TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Chariot Resources has signed confidentiality agreements (CAs) with potential buyers, which have been provided access to data and offered the opportunity to visit the company's flagship Mina Justa copper project, in Peru.

However, the firm said on Thursday it will not comment further while the sale process is ongoing.

The CAs were executed after Chariot's financial adviser, RBC Capital Markets, launched a formal process to solicit proposals that will lead to the eventual sale of the company.

Chariot owns 70% of the project and Korea Resources Corporation (owned by the Korean government) and LS-Nikko Copper own the balance.

After Chariot shareholders in September re-elected the company's incumbent board of directors, rejecting a rival slate of nominees proposed by a group of dissident shareholders, CEO Ulli Rath promised to act on investor calls to seek a buyer sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, however, the firm is moving the project through the permitting and approval process, and expects to receive formal notice soon from authorities that its environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA) can enter the next phase of the review process.

It has also made progress towards securing a supply of acid for the project, and hired GRD Minproc  for a study that could result in optimisations to the Mina Justa project.

"The private placement with Solway Finance LTD announced in October 2009 has now closed with the result that Chariot's cash balances stand at C$23-million," Rath said in a statement.

"I am particularly pleased that the sales process is in full swing and that we are about to receive government approval to launch into the public participation phase of the ESIA review process that is critical to getting ultimate approval of the Mina Justa Project," he said.

Chariot shares rose 9,7% on Thursday, to C$0,34 apiece by 14:06 in Toronto.