The confirmation comes in the wake of questions raised by Zambian media reports on the legal ownership of the mining licence

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The Kalengwa Procesing Project includes the processing area, the tailings dumps and the flooded open pit. (Credit: Khusen Rustamov from Pixabay)

Xtract Resources and Bezant Resources announced that they have not been served with restraint orders or legal proceedings pertaining to its Kalengwa processing project in Zambia.

Kalengwa is located in the North-western province of Zambia, 800km north-west of Lusaka and 400km south-west of Kitwe.

The confirmation by the firms follows questions raised by Zambian media reports on the legal ownership of the mining licence related to the project.

As per the Zambian Mining Cadastre, a portal provided by the Zambia Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development, the Kalengwa Processing Zone (KPZ) was issued the Large Scale Exploration Licence 24401-HQ-LEL on 02 April 2019.

Valid till 01 April 2023, the license covers the commodities cobalt, copper, diamond, gold, iron or, lead, malachite and silver. It comprises an area of 974.83km2.

The Kalengwa Procesing Project includes the processing area, the tailings dumps and the flooded open pit in addition to the area 500m to the north of the Flooded Pit and 500m to the south of the Flooded Pit.

Bezant Resources operates the project with 30% stake

Bezant Resources operates the project with 30% stake while Xtract Resources was selected as a key contractor for the project in 2019.

In a press statement, Bezant Resources said: “As reported in the company’s announcement on 27th April 2020 KPZ is a 100% (less one share) Zambian subsidiary of KPZ International Limited (KPZ Int) which the Company has a 30% shareholding in.”

The very high-grade Kalengwa Copper Mine was owned and managed by Roan Consolidated Mines from 1970 to 1982.

Over 12 years, the mine produced 1.9 million tonnes (Mt) of 9.44% copper and 50 g/t silver from open pit mining, resulting in about 15,000 tonnes of copper production annually.