JORC Compliant Resource Published for Faneata Tailings

Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

29 March 2017 Vast Resources plc ("Vast" or the "Company")

JORC Compliant Resource Published for Faneata Tailings Storage Facility, Romania

Vast Resources plc, the AIM-listed mining company with interests in Romania and Zimbabwe, is pleased to announce the maiden JORC Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate for the Company's 80% owned Faneata Tailings Storage Facility ("Faneata") in Romania.  Faneata consists of more than 40 years' material from the proximal Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine ("Baita Plai").

Overview 

• Maiden internally generated JORC Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate updating the previous resource estimated which was derived from public domain information from work undertaken by El Dore in 2011:
  • Total Mineral Resource (Measured, Indicated & Inferred) of 3.0Mt (Gross, being 2.4Mt net to Vast) at a grade of 0.05 g/t gold ('Au'), 8.65 g/t silver ('Ag'), 0.092% copper ('Cu'), 0.101% lead ('Pb'), 0.171% zinc ('Zn'), 0.013% bismuth ('Bi'), 0.006% molybdenum ('Mo') and 0.017% tungsten ('W') at a 0.0 g/t and a 0.0% cut-off grade
• Intention to utilise the Company's Baita Plai processing facility located 6.5km away
• A Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") undertaken by the Company at Faneata on the operating costs indicates a break-even total processing recovery of 25%
• Metallurgical test work is commencing to determine the amenability of the Faneata resource to pre-concentration and flotation
• At an anticipated total processing recovery of 36% and based on a model that assumes processing of the Faneata tailings at Baita Plai, Faneata has the potential to deliver a 44% margin over a period of 16-20 months before capital expenditure is considered
• Feasibility Study underway and due for completion by end of Q2 2017 - the Feasibility Study will define the parameters for development at Faneata

Roy Pitchford, Chief Executive of Vast, commented: "Our Faneata Tailings Storage Facility, which constitutes a separate licence to the proximal Baita Plai mine, is shaping up to have the potential to be a revenue generator in its own right.  Today's publication of a JORC Compliant Resource Estimate is another step up the rung towards achieving low-cost production at Faneata as we simultaneously advance negotiations to secure the right to mine at Baita Plai. 

"With an anticipated total processing recovery of 36%, Faneata has the potential to deliver a 44% margin over a period of 16-20 months, before capital expenditure, highlighting the ability for this project to materially enhance financial performance in the near-term, supporting Vast's wider expansion plans across Romania.  Importantly, reprocessing the tailings at Faneata will also have a positive impact from an environmental standpoint; a central pillar of our Corporate Social Responsibility programme in Romania.

"I look forward to the receipt of our metallurgical test work as we identify the optimal pathway for development at Faneata."

Further Information

Vast holds an 80% interest in a prospecting licence over Faneata, which is located 7km from the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine.  This licence constitutes a separate right from the anticipated right to mine at Baita Plai itself and Vast believes Faneata has the potential to be a stand-alone mining operation when enhanced processing technologies, that can enable the economic extraction of the metalliferous content of the tailings, are used.  Crucially, the mining and processing of Faneata will also be of environmental value, with the reprocessing of the tailings acting as a "greening" process of the dam.  This is in accordance with Vast's dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility programme in Romania.

JORC Mineral Resource Estimate

The mineral resource estimate has been completed following the principles of the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, the ("JORC") code.

The subject of the mineral resource report is the declaration of a maiden JORC compliant mineral resource estimate for Faneata.  No previous mineral resource declarations have been undertaken on Faneata except for El Dore Mining Corporation ("EDMC") releasing an estimate of contained metal within Faneata in July 2011.

This Report has been prepared based on technical reviews and information gathered by Vast from August 2016 to February 2017.  The effective date of the mineral resource estimate is 28 March 2017.

Locality, Infrastructure and Environment

Faneata is located in the Bihor County of Romania, approximately 80km to the south west of the city of Oradea. The tailings dump is adjacent to a secondary tarred road in the region which links the town of Stei in the west with the major city of Cluj-Napoca to the east.

The processing facilities of Baita Plai are located approximately 6.5km to the west.  The metallurgical processing facility comprises crushing, milling, and flotation and was last operated in approximately 2012.  The facility has been on care and maintenance since that time to present under the auspices of Vast.

