JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Tethyan Resources’ decision to delist from the London’s Aim was based on the board’s consideration of challenging macroeconomic conditions and the additional costs that come with maintaining two listings.
Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on Wednesday, COO Fabian Baker explained that the company had decided to list on the TSX-V earlier this month as a significant proportion of the company’s financing had come from Canada over the past 12 months, especially from Vancouver-based Southern Arc Minerals, which owns 29.9% of the exploration company.
“Being listed on the TSX-V gives us better access to North American markets. The board felt that the added workload, cost and dual regulatory requirements that come with being a dual-listed company were [too] complicated,” he said.
He added that the company felt that money would be better spent “on the ground for exploration purposes.”
Tethyan is mainly focused on exploring the lead and zinc potential at its flagship Suva Ruda project, in Serbia. The project also has good copper and gold porphyry and epidermal deposits.
“The geological concept of porphyry and epidermal systems has only been well recognised in the last 40 years and improvements in mining technologies and economies of scale mean the deposits, which are often lower grade, are more economical now than they were 50 years ago,” Baker said.
He pointed out that the Balkans region was underexplored, with relatively little serious exploration having been undertaken since the 1980s, when the former Soviet Union ceased geological exploration.
Since then, he said, exploration technologies and mining methods have improved, allowing for the development of lower-grade deposits previously considered uneconomic and of little interest.
“Compared with many deposits globally, Suva Ruda has good access and infrastructure.”
The company completed a drilling programme at the project in July and results are expected imminently.
“We just started a significant geophysical survey over the broader project area to help identify extensions to the mineralisation that we are working on now. It’s a large copper/gold porphyry system and we’ve only drilled a very small part of it,” he said.
Baker noted that the survey would generate new targets, which the company would be drilling early next year.
Further, Tethyan is also developing a regional deposit targeting framework to focus exploration on highly prospective and underexplored areas of the Balkans region of Eastern Europe, including Serbia and Macedonia.
“Conducting exploration in the Balkans where there is such a rich history of mining is an exciting task and we want to become one of the major players in that part of the world,” Baker said.
The region is highly mineralised and proven to host significant mineral deposits. Opportunity exists for Tethyan to acquire exploration tenements over and around known mineralisation.
He added that the company was actively reviewing opportunities and making applications on new exploration permits.