Red Rock Resources plc has been granted a second gold licence, covering 380.94km2, in Côte d’Ivoire.
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The initial four-year licence, awarded to the company’s subsidiary LacGold Resources SARLU, is in the departments of Yamoussoukro and others.
Red Rock’s granted licences now total 725.44km2 with three more applications pending for licences in the north of the country.
The company said that each application was located on a known regional shear zone where gold mines were operating and had “significant” artisanal mining within and around it
Red Rock chairman Andrew Bell added: “With the grant of a second licence yesterday we now have critical mass in our licence application areas in the gold province centred around Yamoussoukro.
“We regard the granted licences, and those still in process of grant, as being licences with good gold potential.
“We have already received an expression of interest from a company wishing to discuss co-operation or a transaction, and expect further interest.”
The Côte d’Ivoire Government expects over a four-year period average expenditure per annum of $280,000, of which Red Rock has already spent some $65,000.
The company anticipates conducting a “modest” first-year programme examining opportunities for “an early move into production”.
Mr Bell said that “a variety of funding options are under consideration” if the development accelerates or the scale of operations increases.