Midnight Sun Mining announced Monday that the application to renew its exploration licence for the Solwezi copper project in Zambia has been approved.
The renewal is for Solwezi’s Kazhiba target, one of three licensed target areas on the company’s 506-sq.-km property, located 10 km from Africa’s largest copper mining complex, the Kansanshi mine held by First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM), which has an exploration agreement with Midnight Sun. The company has this year been exploring to define copper oxide resources at Kazhiba, as well as potential feed sources for the Kansanshi mine with First Quantum.
In September, the Zambian government admitted it had erroneously rejected an exploration licence renewal for the Solwezi project.
“The Kazhiba licence issue has been resolved, removing any concern as to the status of this critical component of our exploration and development plans,” Midnight Sun CEO Al Fabbro said in a release. “We wish to once again thank the Zambian Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development for their assistance in rectifying this matter.”
Fabbro said the company is focused on finalizing results of its exploration program at Kazhiba.
“Working in collaboration with First Quantum Minerals, this program is part of a larger, multi-target campaign aimed to define near-surface oxide copper mineralization destined for [the] Kansanshi complex,” he said.
“Near-term production and potential cash-flow provides incredibly rare optionality to our Solwezi Project, and a non-dilutive path toward the continued exploration of our underlying sulphide copper targets at Kazhiba, Mitu and Crunch.”
Solwezi is also near Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Lumwana copper mine — all among projects that sit on the Zambian copper belt that stretches into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
KoBold earn-in
Midnight Sun and private company KoBold Metals, backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, have also agreed to amend their earn-in agreement. The amendment is to involve removing the longstop date to allow time for the two parties to receive the necessary Zambian regulatory approvals to complete the final condition precedent of the agreement, Midnight Sun said.
The U.S.-based startup aims to earn a 75% interest in the Dumbwa portion of Solwezi by spending US$15 million in exploration and making cash payments of US$500,000 over four and a half years.
Midnight Sun shares were down 1.6% to 58¢ apiece on Monday morning in Toronto, giving the company a market capitalization of $95.7 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 20¢ to 60¢.
