News
Trading Update
Acquisition of New Mining Licence
Increase of Shareholding in Joint Venture
Lotus Resources Plc, ('Lotus' or 'the Company'), a company engaged in the development of mining and exploration projects in Mongolia, announces that it has completed the acquisition of a further fluorspar Mining Licence for US$70,000 which has been successfully transferred to Lotus Minerals Mongolia LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary company in Mongolia.
The Tsagaan Chuluut Mining Licence is located in Dornogobi Province, Mongolia and is approximately 400 km south east of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital and largest city. The Tsagaan Chuuluut project area is located in a geological province that is known for its fluorspar mineralisation endowment. The deposit is genetically and morphologically very similar to the country's largest fluorspar mine (Bor-Ondor) which is located about 70km to the west-northwest of Tsagaan Chuulut.
The Licence covers an area of 33 hectares. Systematic historic exploration drilling was carried out by joint Mongolian-Russian geological teams between the early 1950s and late 1980 and by the Mongolian-Russian-owned joint venture company Mongolrostsvetmet between 1988 and 1990. The estimate for the mineralization contained in the Tsagaan Chuluut licence area, based on this historic data, is 167,400 tonnes down to 90m depth and is classified as category C2 under the Russian reporting system. The grade ranges from 30.5% to 55.2% CaF2 and averages 45.79% CaF2.
The previous owners have extracted a reported total of approximately 3,000t of ore from the deposit since 2002.
The next steps are for the Company to compile all historic and recent data into a digital database that can be used for mine planning purposes and to undertake technical, economical and environmental studies to enable the mine to be brought into full production.
Lotus is also pleased to announce that it has increased its shareholding in its Lotus Bayalag LLC joint venture from 65% to 80%. Lotus has agreed to acquire the 15% stake for a total consideration of $15,000. An exploration plan has been prepared for this project which will commence later this year.
Simon Longworth, Chief Executive, Lotus Resources commented:
"The successful acquisition of a second Mining Licence is another significant step towards achieving our aim of building a profitable fluorspar mining and processing business in Mongolia. We are now in a position where we can quickly bring several fluorspar mines into production.
"The Company has a number of other fluorspar exploration and mining properties under consideration and I am confident that we can expand the business further over the next six to nine months."
The Directors of the Issuer accept responsibility for this announcement
Lotus Resources Plc
Simon Longworth, Chief Executive
Tel: +976 8800 8983 and +86 (0) 1350 107 0840
James Benson,
Finance Director
Tel: +44 (0) 7768 242 660
Rivington Street Corporate Finance
Eran Zucker
Tel: +44 (0)20 7562 3373
Lothbury Financial
Michael Padley / Ron Marshman
Tel: +44 (0)20 7011 9411