SkyTEM: Bezant Resources rises as it signs deal for survey of Hope copper-gold project

Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BZT) share moved higher on Wednesday as the company said it has signed a contract with SkyTEM Surveys to undertake an airborne electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic survey over a large part of its Hope copper-gold project licence block in Namibia. The AIM-listed firm said the survey is expected to commence before the end of the week along the 130-kilometre prospective Hope-Matchless massive sulphide belt to identify previously unrecognised copper-gold targets hidden beneath sand or overburden cover and at depth. READ: Bezant Resources finds significant copper intercept at Zambia mine The survey will also look for buried extensions of the Hope and Gorob-Vendome deposit cluster on EPL 5796, as well as testing the extensive underexplored potential through EPLs 7170 and 6605. Bezant said several copper showings are known historically along the belt to the northeast but these were not investigated using modern exploration techniques and were never drill tested. The survey will cost around US$300,000 and is expected to take ten days to complete, with data processing and final report delivery to take a further six weeks with the aim of delineating targets for subsequent drill testing. "The Hope and Gorob copper/gold licence block represents a very prospective target for Bezant where we already have a resource of almost 200,000 tonnes of contained copper . The Matchless copper belt has many old small-scale workings which have never been subject to assessment by modern exploration techniques", Bezant executive chairman Colin Bird said in a statement. "The objective of the airborne geophysical survey is to identify unmined potential extensions to Hope and Gorob, as well as identifying other drill prospects along the extensive 130km strike length of prospective geology. The team is excited about the potential of the Matchless copper belt for new discoveries and looks forward to the results of the survey which is set to commence in the coming week", he added. Shares in Bezant were up 3.7% at 0.21p in lunchtime trading.