Other Assets
Caspian holds a number of mineral assets where exploration is funded by other companies. These include shares in gold explorer Perseus Mining Limited, royalties on the Tengrela and Grumesa gold projects, the Mansounia gold joint venture with Burey Gold Limited and diamond joint ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) and Ghana.
Caspian’s joint venture partners were not active on the Pramkese and Osenase licences in Ghana’s Birim diamond field or its two licences at Tshikapa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Given the feasibility studies in progress on the Tengrela and Grumesa gold projects in West Africa, the Caspian Group’s 0.5% royalty on gold production from those projects has the potential to provide a regular cash flow from 2013.
Burey Gold Ltd has announced a resource on the Mansounia gold project in Guinea. At a 0.7g/t Au cut-off, the resource is 437,000 oz at 1.0g/t Au (67,000 oz indicated and 370,000 inferred). Burey will commence a delayed drilling program to follow up on open ended higher grade gold mineralisation. Burey can earn an interest in the project by completing a feasibility study with at least 200,000 oz gold reserves, at which time Caspian’s equity would reduce to 7% and Caspian would be entitled to a US$500,000 cash payment. Mansounia is located 2km south of the operating Kiniero gold mine.
Caspian holds a 0.5% NSR on gold production from the Tengrela project in Ivory Coast and the Grumesa project in Ghana, both of which have gold resources exceeding one million ounces. Feasibility studies are currently being undertaken on both projects.