JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Bezant has concluded an internal review process of its assets and on Thursday detailed some plans for the advancement of its copper/gold portfolio.

The company, which recently sold its Choco platinum/gold project in Colombia, will focus on the Mankayan copper/gold project, in the Philippines, which it describes as “world-class asset” and one of the most advanced copper projects that is not currently being developed.

Bezant CEO Laurence Read said that the company would revisit the historic Mankayan engineering study and apply new technical approaches to enhance the project’s financial returns.

“This engineering review work coupled with the opportunity to focus on a distinct high grade zone affords us multiple options to progress the project. Mankayan not only has the capability to be a major future mine, but I believe it can also be developed in a staged approach to minimise the front-end capital required,” he stated.

Independent conceptual study and reports in 2014 suggested a potential post-tax internal rate of return of 21% and post-tax net present value of about $793-million at a 8% discount rate. The total post-tax net cash flows amount to $3.7-billion.

The Mankayan project has probable reserves of 189-million tonnes at 0.46% copper and 0.49 g/t gold, resulting in a total recoverable metal resources of 811 000 t of copper and 2.21-million ounces of gold. The project’s total mining inventory of 390-million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 0.38% copper and 0.42 g/t gold, equates to about 1.4-million tonnes of copper and 3.9-million ounces of gold.

Bezant’s other significant project is the Eureka asset, in Argentina, which has been the subject of a desktop review and site visit. The review assumed that the project contains 600 000 t of copper and 52 000 oz of gold. Further exploration work will be required.

Bezant chairperson Colin Bird said that the Eureka project had underlying fundamentals, which made it drill ready and amenable to further work.