New copper deposits found in Oman

Muscat: London-based mining firm Savannah Resources has reported further positive results from Oman, where it has uncovered deposits of copper in its Block Four and Block Five areas.
While Block Four is located in Al Bayda, Block Five is located in the Al Mahab region of Oman. These latest surveys have been sourced from six digging sites across the two areas, with the surveys from Al Mahab indicating the presence of copper ore, reportedly containing a yield of 23.47 per cent metal.
Samples analysed from Al Bayda revealed a significantly lower yield of 2.2 per cent, with significant amounts of copper, gold and silver ore uncovered by the surveys. Between 10.7 million and 29 million tonnes of copper ore, which would yield between 150,000 and 700,000 tonnes of copper are expected to be mined by Savannah Resources.
The company’s mining sites in Oman are located approximately 180 kilometres northwest from Muscat.
Savannah Resources is currently prospecting for metal deposits in the Sultanate, and holds a 65 per cent stake in two mining companies—Al Thuraya LLC and Al Fairuz Mining. The company aims to begin commercial copper production by 2017, a significant amount of which will be exported from Sohar’s deepwater port.
The company’s exploratory costs incurred a loss of $4.1 million in 2015, and it had to sell shares to raise funds amounting to $4 million over the course of last year.
The company had a cash balance of a little above half a million dollars at the end of 2015.
In addition to its interests in Oman, Savannah Resources also maintains an interest in Mozambique, where it has signed an agreement with the world-renowned Rio Tinto group to maximise mineral production.