Discovery Metals

Discovery Metals has cheered investors with a 68% hike in estimated copper resources at Boseto in Botswana to 1.4m tonnes.

With copper prices hitting 20-month highs and breaking through $8,000 a tonne, the Brisbane-based company has pleased followers with an updated resource estimate of 102.8m tonnes holding 1.4 % copper and 57m oz of silver, itself a 50% increase, at 17.3 grammes of silver per tonne of ore. As yet, the bulk of the resource is in the inferred and indicated categories, with measured resources consisting of 60,000 tonnes of copper at 1.5% and 748,000 oz of silver at 18.7 grammes a tonne.

Quoted Down Under and on AIM, Discovery, steered by managing director Brad Sampson, is reviewing technical reports from the current bankable feasibility study into Boseto and says the copper project is on track for first production late next year. Last month, leading French metals trader Transamine paid £11.5m at the equivalent of 46.2p a share for 10.7% of Discovery and entered into an ‘alliance’ to take all the copper concentrate produced from Boseto for a minimum of five years.

Discovery shares, highlighted by Growth Company Investor at 15.5p last year and again at 37p in February, now stand at 54p. This resource boost should win new support.