Vast Resources has announced that an agreement has been obtained from the Romanian minister of economy in relation to the association licence agreement with Baita SA, the holder of the Baita Plai head licence.
This is a milestone development in the Company's process towards being granted the right to mine at its 80% owned Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania, with the only outstanding item now being the procedure by which Baita SA and the Company's 80% subsidiary, African Consolidated Resources SRL (“AFCR”), apply for formal approval by Romania's National Agency for Mineral Resources (“ANRM”). It is anticipated that this will be obtained in early July 2018.
Obtaining the Minister's agreement, which was received at a meeting between the Company and the appropriate ministerial representatives, is the culmination of almost a year's activities which started in July 2017 with the commencement of a competitive selection process intended to achieve the granting of the right to mine. The Company was advised in August 2017 of the successful selection of AFCR and work since then has been focussed on establishing the detailed terms of the Association Licence Agreement, finalisation of which was announced on 30 May 2018.
Andrew Prelea, Chief Executive of Vast, commented:
“Following this agreement from the Minister matters now lie with Baita SA and AFCR to make the application for the final seal of approval from ANRM and I am confident that this last item should be dealt with quickly and without issue. The importance of Vast receiving the right to mine at Baita Plai cannot be overstated – simply put, this will allow us to begin mining a 1.8Mt orebody with a copper equivalent grade of approximately 6%, which would transform our production profile.