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Company Information for Bezant Resources Plc

AIM-BZT

www.bezantresources.com

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AIM; BZT

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Company Statement

Bezant (pr Bay-zant) is an AIM listed company specialising in natural resource exploration and development, with a principal focus on projects in key commodity sectors. It takes its name from a medieval gold, silver and copper coin, regarded as being of the highest quality and used for trade and commerce throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

The company currently has interests in two exciting assets: a copper-gold porphyry project in the Philippines (the Mankayan Project) and a gold project in Tanzania (the Mkurumu Project).

Current Operations

Philippines
The Philippines is the fifth-most endowed country in the world in terms of mineral resources and is home to some of the world’s biggest under-exploited deposits of gold and copper. It also benefits from one of the most liberal mining regimes in the region. The Mining Act of 1995 allows for 100% foreign-equity participation through Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs) with local miners. In addition, the Filipino government has in recent years sought to promote foreign mining investment by providing various tax and non-tax incentives and has established the Mineral Development Council to assist foreign investors in expediting access to mining projects.

Mining investment in the country has steadily increased in recent years, with the Filipino Chamber of Mines forecasting an estimated US$1.55 billion of mining investment in 2008 and US$2.76 billion in 2009 (compared with an estimated US$350 million in 2007). The Chamber, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau predict that the contribution of mining exports to the Philippines’ total export figures will continue to increase year-on-year over at least the next three to five years.

Mankayan Project
The Guinaoang porphyry copper/gold deposit (The Mankayan Project) is situated in the Mankayan-Lepanto mining district of the Philippines, an area of established copper and gold mining and considered to be one of the country’s major porphyry copper belts. The Mankayan-Lepanto area has been mined for centuries and is accessible by both road and air.

The deposit is located approximately 240km north of Manila and 6km east of the copper/gold mine owned and operated by Lepanto Consolidated Mining. Since its discovery in the early 1970s, extensive drilling (more than 45,000 metres in 48 holes) and metallurgical work has been undertaken by Goldfields Asia Ltd, Pacific Falkon and others.

Based on historical analysis of 33,000 metres of drilling, the resource is estimated to be more than 166 million tonnes, with 1.9 billion pounds of copper and 2.9 million ounces of gold.

In 1996, Crescent Mining and Development Corporation, a Filipino company in which Bezant’s wholly-owned subsidiary Asean Copper Investments Limited holds a 40% interest (with the right to acquire the remaining 60% for minimal consideration), was granted a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) in relation to the property. The MPSA – essentially the equivalent of a mining licence – covers an area of 534 hectares.

Crescent has commenced a 2-year exploration program on the Mankayan Project to further define the resource, which will include:

completing analysis of 12,000 metres of historical drilling and the provision of infill drilling, to improve the resource classification;
a further 11,000 metres of diamond drilling, with the intention of collecting 3,000 samples for detailed assaying;
improving delineation of the orebody; and
obtaining engineering and metallurgical data.

The overall budgeted cost for the program is US$3,000,000.

Tanzania
Tanzania has in recent times emerged as a prominent African gold producer and is now the continent’s third-largest gold-producing country after South Africa and Ghana. Moreover, the country is thought to have Africa’s second-largest gold reserves (after South Africa) and has proven gold reserves in excess of 36 Moz (1000t). Gold exploration grew rapidly in the late 1990s, with particular investigation focused on the greenstone belts around Lake Victoria – a region that now hosts several “world class” deposits. The Tanzanian government’s Development Vision 2025 projects that the mining sector will account for 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

The Mining Act 1998 provides the framework for tenure to Tanzanian mining areas and shares many features with mining regimes common in developed countries. Depending on the stage of mining operations, the following types of licence apply:

Reconnaissance Licence: one-year duration, renewable for a further period of one year. The holder has priority to apply for a prospecting licence over the relevant area.
Prospecting Licence: duration of up to three years; renewable for two further periods of up to two years each. At each renewal at least 50% of the area must be relinquished.
Mining Licence: only available to holders of a prospecting licence, a mining licence is granted for a period of 25 years or for the life of the relevant mine.

Tanzania s well-developed system of mining laws, as well as the absence of any mandatory state or local equity participation in Tanzanian mining ventures, makes the country an attractive destination for foreign mining investment.

