Berkeley Mineral Resources (LON:BMR) is set to acquire a majority of the Luanshya copper tailings in Zambia to further expand its presence in a “favoured international mining destination”. The AIM listed tailings processing company said this morning that it has entered a shareholders’ agreement to buy a 76 percent interest in three Luanshya copper tailings from Ng'wena Mining Resources for US$6 million. The announcement followed the completion of the exclusivity period granted to Berkeley by the memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in May. The deal will be finalised after Berkeley receives the remaining information from Ng'wena to complete due diligence. The three dams, Old Dam, Chonga Dam and Akatiti Dam, contain tailings from the formerly operating Roan Antelope copper mine. The project is located just 90 miles north of the Kabwe lead-zinc-silver mine, where Berkeley has just snapped up the remaining tailings. “We are excited by the prospect of acquiring another valuable asset. Our interest in securing further substantial tailings resources has been confirmed by the due diligence we have carried out to date. We expect to be able to resolve the remaining points in the near future which will allow us to expand what is already a significant asset base,” said chairman of Berkeley Mineral Resources Masoud Alikhani. Berkeley will pay Ng'wena US$1.25 million on completion of the sale and the remaining US$4.25 million in 2012. A report prepared in compliance with the globally recognized JORC standard in 2008 estimated the indicated resource at the three dams at Luanshya at 162 million tonnes (Mt) of tailings material grading 0.24 percent copper, containing 380,700 tonnes of copper. Meanwhile, Berkeley is planning to prepare the Kabwe tailings for processing to sell them on world markets. Investors are waiting for a new JORC compliant resource statement for Kabwe, which should be available by the end of the current month. Shares in Berkeley declined 0.17 pence (4 percent) to trade at 4.28 pence this morning in London. The company has a market cap of £43 million.

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