Caerus Mineral Resource plc has been blocked by a military buffer zone and refused permission to renew its licence to explore waste dumps for copper and gold at the Kalavasos project in Cyprus.
KALAVASOS
The company’s subsidiary New Cyprus Copper (NCC) holds four licences in the region as part of Caerus’s ‘clean energy’ initiative with strategic partner EV Metals Group plc (EVM).
Kalavasos East licence AE4811 is the most important, hosting most of the past producing mines of the region.
The Mines Service Department of Cyprus granted all NCC’s licences.
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
NCC needs permission from the Cyprus Ministry of Defence (MOD) to conduct an exploration programme within or near military installations.
“During Q4 2021, NCC made a formal request to the MOD for such approvals,” said Caerus in a statement.
“Towards the end of February 2022, the company received a letter from the MOD rejecting the request and, in addition, the MOD imposed a buffer zone around its military installations in the Kalavasos region.”
On 25 July and on 8 August, Caerus met the Mines Service Department to try to resolve the issue.
“The Mines Service Department has today communicated to NCC that it is unable to waive the conditions imposed by the MOD (including the maintenance of a buffer zone), and further it has been decided that licence AE4811 is unable to be renewed,” added Caerus.
LEGAL POSITION
The MOD has thee times within the past 12 years approved Kalavasos East licence AE4811, most recently on 15 June 2021.
Caerus said it had invested in surveying and sampling programmes on Kalavasos East AE4811 as well as paying annual rental fees to the Mines Service Department.
NCC will appoint external advisers to review the MOD’s decision and determine the company’s legal position.
“The directors believe that this will not be resolved in the short term and the company will update the market in due course,” added Caerus.
SURFACE DUMPS
Chief executive Charles Long described the MOD’s position as “an extremely frustrating development”.
“We believe it is eminently possible to operate at Kalavasos East without disturbing or presenting any security risk to the MOD’s nearby installations.
“This includes the exploration, construction and most importantly the production phase.
“Although there are underground volcanogenic massive sulphide targets at Kalavasos, our initial target is the extensive surface dumps which sampling shows contain significant gold and copper grades.
“These dumps would be removed as part of a free-digging, clean-up, operation with a positive environmental impact on the area.”