BULL POINTS:
• Upgrades anticipated to an already significant resource base
• High profile joint venture partners
• Well established exploration programme
• Some takeover potential
BEAR POINTS:
• Long project timeframes
• Little broker coverage
Bezant's Mankayan deposit lies in an established mining district in the Philippines, hosting some of the world's largest under-exploited gold and copper deposits. Extensive drilling and metallurgical work has been undertaken at Mankayan since the early 1970s and that resource is already estimated to exceed 166m tonnes - with 0.86 tonnes of copper and 2.9m ounces of gold. Bezant is still assessing additional drilling, assisted by mining consultants Snowden, and is also investigating early indications of silver.
Crescent, a local company in which Bezant holds 40 per cent, has commenced a two-year exploration programme to further define the Mankayan resource. A resource update - completed to Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) standards - is expected imminently, with a definitive resource statement to follow in 2009.
| BEZANT RESOURCES (BZT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 60p | MARKET VALUE: | £23.5m | |
| TOUCH: | 58-62 | 12-MONTH HIGH /LOW: | 126p | 56p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 40p | NET CASH: | 4.76m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | nil | -0.09 | -1.00 | nil |
| 2006 | nil | -0.13 | -0.07 | nil |
| 2007 | nil | -0.69 | -3.31 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
Normal market size: 3,000 Market makers: 6 | ||||
Click for a guide to the terms used in IC results tables
Mankayan is also near Lepanto's copper-gold mine. In November, Zijin, China's largest gold producer, agreed to pay $70m (£35m) for a 20 per cent stake in Lepanto, to help develop a copper-gold deposit similar to Bezant's Mankayan deposit. Even without Zijin's interest, the shared development of the Lepanto and Bezant mines would make commercial sense, in particular sharing the costs of sinking a common vertical shaft between the two deposits. Indeed, given Zijin's appetite for making mining investments, which include Ridge Mining and Monterrico, it wouldn't come as a surprise if Zijin's interest extended beyond Lepanto to Bezant.
Bezant's second operation is the Mkurumu gold project in Tanzania, a joint venture with Anglo Tanzania Gold and AngloGold Ashanti. This project has scope for significant expansion which provides exploration upside to further underpin the valuation. After raising £5m in July 2007, Bezant is fully funded to the completion of its Philippines and Tanzania exploration programmes.
