African Eagle to re-prioritise projects
Written by Nchima Nchito
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:09:23 AM
AFRICAN Eagle Resources (AER) Plc has announced a re-prioritisation of its projects in view of the current economic crisis.
In a press release, AER, which owns the Mkushi Copper Mines project, announced this decision as a measure to cope with deteriorating market conditions, restricting active operations largely to the Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania.
“Our Dutwa Nickel discovery in 2008 demonstrates the validity and the strength of our past strategy of remaining diversified and capitalising on opportunities as they arise,” stated AER chairman, John Park.
The company announced these decisions after completing a thorough review of its strategy for 2009 in view of the current unprecedented global market conditions and commodity prices.
“Now, however, we are operating in very challenging times, and our first and foremost duty to our shareholders is to remain in business so that we can realise the benefits of Dutwa and other advanced assets when markets improve,” he stated.
Park confirmed that African Eagle would delay the development of its proposed Mkushi Copper Mine in Zambia and would, instead, focus on assessing the viability of its Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania.
“We recognise the need to conserve these funds. This will mean reviewing and renegotiating all services contracts and cutting our operating costs and overheads sharply to see out this difficult period, while advancing the Dutwa project to economic evaluation,” Park stated. “We are fortunate among our peers in having £2.5m cash still in the bank from our 2007 Johannesburg listing and financing.”
Park stated that his company intended to place most of its other advanced projects on care and maintenance while it continued to look for partners to help fund them, adding that it would relinquish many of its earliest stage projects.
Labels: AFRICAN EAGLE RESOURCES, MINING, MKUSHI COPPER MINES
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African Eagle drilling reveals 3% copper in Mkushi project
By Kabanda Chulu
Monday October 20, 2008 [04:00]
AFRICAN Eagle Resources managing director Mark Parker has said latest drill results from the Mkushi copper projects have revealed higher grades of copper at 3.12 per cent.
And Parker said that the new taxation system announced earlier this year in Zambia did not appear to negate the viability of the project but would be the subject of detailed financial analysis by the company.
Giving an update on the project that is expected to commence production in 2010, Parker said that the results also revealed the extended potential of the project’s mineralised zones.
“The latest drilling results are very encouraging, notably the very good intersection reported from hole MMU038 and continue to confirm the high grade of some of the mineralised zones," Parker said.
“The Mkushi project remains firmly on schedule, with the feasibility study due for completion at the end of October and the upgraded resource and the Zambian government's approval of our application for a full mining licence are major steps on the road to production, which could begin by mid-2010.”
Parker explained that continued resource drilling was yielding encouraging results in the south and that further resource drilling was planned within the old open pit (Munshiwemba), from which the water had been pumped out for this purpose.
He said that African Eagle Resources had recorded higher-grade copper results at 3.12 per cent and there was strong indication that the high-grade mineralisation stretch continues deeper below the surface.
"These results extend the resource potential of the principal mineralised zones and indicate extensions of the zones at depth. We look forward to completion of the prefeasibility study and resource update in the next few weeks," Parker said.
He expressed optimism that the marketing of the copper concentrate, including direct discussions with off-take companies, indicates that sales agreements would be negotiable within Zambia itself.
The Mkushi copper project is located 30 kilometres away from the Boma and it would draw water from the Lunsemfwa River and power sources would come from the Zesco grid and the Lunsemfwa Hydro Power Company that would be complemented by diesel generation.
Labels: AFRICAN EAGLE RESOURCES, COPPER, MINING
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