Mining company Berkeley Mineral Resources has secured the mining rights to process zinc and lead from certain tailings dumps at the Kabwe Mine in Zambia.

Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) has agreed to pay £0.2m in cash and 30m new BMR shares to Zincorous Investments Limited (ZIL) for the mining rights.

The cash will be paid over next ten months.

The newly issued shares represent 11.7% of the enlarged issued share capital of BMR.

The tailings dump at Kabwe has an estimated 1.96m tons of material available for process. The mine is scheduled to reopen later this year.

The directors of BMR believe that current market prices for zinc and lead make this a profitable venture for the company.