Mkurumu Project
The Mkurumu Project is located in eastern Tanzania, approximately 125 km south-west of Dodoma. Although not as extensively explored as the Lake Victoria region to the north of the country, a number of potentially exploitable gold concentrations were discovered in eastern Tanzania prior to the 1970s, many of which have been subject to little subsequent work. The Mkurumu Project is covered by a Prospecting Licence encompassing an area of approximately 43.39 square kilometers and has well-established accessibility via regional roads and tracks that are linked to sealed highways leading east to the coast and main ports.

The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Anglo Tanzania Gold Limited (“ATGL”) owns a 46% interest in the Mkurumu Project, having earned that interest pursuant to a joint venture agreement with Ashanti Exploration Tanzania (a subsidiary of Anglo Gold Ashanti), which also holds a 46% interest. The remaining 8% of the project is held by local Tanzanian interests. ATGL has full operational control of the drilling and exploration programme for the project.

In the first half of 2007 ATGL completed first-phase drilling on the project area, involving 12 diamond drill holes resulting in a total of 1,041 metres of core. A detailed soil geochemical sampling programme covering the entire licence area has subsequently been undertaken, with a view to pursuing identified targets in the next phase of drilling.

The Mkurumu Project is located in eastern Tanzania, approximately 125 km south-west of Dodoma. Although not as extensively explored as the Lake Victoria region to the north of the country, a number of potentially exploitable gold concentrations were discovered in eastern Tanzania prior to the 1970s, many of which have been subject to little subsequent work. The Mkurumu Project is covered by a Prospecting Licence encompassing an area of approximately 43.39 square kilometers and has well-established accessibility via regional roads and tracks that are linked to sealed highways leading east to the coast and main ports.

The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Anglo Tanzania Gold Limited (“ATGL”) owns a 46% interest in the Mkurumu Project, having earned that interest pursuant to a joint venture agreement with Ashanti Exploration Tanzania (a subsidiary of Anglo Gold Ashanti), which also holds a 46% interest. The remaining 8% of the project is held by local Tanzanian interests. ATGL has full operational control of the drilling and exploration programme for the project.

In the first half of 2007 ATGL completed first-phase drilling on the project area, involving 12 diamond drill holes resulting in a total of 1,041 metres of core. A detailed soil geochemical sampling programme covering the entire licence area has subsequently been undertaken, with a view to pursuing identified targets in the next phase of drilling.

Geographical Spread

Philippines/Tanzania

Board of Directors and Key Management

Gerard Nealon M.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons)	(Executive Chairman)
Dr Bernard Olivier	(Technical Director)
Ronnie Siapno	(Non-Executive Director)
Evan Kirby	(Non-Executive Director)

Company Address

Level 1, South Mill Centre
9 Bowman Street
South Perth, Western Australia, Australia


Telephone:	+61 8 9368 1566
Facsimile:	+61 8 9368 5554
Website:	http://www.bezantresources.com

Additional Address/Key Contact

Registered Office (United Kingdom):
Quadrant House
4 Thomas More Square
London E1W 1YW

Shareholder Capital

The number of ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each in issue is 46,994,668

Year End

30 June

Nominated Brokers

Matrix Corporate Capital
One Vine Street
London W1J 0AH

Nominated Advisors

Strand Partners Limited
26 Mount Row
London W1K 3SQ

Major Shareholders

As at 19 January 2010
Lynchwood Nominees Limited	8,288,572	(17.63%)
Pershing Nominees Limited	7,205,792	(15.33%)
Prism Nominees Limited	3,130,880	(6.66%)
Rathbone Nominees Limited	3,038,993	(6.46%)
BBHISL Nominees Limited	2,375,000	(5.05%)
Fitel Nominees Limited	1,800,030	(3.83%)
W B Nominees Limited	1,647,424	(3.50%)

Most Recent Statement

20/01/10 - Holding in Company
24/12/09 - Placing
22/12/09 - Result of AGM
26/11/09 - Final Results for the Year Ended 30 June 2009
26/11/09 - Notice of AGM 2009
27/08/09 - Holding in Company & Change of Registered Address

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