Firering Strategic Minerals plc / EPIC: FRG / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

26 July 2022

Firering Strategic Minerals plc

("Firering" or "the Company")

AGM Statement

Firering Strategic Minerals plc, an exploration company focusing on critical minerals, is hosting its 2022 Annual General Meeting ("AGM") today at Hill Dickinson LLP, The Broadgate Tower, 20 Primrose Street, London EC2A 2EW at 1.00pm BST. 

At the AGM, Yuval Rasin, Chairman of the Company, will make the following statement:

"I am delighted to be presiding at our first annual general meeting since listing on AIM in November 2021. The past year has been a period of significant progress from both a corporate and operational perspective as we advance towards our objective of becoming a key supplier of critical minerals to fast growing markets.  Central to this strategy is our two-year exploration campaign at our flagship Atex Lithium-Tantalum Project, which the Board believes has the potential to become Africa's next significant lithium pegmatite and coltan resource.

"In conjunction with our AIM listing in Q4, we successfully raised £4 million to support an accelerated development and exploration programme at Atex.  These funds were immediately put to work, and, within a month of listing, we updated the market with our first geological update from the project.  This update, delivered detailed geological mapping of the Atex licence area, confirmed a pegmatite zone of at least 13km x 4km; an area many multiples larger than originally anticipated.

"Building on this initial exploration success, the Firering team mapped out an exploration and activity schedule which combined a first phase of auger drilling campaign, infill auger sampling, and a 3,000m Phase 1 diamond core drilling campaign which commenced last week.  In addition, trenching across Spodumene Hill continues with further work defining the 100m apparent width of pegmatite identified on Trench 1 and work commencing on Trench 2 further north on the hill. Furthermore, a pit sampling programme has commenced on and around Spodumene Hill to define the design for the pilot 'Multi Gravity Separation' plant, ensuring the multiple dimensions of our development plan are advanced in parallel.

"Such is our confidence in the strategic importance of the emergent critical mineral industry, Firering has been proactive in consolidating and expanding our mineralised footprint in West Africa.  In December 2021, Firering announced the acquisition of 51% of Alliance Minerals Corporation, providing Firering with a controlling interest in the licence application adjacent to Atex.  Furthermore, our ambitious mindset regarding expansion opportunities was demonstrated by the recent acquisition of the Toura Nickel-Cobalt Licence in Côte d'Ivoire.  This acquisition is in line with the Company's strategy to focus on critical metals and embodies the plethora of other new and exciting opportunities in the strategic metals space that Firering hopes to pursue.

"As we move into the second half of 2022, we are looking forward to delivering results from our Atex drilling programme, targeting the lithium-bearing pegmatites as part of the fully funded diamond drilling campaign, which continues to increase our understanding of this highly prolific lithium-tantalum project.  The coming months are set to be punctuated with high impact news flow which will set the scene for our transition into an ethical and sustainably centred critical minerals producer."

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 For further information and updates on Firering's exploration programme, visit www.fireringplc.com or contact the following:

Firering Strategic Minerals

Firering Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted mining company focused on exploring and developing a portfolio of mines producing critical minerals in the Côte d'Ivoire including lithium and Tantalum to support the global transition to net zero emissions. It operates the 77% owned Atex Lithium-Tantalum Project in northern Côte d'Ivoire, which is prospective for both lithium and tantalum.  Firering intends to advance development at Atex with a view to establishing a maiden Lithium resource and a pilot scale production of ethical tantalum and niobium production within 18 months to generate early revenues and support further exploration work.  A large-scale Tantalum production facility will be developed following pilot results, which will be supported by a debt facility of FCFA 5,057,000,000 (approximately €7,500,000) currently under negotiation to fund the entire scale-up plan to develop a portfolio of ethically sourced mineral projects in the Côte d'Ivoire, supplying EV batteries, high tech electronics and other fast-growing end markets.