Chesterfield Resources, a copper and gold miner based in Cyprus, has raised £630,000 to continue the development of the company's gold mine in the Troodos Mountains. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LON: CHF) and announced on July 27 that it has successfully placed 12 million new common shares and incentive options to raise funds. Martin Frank, the executive chairman of Chesterfield Resources, told the Cyprus Post on Tuesday that Chesterfield Resources owns all the land near the village of Lysos, west of Troodos. Chesterfield has both a drilling license and an exploration license. Including 17 permits, the total area is 68 square kilometers. The total area of ​​the permit is 231 square kilometers, of which the area of ​​the permit application is 163 square kilometers.

"There is a real opportunity here, because the wave of mining activity in Cyprus in the 1960s and 1970s is actually just the surface. Most mining activities involve gold and copper, which are easily visible. But more metals are below the surface and we can today Use advanced technology to detect these deposits. This is where we are now." "We believe that many buried objects may not have been found underground, perhaps 100-200 meters underground. Chesterfield is conducting the first modern large-scale, systematic exploration program in Cyprus to conduct underground searches. For this reason. , We have assembled a very senior team of exploration geologists from a first-tier mining company."

First-pass exploration drilling has shown strong gold results, according to a company statement. Cyprus is capable of producing clean, gold-rich copper mineral concentrates that are in increasingly high demand from smelters globally. Drilling is to restart as soon as the easing of novel coronavirus pandemic restrictions allows, according to French. “After a year developing its target list in 2019, Chesterfield had just started its percussion drill testing programme when the Covid-19 epidemic swept across Europe. The company is positioned to recommence its drilling almost immediately,” French explained.

The funds raised will be used to expand the Chesterfield Resources drilling programme, Executive chair French said. The company intends to move forward with percussion drilling and diamond drilling. “Percussion drilling enables the miner to find samples, but it is difficult to determine the grade or amount of these samples.  With the funds we’ve raised, we can begin diamond drilling to get specifics on grade and size of deposits.” French points out that all of this mining is undertaken using best-practice environmental standards – the company holds licenses from the Cyprus authorities for all its work. “The Mines Service has been very supportive,” French notes. “The prospective areas are well away from the coast and in brownfield mining territory.”

“The exploration programme is now very advanced: we have spent twelve months in detailed work to develop strong list of over 30 prospects and targets,” French says. “There has been no systematic broad-based exploration programme in Cyprus for 45 years. With this activity, we hope to begin reviving the mining industry in Cyprus, and we are actively looking for Cypriot investors to join us as we advance into the next phase.”