Berkeley Mineral Resources acquires copper processing plant

12th Jun 2013 08:34

Berkeley Mineral Resources,the AIM-listed resource company engaged in the processing of tailings dumps in Zambia, has acquired a copper processing plant, an statement issued by the company has shown.The new plant will be located on the company's site at Kabwe and will process tailings and other material sourced locally. The copper tailings to be processed are discrete from those already controlled by the company and referred to in a previous announcement dated February 2013, in which the company reported that an Industrial Zone site had been secured to carry out Berkeley's copper processing programme at Ndola in northern Zambia. The company said that it intended to operate two sites and to commence the processing of the dumps acquired around Ndola in due course. The plant acquired by Berkeley consists of a complete metallurgical leaching plant with milling, crushing, leaching and liquor-solid separation units. The company said that it expected the plant to be installed and ready for commissioning to commence copper processing during the third quarter of 2013. Approximately £1.0m was been budgeted to cover the acquisition and commissioning costs. Masoud Alikhani, Chairman of Berkeley, commented: "By taking advantage of the opportunity to both acquire the plant, at a significant discount, and to source material local to Kabwe we have added flexibility to the business and most importantly, brought forward the timetable for the processing of copper tailings. The new plant signals further progress towards our stated objective of processing tailings in Zambia." He added: "As well as processing the lead and zinc dumps at Kabwe, the plans for which are on schedule, we will now also process copper tailings at Kabwe, which will further enhance profitability once operational."Berkeley's share price was up 5.26% to 2.50p at 08:34 on Wednesday. MF