Process Plant Order Confirmed

Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

 

For immediate release

 

8 December 2014

 

Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier" or "the Company")

Process Plant Order Confirmed

Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-traded, multi-commodity natural resource company with mineral projects located in Southern and Western Africa, today confirms that it has placed an order for the process plant for the RHA Tungsten Project ("RHA") in Zimbabwe, in respect of which Premier is the operator and holds a 49% interest.

 

George Roach, CEO of Premier, commented: "Confirming this order is a further step in the process of re-opening the RHA mine. Although the initial deposit has been paid from our cash on hand, additional finance as set out in our press release of 25 November 2014 will still be required and we continue our advanced negotiations on off-take and/or marketing contracts and other finance options."

 

Process Plant

The process plant is designed to meet a throughput of 16 tonnes per hour or 8,000 tonnes per month and a wolframite recovery of 82.8% as described in our press release of 28 October 2014. The stated production rate excludes any consideration of a pre-concentration circuit which, if implemented in future, could increase the plant throughput fivefold at a 20% recovery loss as determined in the metallurgical test work announced on 10 September 2014. The modular plant will be built in Johannesburg by Appropriate Process Technologies (APT). The modules will be containerised and trucked to site where it is expected that the process plant will be fully commissioned by mid-2015. The PEA released on 28 October 2014 modelled average gross monthly revenue before expenses of US$1.78m.

 

Finance

The cost of the process plant inclusive of final installation is US$2,126,403. The deposit is US$1,063,201, payable in two tranches: US$688,016 has been paid and the balance of US$375,185 is payable on or before 15 January 2015. In terms of our shareholders' agreement with the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund, it is RHA that carries the responsibility of financing the mine construction. Premier's spend to date, inclusive of exploration and development costs is secured under a loan account with RHA. In the event that RHA is reliant on Premier to secure the required finance, then RHA is obliged to meet the cost of that finance.

 

Qualified Person

Werner Swanepoel, Chief Operating Officer of Premier, has reviewed and approved this release to the extent that information contained herein relates to mining and mine development. Mr Swanepoel has 20 years' experience in the southern African mining industry and holds a Master's degree in Mining Engineering, an MBA and Mine Manager's Certificates in both Metalliferous and Coal Mining. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

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.

 

For further information please visit www.premierafricanminerals.com or contact the following:

 

Pamela Hueston	Premier African Minerals Limited	Tel: +44 (0) 755 778 3855
Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish	Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: +44 (0) 207 628 3396
Jerry Keen/ Edward Mansfield	Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited	Tel: +44 (0) 207 408 4090
Tim Blythe/ Halimah Hussain	BlytheWeigh	Tel: +44 (0) 207 138 3204

 

 

Notes

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity exploration and development company focused in Southern and Western Africa. The Company has a diverse portfolio of multi-commodity projects which includes tungsten, rare earth elements, gold, lithium, tantalum, graphite and uranium in Zimbabwe and Togo, which span from brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company holds 2m shares in Circum Minerals Ltd ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project. At inception, the shares had a fair value of US$1.4m. Circum is fully funded to completion of feasibility study.