One of the fastest-growing asset management companies in the United Kingdom, The Seventy Ninth Group, has further expanded its investment portfolio into natural resources through an arm of the business known as Seventy Ninth Resources. With encouraging results from initial exploration at mining concessions in Republic of Guinea, West Africa, by world-leading geologists SRK Exploration, the company is now looking to expedite its road map to the next phase of exploration in the region.

Previously known as Lusso Tesoro Asset Management, Seventy Ninth Resources is the natural resource company which is part of the Webster family portfolio of companies, that also includes the Seventy Ninth Group, and is now the largest natural resource owner in West Africa. The range of Seventy Ninth Resources’ assets consists of multiple resources concessions, including gold, bauxite, iron ore, diamond and cocoa. The majority of the company’s concessions are situated within The Siguiri Basin, a mineral-rich area located in the Republic of Guinea.

This expansion of the Seventy Ninth Resources portfolio is coupled with four real estate projects across the UK, under Seventy Ninth Luxury Living and Seventy Ninth Commercial, bringing the combined portfolio of the Webster family’s total assets to over £1 billion.

The company has now held 18 natural resources concessions in Guinea, three of which are currently undergoing exploration work by world-leading geologists, SRK Exploration. SRK, on Monday 11th July, 2022, published their report on two key permits – Lusso North and Lusso South – from which they extracted a total of 1700 samples. After Ionic Leach Analysis, SRK has now recommended that the exploration moves forward to the drilling phase, as sampling from the first two phases of exploration indicates increased potential for a primary mineral system to exist.

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This means that the company is now able to move SRK’s exploration to the drilling phase earlier than planned; expediting the programme towards achieving a resource estimate.

For the family-owned business, headquartered in the Northwest, this is just the latest milestone in a busy and eventful year as the company experiences unprecedented growth. Seventy Ninth Group was founded by serial entrepreneur David Webster and his sons, Managing Director Jake Webster and Investment Director Curtis Webster. The group focuses on the real estate and natural resource sectors, specialising in the acquisition, management, and development of lucrative assets across these sectors.

Speaking about the continued growth of the business, Chairman, David Webster, commented; “The Webster family has over 30 years’ experience in the real estate sector and became a leader in the space. Then, close to a decade ago, we decided to diversify our offering and moved into the exploration and sourcing of mining concessions.

“Since we first started operating in Guinea, through hard work and enacting the right strategy, we’ve made an abundance of connections on the ground with the local communities and leaders and built a good working knowledge of the exploration process, which ultimately positioned us to develop our own concession opportunities rather than simply purchasing natural resources. This could only be done, however, by spending a lot of time on the ground meeting people and researching, and this is the approach we have continued to take for the past 10 years. We’ve absolutely put our hearts and souls into this project, and we’re now just starting to see the return on our investment. The investment of research, strategy, respect for local culture and practices, and a lot of patience”

David continued; “This is an incredibly exciting time for the business as we continue to expand across the sectors in which we operate. As we grow the Seventy Ninth Resources arm of the business further, we will continue put reinvestment into the local communities in which we work at the core of the operation.

“This is hugely important part of our ethos as an asset management company, and as a family-owned and managed business ourselves, we value loyalty and respect for everyone we work with, from our strategic partners to the people who live and work in the places where we do business.

“While we continue to reinvest in the communities, we will, at the same time, create value for those we work with by utilising our extensive experience to embrace and develop exciting investment opportunities. By working closely with our stakeholders and partners, we are able to establish more – together.”

Regarding the encouraging results of SRK’s latest phase of exploration of Seventy Ninth Resources’ concessions, Natalie Bellis, Chief Executive Officer of the Seventy Ninth Group, said; “We are so excited and intrigued by the recent SRK results, which, not only legitimise the company’s efforts in the region to become the largest owner of natural resources concessions, but also reinforce the business instincts of the Webster family in putting so much time and effort into this project over the past nine years.”

 

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