First Quantum now has to prepare a technical report before the end of February demonstrating an indicated mineral resource of at least 300,000 tonnes of contained copper to be able to earn a 51% shareholding in African Pioneer Zambia.
Shares in African Pioneer jumped on the news and were trading 16% higher at 2.32 pence each midday on Friday. The explorer and developer focused on Sub-Saharan Africa has a market capitalization of £5.29 million ($6.65m).
Work completed by FQM during the initial period of the option agreement includes mapping, soil sampling, ground geophysics, air core and diamond drilling in excess of the minimum qualifying expenditure of $500,000 on each of the four exercised licences.
The Vancouver-based miner already has two copper operations in Zambia — Sentinel and Kansanshi — as well as the Fishtie copper project, near the border with the DRC.
Market rumours earlier this year indicated that First…
