Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM
/ Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
For immediate
release
15 February
2024
Premier African Minerals
Limited
Funding of Zulu Project and
Update
The Board of Premier African
Minerals Limited ("Premier"
or the "Company") is
pleased to announce a subscription today to raise £2,475,000 on
before expenses at an issue price of 0.275 pence per new ordinary
share for the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project ("Zulu").
Highlights:
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Premier now funded until first
production at Zulu.
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Ball Mill Power on and test run in
situ.
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Commencement of Commercial
Production in late February with first shipments expected in March
2024.
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Thickener Plant completion date 19
February 2024.
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Ongoing negotiations with Zimbabwe
based lenders for working capital facilities at Zulu once in
production are progressing.
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George Roach, CEO, commented,
"This placement assures Zulu of plant startup, subject only to suppliers meeting their obligations and
undertakings. This has and remains Premier single most important
objective at this stage. That is targeted for next week and remains
on target at this time. Early indications are that subsequent
working capital finance will be available from commercial lenders
at Zulu when production is underway as Zulu must begin to fund its
operations without the assistance of Premier once commercial
production has commenced.
Funds now raised will be used
specifically for direct operating expenses at Zulu that
includes.
·
Final payments related to the thickener purchase
and installation,
·
Final payments related to the ball mill and
associated hydrosizers, transport and installation
thereof,
·
Plant operating spares and reagents,
·
Mining costs, and
·
Day to day operating expenses including
diesel."
Funding
As announced on 18 January 2024,
Premier elected to make a significant expansion in the mining
operations to facilitate delivery of ore with less country waste to
ensure against any residual issues with the sorters
(which continue to be optimised) when
plant production recommences at Zulu.
And while the mill has now been
delivered and installed at Zulu, there was a delay with the
delivery which further constrained Premier's cash
resources.
Premier continues to engage with
Zimbabwean based lenders for working capital facilities at Zulu -
these potential lenders need to see production from Zulu and while
Premier strongly believes that Zulu will be able to source a
working capital facility, this is now largely dependent on Zulu
being in production.
Based on the above, Premier believe
that securing funding through the above Subscription is the best
immediate solution to securing further project funding in order to
see Zulu commence production in late February 2024. Once production
has commenced, Premier believe that it should see one or more of
the alternatives to equity-based funding materialise. On this
basis, Premier's current expectation is that it is now fully funded
to first production at Zulu.
Subscription
Premier has today issued by way of a
direct subscription ("Subscription"), conditional on
admission, 900,000,000 new ordinary shares of nil par value
("Subscription Shares") at
a Subscription price of 0.275 pence per Subscription Share. The
Subscription Shares will, when issued, rank pari passu in all respects with the
existing ordinary shares.
CMC Markets UK Plc trading as CMC
CapX, acted as the Company's placing agent in respect of the
placing.
Application will be made for the
Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission
is expected to take place on or around 21 February
2024.
The Subscription has been arranged
within the Company's existing share authorities. Premier intends to
use the proceeds of the Subscription principally to assist with the
ongoing mining operations at Zulu with first production in late
February 2024 and general working capital.
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the
Subscription Shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of
27,816,581,705 Ordinary Shares, with voting rights.
This figure may be used by
shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculation
by which they will determine if they are required to notify their
interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of
the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.
Market Abuse Regulations
The information contained within
this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU)
No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").
The person who arranged the release
of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George
Roach.
A copy of this announcement is
available at the Company's website, www.premierafricanminerals.com.
CMC
CapX
Brokers and investors wishing to
gain access to future CMC Markets transactions, should register
their interest at https://www.cmcmarkets.com/en-gb/capx.
Enquiries:
George Roach
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Premier African Minerals Limited
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Tel: +27 (0) 100 201 281
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Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish
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Beaumont Cornish Limited
(Nominated Adviser)
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
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Douglas Crippen
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CMC
Markets UK Plc
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 3003 8632
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Toby Gibbs/Rachel Goldstein
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Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090
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Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish"), which is authorised
and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct
Authority, is acting as nominated adviser to the Company in
connection with the Subscription and will not regard any other
person as its client and will not be responsible to anyone else for
providing the protections afforded to the clients of Beaumont
Cornish or for providing advice in relation to such proposals.
Beaumont Cornish has not authorised the contents of, or any part
of, this announcement and no liability whatsoever is accepted by
Beaumont Cornish for the accuracy of any information or opinions
contained in this announcement or for the omission of any
information. Beaumont Cornish as nominated adviser to the Company
owes certain responsibilities to the London Stock Exchange which
are not owed to the Company, the Directors, shareholders or any
other person.
Forward
Looking Statements
Certain statements in this announcement are or
may be deemed to be forward looking statements. Forward looking
statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as
''believe'' ''could'' "should" ''envisage'' ''estimate'' ''intend''
''may'' ''plan'' ''will'' or the negative of those variations or
comparable expressions including references to assumptions. These
forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but
rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions
regarding the Company's future growth results of operations
performance future capital and other expenditures (including the
amount. Nature and sources of funding thereof) competitive
advantages business prospects and opportunities. Such forward
looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and
assumptions and are based on information currently available to the
Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking
statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general
economic and business conditions competition environmental and
other regulatory changes actions by governmental authorities the
availability of capital markets reliance on key personnel uninsured
and underinsured losses and other factors many of which are beyond
the control of the Company. Although any forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors
believe to be reasonable assumptions. The Company cannot assure
investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward
looking statements.
Notes to
Editors:
Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is
a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company
focused on Southern Africa with its RHA Tungsten and Zulu Lithium
projects in Zimbabwe.
The Company has a diverse portfolio of
projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, lithium and
tantalum in Zimbabwe and lithium and gold in Mozambique,
encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production
potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company has accepted a
share offer by Vortex Limited ("Vortex") for the exchange of
Premier's entire 4.8% interest in Circum Minerals Limited
("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia,
for a 13.1% interest in the enlarged share capital of Vortex.
Vortex has an interest of 36.7% in Circum.
Ends