14th Jul 2015 08:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier African Minerals Ltd Tuesday said it has been awarded exploration rights in Benin, West Africa that will allow the company to explore existing artisanal mines and to identify new targets in the country in the hunt for gems, tantalite and possibly gold.
The exploration rights cover an area of just under 250 square kilometres in the eastern part of central Benin. Since the early 2000's, the region has intermittently seen artisanal mining activities for tantalum ore and coloured gemstones such as tourmaline and blue beryl, said the company.
The Ministry of Mines in Benin has recently stopped all artisanal mining activities in order to facilitate mineral exploration and industrial mining.
Artisanal and small-scale mining refers to informal mining activities carried out using simple technology or with minimal machinery.
Premier African Minerals will take a two-prong approach to the exploration rights it has been granted. It will target the known sites of artisanal mining, which are currently being mapped and evaluated. Parallel to that, the company will sample and evaluate targets which have been identified by a "rapid interpretation" of satellite images, said the company.
"Visible tantalum mineralisation, gem quality tourmaline off surface and other indicators for coloured gemstones are most encouraging," said Chief Executive George Roach.
"Only after the rainy season, which will start in June or July and end in October or November, it is planned to carry out more regional surveys, which will also cover the potential for other commodities, such as gold, for example," said Premier African Minerals.
"Premier intends to assess these tenements for possible fast-track development in the same way as we have approached RHA tungsten and Zulu tantalum and lithium projects," added Roach.
Preliminary interpretation by the company of publicly available satellite imagery of the licence area has identified a further 39 potential targets for tantalite and gemstones.
Obligations under the convention which led to the award of exploration rights include a minimum spend in the first year of USD125,000 by the company and periodic reporting as is normally required in exploration activities. The rights will last for an initial three-year period.
Premier African Mineral shares were up 3.8% to 2.44 pence per share on Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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