JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Premier African Minerals has acquired a 4.5% interest in Casa Mining, which owns three mining licences in the prospective South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for $250 000.
Premier also has the right to acquire a further 30% interest in Casa within 60 days.
Casa has reported an initial near-surface inferred resources of 1.2-million ounces at 1.7 g/t gold at its Akyanga deposit, with a scoping study having confirmed the viability of an 80 000 oz/y heap leach operation.
The DRC-focused company plans to launch a 5 000 m exploration programme at the deposit to validate a three-million-ounce potential target and to issue an updated scoping study by the end of 2017.
“This investment in Casa secures exposure to an exciting gold project in a very prospective region. The Akyanga deposit has a large and well defined resource base as well as the potential to be brought into production relatively quickly. The scoping study potentially demonstrates a technically viable and economically robust project.
“The plan to commence an exploration programme to validate the three-million-ounce potential target should generate significant value for the company," commented Premier CEO George Roach.
To fund the acquisition of the interest in Casa, Premier has raised £300 000 through the issue of new ordinary shares at an issue price of 0.32p apiece.
The remaining funds will be used for working capital purposes.
Premier’s most advanced project is its RHA tungsten project, in Zimbabwe.
The company is also exploring for lithium, tantalum, nickel and rare-earth elements across Africa.