Vast Resources (LON: VAST) resumes production at its Baita Plai mine in Romania

Summary

• The Apuseni Mountains in Transylvania where the Baita Plai mine is located hosts one of the Romania’s largest polymetallic and uranium mines.

• Vast Resources said that it would be on track to meet its production and sales targets for October 2020.
• The blasted ore would be stored underground in both the working place silos and the surface silos.

Vast Resources Plc (LON:VAST), a mining company based at Maidstone, UK, confirmed on 7 October 2020 that it had restarted production activities at its Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine (Baita Plai) in Romania. After recommencing mining in the Balkan country, the company informed that daily blasting has been put into operation on the mineralised horizon of the Antonio skarn between the 17 and 18 level.

Depending on the accomplishment of the resumption of its mining operations, the company mentioned that it could be on track to meet its production and sales targets for October 2020 as stated in the project production and associated operational cash flow forecasts that were announced during early September 2020.

Vast Resources said that the blasted ore would be stored underground in both the working place and the surface silos. The company has begun the transportation of the ore from its surface silos to the flotation plant silos. Vast Resources is getting ready for the hot commissioning of the flotation plant, which is anticipated to follow soon.

Additionally, the company mentioned that it had begun its incline project on the 18 level. Since beginning of October 2020, Vast Resources has achieved daily blasts on the new underground development as per its plan. The incline has been designed to give access to the continuation of the Antonio skarn from 18 level down to 19 level and would potentially provide a production base for the coming four years. 

Andrew Prelea, Chief Executive Officer, Vast Resources expressed his delight on resuming operations at its Baita Plai mine in Romania. Prelea exclaimed that the team acted swiftly for reconnecting the mine and the flotation plant. This action suggested that the company could resume the production quickly, resulting in a negligible downtime, enabling to meet the production and sales targets for the month.  

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Other recent events at Vast Resources

On 6 October 2020, Vast Resources had received a notice from Atlas Special Opportunities LLC regarding electing to convert bonds worth $500,000 in accordance with the terms of the Bond Issuance Deed as announced in late-October last year.

The company informed that it satisfactorily exercised the conversion rights by paying cash alternative amount of $555,555. Atlas Special is a part of the London-based Atlas Capital Markets.

Earlier in September 2020 Vast Resources had announced that asset-backed financing talks for the Romanian mine were under progress.

About Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine

The Baita Plai mine of Vast Resources is located in the Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania. This area is known for hosting one of the Romania’s largest polymetallic and uranium mines. The project is situated around 50 km north-west of Rosia Montana and 52 km north-west of Roșia Poieni. While Rosia Montana is Romania’s largest gold-copper (Au-Cu) mine, Roșia Poieni contains more than one billion tonnes of porphyry copper ore.

The Baita Plai mine became uneconomic because of a lack of capital investment and modernisation. In 2013, the mine was put under care and maintenance. The key benefits of the mine include complete infrastructure that comprises of surface, underground, and processing equipment. In addition, the mine has a European Union (EU) registration and operational tailings facility that needs some rehabilitation.

African Consolidated Resources srl (AFCR), the 80 per cent subsidiary of Vast Resources and Baita SA, holder of the head licence, signed a pre-agreed commercial contract during mid- October 2018. This provided AFCR the right to mine at Baita Plai. This contract came after an approval by Romania’s National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) in October 2018 for granting the licence.

Stock performance

Vast Resources, a mining and exploration company seeks to progress through its two primary value drivers-the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania and the Chiadzwa Community Concession in Zimbabwe.

On 09 October 2020, the company’s stock (LON:VAST) closed at a trading value of £0.178, which was higher by 3.48 per cent than the previous day’s value of £0.172.  The 52-week low high range was recorded as 0.16 and 0.51. With a market capitalisation (Mcap) of £23.05 million, the stock provided a negative return on price, which was minus 23.33 per cent on a year to date (YTD) basis. The total volume of shares traded at the time of reporting was recorded at 356,518,212.