Junior resources player Beowulf Mining (LSE:BEM)has announced the identification of a new copper-zinc exploration target by its main investment Vardar at the Mitrovica licence in Kosovo.
AIM-listed Beowulf added that it had invested a further £50,000 to increase its stake in Vardar from 41.5% to 42.2%.
Rock samples identified at Mitrovica contained up to 3% lead and 1% copper, while soil samples contained over 500 parts per million copper and up to 1% lead and zinc, Beowulf told the market on Monday.
“The area is considered a priority for follow-up geophysical work which will be designed to identify targets for drill testing,” the RNS added.
The £50,000 investment will be used to test an automated drone used to collect magnetic and magnetic IP data over priority areas at Viti and Mitrovica. Results from these surveys will be used to generate drill targets.
“Vardar continues to deliver exciting exploration results with the addition of another exploration target at Mitrovica,” saidBeowulf chief executive Kurt Budge.
“Beowulf’s investment in Vardar added an exciting exploration arm to the Company. Just over a year into the investment, Vardar management, supported by Kosovan and regional geological experts, have been able to make significant progress in Kosovo and we are looking forward to a busy and fruitful year with further exploration success,” Budge added.
Beowulf has steadily increased its holdings in the UK-registered exploration firm Vardar from an initial 37.55%.
It says investments to date have allowed Vardar to complete exploration programmes in 2018 and fund a 2019 Kosovan exploration programme that included diamond drilling and geophysical surveys. This work targeted lead-zinc-silver, copper and gold mineralisation.
Vardar was one of the first companies to be awarded exploration licences in Kosovo, and holds exploration licences for both the Mitrovia and Viti projects. Both are located in the Tethyan Belt which runs from the Balkans all the way into Turkey and, according to Beowulf, represent “Europe’s chief copper-gold (zinc-lead-silver) resource”.
Mitrovica itself covers 55 square kilometres.
Beowulf has seen legal wrangling hit its main Kallack iron ore exploration target in Sweden of late. Getting an exploitation concession remains “the company’s first priority”, Budge said.
He noted that media reporting in the Nordic country that Beowulf was planning to sue the Swedish government over delays in granting its Kallack licence application was “incorrect and premature”.
“Beowulf is in the business of exploring for and developing mining projects. We are not in the business of fighting legal battles,” Budge said in early February 2020.
Budge added his firm could seek to bring in a new investor “who understands the value of Kallack as a high-quality asset”. The firm has said that the iron ore target could be in production within four to five years.
In the last 12 months, shares in Beowulf have fallen from 7.15p to a low of 4.45p. As of 11am on Monday 17 February, the share price remained steady at 5.5p.