Tajikistan Update

Vast Resources PLC

19 October 2023

 

Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

19 October 2023

Vast Resources plc

('Vast' or the 'Company')

Tajikistan Update:

Start of first shipment of lead and zinc at Takob Processing Plant

MoU regarding Aprelevka Gold Mines

Vast Resources plc ("Vast"), the AIM-listed mining company, is pleased to announce an update on the Company's activities in Tajikistan.

Takob Processing Project

Loading of the first shipment of 136 Dry Metric tonnes of lead and zinc concentrate has commenced for delivery to our off-taker Trafigura. This is a significant milestone for the project as the Company completed all the necessary logistics for shipments of concentrate out of Tajikistan.  Now that the logistics are in place the Company envisages that there will be regular shipments in the future.

MoU with Central Asian Minerals and Resources (CAMR)

The Company has signed on behalf of Bay Square Pacific Ltd (Bay Square), a company incorporated in Mauritius and owned by an existing strategic partner of the Company in Tajikistan as referred to in the Company RNS of 15 August 2022, a legally binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CAMR,  a company incorporated in the Isle of Man under which Bay Square will acquire the entire share capital of Gulf International Minerals Ltd (Gulf), a company incorporated in the United Kingdom.  The completion of the purchase is understood not to be dependent on any government approval in Tajikistan and is conditional only on the completion of satisfactory due diligence to be completed by 30 November 2023 or such later date as is agreed to be undertaken/supervised by Vast on behalf of Bay Square. 

Gulf, which at completion will have no liabilities, has a 49% interest in a joint venture with the Government of Tajikistan (holding 51%) which owns the Joint Tajik-Canadian Limited Liability Company Aprelevka (Aprelevka).  Under the joint venture agreement, Gulf has the right to exercise management over Aprelevka.

Aprelevka holds four active mining licences located along the Tien Shan Belt that extends through Central Asia, currently producing approximately 11,600oz of gold and 116,000 oz of silver per year.  It is the intention of the Company to assist in increasing Aprelevka's production from these four mines closer to the historical peak production rates of approximately 27,000oz of gold and 250,000oz of silver per year from the operational mines.

Two additional mines have been explored, and eight further licenced mining areas that are currently being prospected have shown positive results. 

The budget required to carry out the present intended development at the mines which, under the agreement between Vast and Bay Square, will be funded by Bay Square under an interest free loan repayable in priority to any dividends being paid by Aprelevka.

Vast has been requested by Bay Square to carry out, at the cost of Bay Square, due diligence on Gulf and on Aprelevka; to negotiate the acquisition of Gulf; and post completion to manage the mining and development activities of Aprelevka for a 5-year period.  In consideration, Vast will be entitled to a 10% share of the earnings before interest, tax and depreciation that Gulf receives from its 49% interest in Aprelevka.  Vast will also have the right at any time from 1 January 2025 until the end of the 5-year management period (i) to convert its earnings share entitlement into a 10% equity interest in Gulf and (ii) to acquire up to 20% of the share capital of Gulf at market value at the time of acquisition, market value to be determined by the auditors in default of an agreement between the parties.

Andrew Prelea, Chief Executive Officer at Vast Resources PLC, commented:

"We are delighted at the progress we have made in Tajikistan, both in terms of the work carried out by our team on the ground who have worked tirelessly to ensure that all the logistics are in place in preparation of our first shipment to Trafigura, as well as the MOU with Central Asia Minerals and Resources. 

"Our success in country and our collaborative approach to operating the Takob processing facility was key in securing the MOU with CAMR and demonstrates the Board's ability to increase our earnings and enhance shareholder value, whilst establishing ourselves further in Tajikistan."

Further information on Aprelevka

Two Canadian CIM-compliant NI 43-101 reports have been published on the Aprelevka assets; a 2003 Technical Report, and a Competent Person's Report produced in 2011 to support the Admission Document of another company that previously held an interest in Aprelevka.  Both reports are now considered substantially out-of-date in terms of mineral resources given production since those reports were released.

The operator undertook further prospecting and exploration between 2019-2022.

The new results shown below are NAEN code-compliant (but are not JORC compliant) from 2019 to 2022 and are in accordance with the Tajikistan Mineral Resource legalisation (source: Exploration and Prospecting Report Gulf). The Company will be engaging technical consultants to provide independent due diligence. In the meantime, the figures set out below should be viewed with caution and as background information only.

New Resources Existing Mines non JORC compliant
C1+C1+C2+P1+Dashti P2
	Total
	Ore	Gold grammes	Gold Oz	Silver grammes		Silver Oz
Aprelevka	4,719,294	12,346,506	397,633	196,856,000		6,339,968
Burgunda
Ikkizhelon
Kizil-Cheku
New Resources Existing Licences non JORC compliant
C2+P1+P2
	Total
	Ore	Gold grammes	Gold Oz	Silver grammes		Silver Oz
Kushmullo	4,853,879	10,224,838	329,302	88,406,000		2,847,214
Tashkeseken I-II
Taganasov
Okkur
New Resources Existing Prospecting Licences non JORC compliant
P1+P2
	Total
	Ore	Gold grammes	Gold Oz	Silver grammes		Silver Oz
Dashti	25,766,200	34,300,800	1,106,477	187,388,000		6,044,774
Bogishamol
Kyshalisoy
Tutli IV
Oshoba
Combined Total of Existing Resources, Exploration and Prospecting Licences Non JORC Compliant
Thousand t	35,339.419	t	35,339,419	t	35,339,419	Ore Tonnes
kgs	56,872.144	g	56,872,144	Oz	1,834,585	Au
tonnes	794.206	g	794,206,000	Oz	25,619,548	Ag

A December 2020 corporate presentation by a previous operator suggested that there may be the potential for a sizeable increase in gold mineralization.

