LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Investment company Kazera Global, which has an interest in the Tantalite Valley Mine (TVM) in Namibia through its stake in African Tantalum (Aftan), updated the market on its operations on Friday.
The AIM-traded firm said the phase 2 drilling programme had begun, in a bid to continue the "comprehensive understanding" of the mineralisation on the property and to further identify the fundamental and future value of the operation.

Initial drilling of 600 meters in both the Purple Haze and Homestead locations was taking place using a new drilling company, Namibia-based Adamas.

Adamas had commissioned the use of a second man carry rig which had enabled the company to split the activities of each rig, to ensure a more efficient and timely completion of this phase of the drill programme, Kazera explained.

Kazera added that it had enlisted a third-party Namibian earth moving firm with experience working in challenging mountainous terrain, which would allow for all phase 2 site preparations to be made before drillers arrived on site.

The management of that was being coordinated with the firm's JORC 2012 signatory, MSA Group.

It had also contracted a third-party Namibian firm, Spes Bona, to manage the water needed for phase 2 drilling.

To date, they had run more than two kilometres of piping from bore holes, and installed several storage tanks.

Kazera said Purple Haze continued to show both lithium and tantalite mineralisation in the physical core samples drilled.

It explained that, during the later stages of phase 1 and now during phase 2, the firm had been the first to drill virgin ground on the opposite side of the historical trench, which is on the south eastern mountainous side.

So far, each hole had intersected pegmatite, as well as the continued visible signs of both tantalite and lithium in the same ore body.

Phase 2 holes at Homestead had also intersected continued pegmatites, Kazera said.

The company said it also intended to move one of the man-carry rigs to Signalberg, having previously considered that location to be out of reach due to the incline and terrain.

In efforts to reduce its diesel usage, Kazera said it had endeavoured to use solar panels to power all water bore holes across the property.

Additionally, it installed a bulk diesel system directly at the village generator, enabling the firm to have access to 50 days of energy supply from the generator and become "much more" energy and time efficient.

For further efficiency gains, Kazera said it had now electronically measured all borehole depths, ensuring all solar pumps were the same depth, and had installed a low-cost submersible pump at the main pump station.

It was maintaining the original lister diesel engine as a backup system, while reducing the everyday diesel consumption to its main pumping station.

Additionally, the company said it had installed water meters at each borehole and pumping station, in order to monitor water feeds daily.

That, the board said, assisted it in successfully passing a recent site visit by the Namibian Government's Geological Department, which monitors water throughout all mines in the country.

As it announced in its full-year results in December, Kazera Global registered Kazera Trading in both Namibia and the UK as a subsidiary.

The board said Kazera Trading would function as an ore trading arm, facilitating the global movement of resources such as tantalum, through leveraging the experience of Kazera's management within the supply chain.

Initially, the firm would focus on the movement of tantalite and niobium products directly to the end user.

It said initial trades had already been agreed, and the company had a first small shipment out for approval in order for the end user to test the supply chain.

Kazera noted that it had also recently signed exclusivity agreements with several exploration licensed areas within Namibia, with a focus to add tonnage to the existing TVM plant while establishing some level of artisanal supply from those sites.

Kazera said it had the working capital necessary to complete the phase 2 drilling programme and, in addition, expected to generate small revenue streams through Kazera Trading as initial shipments were sent to potential end user customers.

"Having now moved to the mine permanently, I am delighted to now see operations progressing daily," said chief executive officer Larry Johnson.

"Our first phase of drilling was a success and has given the company the confidence to now proceed with a second phase; the first phase having only de-risked 30% of our over 450-hectare licence.

"We continue to communicate with global leaders and users of our products and are pleased to see more parties signing non-disclosure agreements to view the mine and our operations."

Johnson said he was "conscious" to utilise the board's expertise, and was working to diversify it beyond the mine by using it as a launch pad within Namibia to upgrade products, while building a global supply chain through Kazera Trading.

"Finally, the continued support of our investors is not taken lightly and is appreciated as we remain committed to building value and growing the business."

At 1116 GMT, shares in Kazera Global were up 9.44% at 0.47p.

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