VALE Vale SA

By Adria Calatayud

Horizonte Minerals PLC (HZM.LN) said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy the Vermelho nickel-cobalt project in Brazil from Vale SA (VALE3.BR) for $8 million.

Horizonte, a nickel-development company with listings in the U.K. and Canada, said it plans to raise up to 8.5 million pounds ($11.4 million) through share placings in the U.K. and Canada to fund the deal.

By issuing 200 million new shares in the U.K. at 3.5 pence each, the company intends to raise up to GBP7 million, it said. This represents a 17% discount from Monday's closing price in London.

The company added that it intends to raise a further GBP1.5 million in Canada, through a private placement of 42.9 million shares.

Vermelho, a 2,000-hectare site located in the Brazilian state of Para, was approved by Vale in 2005 and has an annual production capacity of 46,000 tons of nickel and 2,500 tons of cobalt, Horizonte said. Along with the rights to the project, Horizonte will acquire all data from Vale's feasibility study, it added.

Further development of the project will be subject to the company being granted the required mining license, Horizonte said.

London-listed shares in Horizonte at 0803 GMT were down 8.3% at 3.85 pence.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2017 03:29 ET (08:29 GMT)

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