The table below shows historical production by JTC LLC "Aprelevka" Bahori since 2011. 

2011-2022 Ore extraction Production figures. Please not the first C1 reference refers to the reserve category and the second С1заб & С2заб reference refers to the resource category under the NAEN Code.

*Sourced from  from JTC LLC "Aprelevka" Bahori

No.	Year	NAEN	Ore extracted	Metal
		Inventory category	tonnes	Gold, Oz	Silver, Oz
1	2011	В+С1	121,080	24,140	133,811
2	2012	В+С1+С2	121,271	17,755	168,406
3	2013	В+С1+С2	100,260	27,444	202,646
4	2014	В+С1+С2	94,465	20,462	258,299
5	2015	В+С1+С2	107,553	23,189	253,541
6	2016	В+С1+С2	141,616	21,441	206,022
7	2017	В+С1+С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	125,554	22,244	218,754
8	2018	В+С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	123,738	18,253	209,816
9	2019	В+ С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	94,772	13,615	231,646
10	2020	В+ С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	139,895	12,331	206,183
11	2021	В+ С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	116,063	10,933	213,610
12	2022	В+С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	82,516	8,858	151,494
Total:		В+С1+ С2+С1заб.+С2заб.	1,368,783	220,666	2,454,227

Aprelevka Summary financial information for the year ended 31 December 2022:

				US$
As at 31 December 2022
Total assets				15,425,802
Net current assets				1,291,970
Total equity				9,601,333
Long-term liabilities				-
Year ended 31 December 2022
Turnover				16,044,311
Net loss				(818,929)

NOTE: The above figures have been derived from the JTCLLC "Aprelevka" Financial Statements, 2022, on which the Auditors provided an audit report which was qualified due to non- attendance at the stocktake.

The Tien Shan Belt

The Tien Shan Belt, where Aprelevka's precious metals' assets are located, extends for over 2,500km, from western Uzbekistan, through Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan to western China, and represents the central part of the Altaid Orogenic Collage (Sengör et al, 1993; Sengör and Natalin, 1996; Yakubchuk, 2004) of central Eurasia. The Tien Shan Belt is host to a number of large gold deposits and gold mines.

Competent Person

The technical information in this announcement has been reviewed by, and the forward-looking technical views are based on, information interpreted by Mr Nicolae Turdean, our Romanian Country Manager and a full-time employee of the Company. Mr Nicolae Turdean is a Qualified Person who is a Member in good standing of the:

·      Romanian National Association of Specialists in Mining Industry

·      General Association of Romanian Engineers

·      Romanian National Committee of Mining Engineers

Nicolae has 40 years' experience in the Romanian mining industry. He was most recently President of the National Agency for Mineral Resources.  Prior to this, Nicolae was the Chief Executive of Cupru Min SA, the Romanian state-owned copper producer. Nicolae has worked closely with the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Minister of Economy and Finance, and the World Bank, as well as serving on the Board of Administration for a number of companies. Nicolae holds both a Bachelor of Mining Science and a MSc. in the Management of Mining Activities from the Technical University of Petrosani in Romania.

The technical information and forward-looking views have also been reviewed by and interpreted by Negru Vlad Andrei, Chief Geologist for geological and geotechnical consultants Formin SA.  The information is in the course of further review by SRK.

Important Notices

This announcement contains 'forward-looking statements' concerning the Company that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Generally, the words 'will', 'may', 'should', 'continue', 'believes', 'targets', 'plans', 'expects', 'aims', 'intends', 'anticipates' or similar expressions or negatives thereof identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond the Company's ability to control or estimate precisely. The Company cannot give any assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any of the forward-looking statements set out herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UKDomestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR") until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information, visit www.vastplc.com or please contact:

Vast Resources plc Andrew Prelea (CEO) Andrew Hall (CCO)	www.vastplc.com [phone]
Beaumont Cornish - Financial & Nominated Advisor Roland Cornish James Biddle	www.beaumontcornish.com [phone]
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited  - Joint Broker Toby Gibbs / James Thomas (Corporate Advisory)	www.shorecapmarkets.co.uk  [phone]
Axis Capital Markets Limited - Joint Broker Richard Hutchinson	www.axcap247.com  [phone]
St Brides Partners Limited Susie Geliher	www.stbridespartners.co.uk [phone]

ABOUT VAST RESOURCES PLC

Vast Resources plc is a United Kingdom AIM listed mining company with mines and projects in Romania, Tajikistan, and Zimbabwe.

In Romania, the Company is focused on the rapid advancement of high-quality projects by recommencing production at previously producing mines.

The Company's Romanian portfolio includes 100% interest in Vast Baita Plai SA which owns 100% of the producing Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine, located in the Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania, an area which hosts Romania's largest polymetallic mines. The mine has a JORC compliant Reserve & Resource Report which underpins the initial mine production life of approximately 3-4 years with an in-situ total mineral resource of 15,695 tonnes copper equivalent with a further 1.8M-3M tonnes exploration target. The Company is now working on confirming an enlarged exploration target of up to 5.8M tonnes.

The Company also owns the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which the Company is looking to bring back into production following a period of care and maintenance. The Company has also been granted the Manaila Carlibaba Extended Exploitation Licence that will allow the Company to re-examine the exploitation of the mineral resources within the larger Manaila Carlibaba licence area.

Vast has an interest in a joint venture company which provides exposure to a near term revenue opportunity from the Takob Mine processing facility in Tajikistan. The Takob Mine opportunity, which is 100% financed, will provide Vast with a 12.25 percent royalty on overall sales of non-ferrous concentrate and any other metals produced.

Glossary

NAEN CODE - Russian Code for the Public Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources, Mineral Reserves.

 

END