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BMR Mining (LON:BMR), formerly Berkeley Mineral Resources, saw shares surge in early deals as it took a further step towards processing tailings at a pilot plant in Zambia.
The firm wants to extract lead and zinc from the vast tailings deposits at the Kabwe mine.
Now the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has approved the recently submitted terms of reference and scoping study proposed for a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The EIA involves in-depth field studies by experts and the bulk of the technical data collection has already been completed and will include the design of the pilot and main production plants, the firm noted.
BMR’s consultants expect to submit the draft EIA in September this year and the mineral firm hopes to gain approval from ZEMA by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, a peer review for the proposed Kabwe pilot plant will start next week and is expected to be completed by the end of September.
Chairman and chief executive Alex Borrelli said: “We have been working closely with ZEMA, through our consultants, as we progress towards the submission of our full EIA study.
“This initial approval is a further step towards the acceptance of our formal plans for the processing of tailings in our pilot plant.”
Shares rose 13.16% to 5.375p in early deals and have risen around 48% since last Friday (Aug 14) but then fell back 2.63% to 4.625p.
House broker WH Ireland has a ‘speculative buy’ stance on the shares.
Analyst Paul Smith said: “New management is now making significant progress in advancing the Kabwe project after the disappointing news that previous work on the project has had to be redone.
“Technical management for BMR on the processing side is now taking charge of the next stages of development as details on the pilot plant are finalised. There also appears to be a healthy working relationship with ZEMA and we hope that will facilitate a quick decision on the EIA in due course
