Berkeley Mineral Resources Establishes Zambia Copper Joint Venture

Oct 24, 2012 (Dow Jones) LONDON--Berkeley Mineral Resources PLC (BMR.LN), a metals processing company, said Wednesday that it has established a joint venture to start a pilot program to produce copper cathode from tailings stockpiles located at the former Bwana Mkubwa mine, Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Northern Zambia.

Main Facts:
-Directors believe that the company's first cash flow should be generated from this project in the third quarter of 2013.

-Berkeley has become interested in a 75% shareholding in Ndola Mineral Resources Ltd, a newly registered Zambian company, which is in the process of taking transfer of a Prospecting Permit/ Small Scale Mining Licence held by Phoenix Materials Ltd.

-Phoenix will hold a 25% free carry shareholding in Ndola; cash consideration payable by Berkeley to Phoenix is $300,000.

-Phoenix currently has a small scale Prospecting Permit but has applied for a Small Scale Licence which will be assigned to Ndola when received.

-Company has also concluded a Joint Venture Agreement with the Bwana Mkubwa Consortium, whose members are the licensees of five Artisanal licenses.

-It is estimated that the stockpiles, at the former Bwana Mkubwa mine, contain some 4-5 million tons of mineralized waste, ore and tailings dumps.

-Analysis indicates that copper grades vary between 0.3% and 1.00%.

-Company intends to process enough mineralized material from the dumps to provide an output of 150 ton of copper metal per month.

-In order to carry out the processing, Berkeley is in the process of securing an Industrial Zone plot; purchase for the site is expected to be $400,000.

-An order is to be placed forthwith for a SX-EW copper extraction beneficiation plant to be erected there.

-The proposed plant is designed as a pilot plant with a production capacity of 150 ton a month of high grade copper cathodes.

-Shares closed Tuesday at 3 pence valuing the company at GBP33 million.