Vast Resources moves towards mining in Romania and Zimbabwe
Business Zimbabwe

Vast Resources moves towards mining in Romania and Zimbabwe

Snapshot

  • Diverse range of commodities in Zimbabwe and Romania 
  • Road map established for start of mining at Heritage diamond concession
  • Saleable concentrate expected from Romania’s Baita Plai in 2020
Vast Resources

Quick facts: Vast Resources PLC

Price: 0.1888 GBXAIM:VAST

Market: AIM
Market Cap: £21.33 m
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Jan ’20Feb ’20Mar ’20Apr ’20May ’20Jun ‘200.20.30.401 000MZoom1m3m6m1yFromDec 4, 2019ToJun 4, 2020Highcharts.comView company profile

What it does

Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) is an AIM-listed mining company with a portfolio of assets in Zimbabwe and Romania.

It has exposure to a diverse range of commodities including copper, gold, silver, lead and diamonds.

What it owns

In Zimbabwe, Vast has the Heritage concession in the Marange Diamond Fields.

In Romania, assets include the Blueberry gold project, the Magura Neagra polymetallic licence and the Manaila polymetallic mine, the Baita Plai polymetallic mine (BPPM), the Piciorul Zimbrului permit and the Carlibaba Manaila extension project.

How’s it doing in Romania?

Throughout the first half of 2020 Vast continued to update on the progress of equipment shipments due for delivery in Romania from China. To date these have all arrived on schedule, and the construction timetable remains intact at Baita Plai

The company raised £900,000 in May to support this work.

How’s it doing in Zimbabwe?

A road map for moving forward with a plan to mine the Heritage concession following was established following meetings with local community leaders in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean parastatal Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Co (ZCDC). Recent progress in this process has been slightly disrupted by the coronavirus.

The agreements concerning the Heritage diamond concession will now be directly between the Vast and the ZCDC rather than the local community, but the local community will continue to be a beneficial recipient of shared profits, as per the original agreement.

Vast has everything in place to “hit the ground running” once it finalises the agreement with the ZCDC.

In November 2019, Vast re-jigged the ownership of its diamond assets, with consultant Botswana Diamonds taking a 2.5% stake in a special purpose vehicle in return for five years worth of free services.

Video

What the CEO says: Andrew Prelea

“We enter 2020 in a far stronger position than at any time in the company’s history,” Prelea said alongside interim results in January. “We are resourced to place BPPM into production in the near future and we are well placed to execute our Zimbabwe diamond strategy as soon as the agreement with ZCDC is concluded, a process that we believe will be concluded shortly.”

Inflexion points

  • Long term finance secured for Romania assets
  • Agreement signed for Chiadzwa diamond fields
  • Details of Katanga JV structure
  • Production begins at either Chiadzwa or in Romania

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