Premier African Minerals, the London AIM market listed natural resources company has revealed the discovery of two “well mineralised” veins that could see the company expand into Zimbabwe through the opening of a low-cost tungsten producing mine.

The company is expecting to venture into tungsten mining in the Kamativi tin belt in Zimbabwe, saying it will commence operations “in the near term”. Zimbabwe is considered a lucrative destination for mining investors despite concerns around the country’s empowerment policy, which compels foreign firms to cede 51 percent shareholding to black groups.

“This update has revealed significant tungsten mineralisation in the form of very coarse wolframite crystals hosted by quartz veins identified from drill hole intersections, and highlights the exceptional prospectivity of our RHA tungsten project,” said George Roach, the company’s chief executive officer.

He said Premier African Minerals was planning to carry out further surface trenching and said sampling was scheduled to be undertaken before the end of March. This would be undertaken to ascertain and confirm the mineral surface location and establish other details.

“It is now our intention to conduct low-cost surface trenching and sampling to confirm the extent of these newly identified quartz veins and define a maiden SAMREC compliant resource in H1 2013.

“In tandem with this, we are also completing a conceptual mine study, which will determine the most beneficial and cost-effective method of exploiting the known extent of the RHA deposit,” he added.

The company has previously said it had struck an agreement in Mali that would see it retain exposure to its properties in the West African country as well as the highly prospective Danakil property, in Ethiopia, through its shareholding in EPC.

Under this arrangement, Premier African Minerals will be able to avoid significant exploration costs in ascertaining and quantifying the significance of the projects.

“On a wider level, we continue to implement our business strategy of building shareholder value through strategic, cost-effective acquisitions and joint-venture partnerships, while advancing our multi-commodity portfolio that already consists of preproduction assets and early-stage exploration projects, primarily in Zimbabwe and Togo,” Roach said.

Apart from its Zimbabwe expansion through the planned tungsten mine, Premier African Minerals reported last month that three of its Southern Togo exploration permits for a project covering phosphates, uranium and rare earth mineral deposits had been renewed another two years.

The company, a multi-commodity natural resource company, has mineral projects located in Western and Southern Africa.