The prospecting licence, number 19101/11.05.2016, is 0.169km² in extent.  The licence was awarded on 11 May 2016 and granted Vast prospecting activities and the right to evaluate the metal content of Faneata over a period of one year from the date of grant.  Once the Feasibility Study is completed, which is targeted for the end of Q2 2017, the Company will apply for a permit to operate at Faneata.   

History, Exploration and Mining

Faneata served as the tailings deposition site for Baita Plai since the 1960s until the mine was put on care and maintenance in 2012.  There is a second smaller tailings storage facility located approximately 1.0km to the east which served as a depositional site for Baita Plai in the years prior to this.  This tailings storage facility is completely rehabilitated.

Vast drilled a total of 33 drill holes in the dump during November 2016.  The samples were sent to the soil geochemical laboratories of SGS in Ankara, Turkey.

Mineral Resources

A mineral resource estimate has been compiled for Faneata.  A full geological model has been constructed, constraining the tailings material to the surveyed surface topography and the end of hole depths of the 33 drill holes.  Due to rising footwall topography, the estimated volume of Faneata was reduced from 3,600,000m³ to 2,400,000m³.

A combination of Inverse Distance Squared ("ID2") and Nearest Neighbour ("NN") estimation was carried out, interpolating values for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, molybdenum and bismuth into a three-dimensional constrained geological block model.  The ID2 method was selected as the value to report the mineral resource estimate.  Density values were obtained from five surface pits on Faneata.

Mineral resource categorisation was undertaken by assigning confidence categories to the interpolation search volumes.  The search volumes were orientated horizontally with a 1.5 metre vertical search radius in order to constrain the sample search to reflect the horizontal depositional environment of Faneata.

The mineral resource estimate is tabulated in Table 1 for the metal content and the in Table 2 for the metal grades.

Table 1: Mineral Resource Estimate (Metal Content) for the Faneata Tailings Storage Facility (Gross)

* as at 31 March 2017 (topographic surface)

* No cut-off grade applied

Table 2: Mineral Resource Estimate (Metal Grades) for the Faneata Tailings Storage Facility

* as at 31 March 2017 (topographic surface)

* No cut-off grade applied

Conclusion

The Board believe that Faneata represents an opportunity to utilise the current metallurgical facilities at Baita Plai, which are currently under care and maintenance by Vast.  Notably, the Baita Plai metallurgical facility is not attached to the Baita Plai underground mining licence and the infrastructure can be utilised to process material from an alternative source, which is fully permitted.

Preliminary economic assessments of the viability of Faneata utilising transport and processing costs from current operations in Romania have indicated that an overall process recovery of 25% on the silver, copper and zinc only is required for the project to be cost neutral.  Vast is targeting a 36% total processing recovery which would deliver a 44% operating cost margin.  Operating costs including transport and processing costs, have been based on the Manaila Polymetallic Mine, which Vast has operated since August 2015..

Metallurgical test work will be conducted to establish the optimum method of pre-concentration for Faneata and to ascertain or affirm the anticipated overall process recovery.

Competent Person

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Mr Craig Harvey, the Chief Operating Officer for Vast and a full-time employee of the Company.  Mr Harvey is a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and of the Geological Society of South Africa, a Recognised Professional Organisation included in a list that is posted on the ASX website from time to time.

Mr Harvey has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Harvey consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

**ENDS**

For further information, visit www.vastresourcesplc.com or please contact:

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").

Technical Glossary

Notes

Vast Resources plc is an AIM listed mining and resource development company focussed on the rapid advancement of high quality brownfield projects and recommencing production at previously producing mines in Romania.

Vast Resources currently own and operates the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which was commissioned in 2015.  The Company's portfolio also includes the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania, where work is currently underway towards obtaining the relevant permissions to start developing and ultimately commissioning the mine.

The Company also has interests in a number of projects in Southern Africa including a 25 per cent. interest^* in the producing Pickstone-Peerless Gold Mine in Zimbabwe.

^* Vast ownership is currently 50% (25.01% when SSCG Africa Holdings Ltd financing conditions precedent are fulfilled as per announcement on 30 January 2017).