearing dissemination and stockwork mineralisation of a porphyry nature.

In addition, there are widespread copper, gold, silver and molybdenum geochemical anomalies within the licence area.

The Shuak property was explored between 1973 and 1991, with historic work including geochemistry, geophysics, trenching and drilling at the site. During this time, over 45,000 metres of diamond holes were drilled and resource estimation to historic Soviet standards was undertaken. This demonstrated a pre-GKZ resource at Mongol V, CAML's priority copper oxide exploration target area, of c.49.5 million tonnes at a grade of 0.66% Cu for approximately 327,000 tonnes of contained copper in both C2 and P1 categories.

Around 8km² of metalliferous saprolite has been identified within the licence area, with thicknesses varying from minimal to in excess of 60m in depth. Most recently, former owners of the property undertook small scale mining at Mongol V and sampling of the stockpile generated from these mining activities demonstrated copper oxide grades in excess of 2% in several cases. Column leach testing of this saprolitic material at CAML's Kounrad facility has shown it to be amenable to processing by leaching with dilute sulphuric acid, with copper recoveries of over 90%.

2017 exploration programme

CAML intends to commence field-based exploration work, predominantly at Mongol V, in Q2 2017. During the 2017 exploration season, the Company plans to design an approximately 1,800 metre trenching programme and to undertake approximately 8,000 metres of drilling at Mongol V and other priority areas. CAML's 2017 exploration budget for Shuak is approximately US$1 million.

The framework agreement

Under the terms of the framework agreement, CAML will hold an effective 80% interest in Ken Shuak LLP, the Company which is to hold the Shuak SUC, with 20% effectively being held by local partners. The consideration for this acquisition is an investment in exploration activities of US$2 million over five years, subject to continued positive results from exploration activities and the general economic outlook for commodity prices. This agreement is conditional on the official transfer of the SUC by the Ministry for Investments and Development, Republic of Kazakhstan to Ken Shuak LLP.

Gavin Ferrar, Business Development Director, commented:

"We are delighted to have agreed terms to acquire a majority stake in Shuak, which we have identified as an attractive opportunity given its location and economic prospects. We believe the project can be rapidly appraised to ascertain its copper oxide resource potential. Given our success to date at Kounrad, our initial target would be to develop another similar SX-EW operation at Shuak. Longer term, we also plan to explore the primary copper porphyry target at depth.

"We have built our business around our successful copper production facilities at Kounrad and are very comfortable operating in Kazakhstan. We are pleased to have been able to extend our footprint in Kazakhstan with this acquisition, and to begin to progress the Shuak property."

For further information contact:

Central Asia Metals plc	Tel: [phone]
Gavin Ferrar, Business Development Director Nick Clarke, Executive Chairman Nigel Robinson, CFO Louise Wrathall, Investor Relations [e-mail]
Peel Hunt (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Matthew Armitt Ross Allister
Mirabaud Securities (Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Peter Krens
Bell Pottinger (PR Advisers)	Tel: [phone]
Lorna Cobbett Aarti Iyer Marianna Bowes

Qualified Person Statement: 

The technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Nick Clarke, CAML Executive Chairman, a qualified Chartered Engineer and member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (MIMMM), and agrees to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears. It should be noted that the references to historic resources prepared to Soviet C2 and P1 standards are not in accordance with an AIM approved standard.

Note to editors: 

Central Asia Metals, an AIM-listed UK company based in London, owns 100% of the Kounrad SX-EW copper project in Kazakhstan. The Company also has a 75% equity interest in Copper Bay Ltd, which is a private company conducting a definitive feasibility study at its copper project in Chañaral Bay, Chile. For further information, please visit www.centralasiametals.com.  

 

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