Central Asia Metals plc has expanded its interest in Kazakhstan with a framework agreement to acquire an 80% effective interest in the subsoil use contract (SUC) for the Shuak copper exploration property, in northern Kazakhstan. This represents the company’s first venture outside of its Kounrad copper dump retreatment operation in the country.
To acquire its interest, CAML must spend US$2m on exploration within five years.
The 197km2 Shuak licence area hosts a copper and gold exploration project in the Akmola Oblast region of north Kazakhstan, approximately 300km north of the capital city, Astana.
CAML is particularly interested in the SX-EW potential of a historic copper oxide resource on the property and has already achieved recoveries in excess of 90% in column leach tests on the material at the Kounrad plant.
The company plans to spend US$1m in 2017 on trenching and drilling.
About Central Asia Metals
CAML is a dividend-paying, base-metal producer with operating assets in Kazakhstan and, most recently, Macedonia. The company’s primary focus is a low-cost, copper dump treatment operation associated with the Kounrad copper mine in Kazakhstan, from which it has produced copper metal since 2012. Elsewhere in Kazakhstan, the company is exploring a copper and gold prospect at Shuak.
The company completed an IPO on AIM in 2010, raising gross proceeds of US$60m (net proceeds of £35m), all of which and more has been returned to shareholders through dividends. CAML’s
Central Asia Metals expands interest in Kazakhstan: CAML