Zulu Project update and equity issue

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

For immediate release

9 July 2015

Premier African Minerals Limited

("Premier" or the "Company")

Early Development at the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project and Equity Issue

 

Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-traded, multi-commodity mining and resource development company focused on Southern and Western Africa, is pleased to announce that it has today raised £450,000 through the issue of new ordinary shares to finance commencement of early development at the Company's Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project.

 

The Company has today issued, conditional on admission, 22,500,000 new ordinary shares ("Subscription Shares") at a subscription price of 2 pence per Subscription Share (the "Subscription") together with the issue of 1,350,000 warrants to subscribe for new ordinary shares ("Subscription Warrants") at an exercise price of 3p per new ordinary share at any time on or before the third anniversary of the issue of the Subscription Warrants. The Subscription Shares will, when issued, rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. Application will be made for the Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place around the 15 July 2015. The gross proceeds of the subscription amounts to £450,000 and will be used by the Company to provide additional working capital for the advancement of its Zulu Lithium and Tantalum projects.

George Roach, CEO, commented:

"Following an unsolicited approach, the Company is pleased to have completed this direct placement intended primarily to develop the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project (the Zulu Project), which is a pegmatite with massive lithium mineralisation. Ore bodies such as this lend themselves to rapid development through pilot plant production both as an exploration tool and as a revenue producer. The investor support is gratifying and an endorsement of the Board's strategy and will support rapid development of this project. This is most encouraging news together with the developments at RHA announced on the 8^th July 2015."

Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project

 

An update on the Zulu Project was included in the Company's RNS dated the 15^th February 2015 and is reproduced below without material amendment or adjustment.

 

"Older drill core samples from late 2011, see Table 4, with known low, medium and high grade lithium mineralisation have been re-submitted to SGS, Johannesburg for an ICP-OES/ICP-MS multi-element scan using a different digestion method than in the past.  This now applied total digestion method has returned Li2O grades which are on average 15% higher than in earlier assays.  The highest encountered grade is 1.74 Li2O over 1 m compared to 1.5% Li2O over 1 m in the past, see Table 5.  The higher lithium grades may positively influence the overall economics of the Zulu Project.

 

Recent reconnaissance sampling of the eluvial cover along the 5km long Zulu pegmatite has revealed the presence of discrete tantalite grains in the eluvium along the eastern side of the pegmatite.  The maximum grade found in the eluvium so far is 98 ppm Ta2O5. Outcrop samples taken in the extreme south and north of the pegmatite body returned Ta2O5 grades of 297ppm and 280ppm respectively.

 

The Zulu pegmatite is characterised by an extensive 5km long lithium mineralisation consisting of petalite in the south, spodumene in the north and ubiquitous lepidolite, as well as a locally strong tantalum mineralisation.  The most eastern parts of the pegmatite could also host a caesium mineralisation in the form of pollucite, a white mineral which is easily overlooked as it strongly resembles quartz.  The highest grade encountered so far is 195 ppm Cs2O in an outcrop sample.  Pollucite as a source of caesium is mined only in Manitoba, Canada and at the Bikita Mine in Zimbabwe."

 

 Table 4: Diamond drillholes drilled in 2011 on Zulu project

BH_ID	Easting	Northing	Dip	Azimuth	End of hole (EOH)
DD 1	751165	7782428	-50°	271°	524m
DD 1a	751165	7782460	-50°	305°	275m
DD 2a	751239	7782640	-50°	296°	373m
DD 3	751255	7782801	-50°	293°	300m
DD 4	751314	7782980	-50°	293°	344m
DD 5	751406	7782981	-50°	347°	420m
				Total:	2236m

 

 

Table 5: Comparison between historic (2012) and recent (2015) Li2O grades

 

Sample	Drillhole	From / to (m)	Length (m)	Li2O historic (%)	Li2O new (%)
2416	Zulu DD 1a	224.38 - 225.38	1.00	0.69	0.87
2417	Zulu DD 1a	225.38 - 226.38	1.00	0.51	0.71
2425	Zulu DD 1a	233.38 - 234.38	1.00	1.51	1.58
2430	Zulu DD 1a	238.38 - 239.38	1.00	1.57	1.74
2454	Zulu DD 1a	87.18 - 88.18	1.00	0.10	0.07
2457	Zulu DD 1a	91.92 - 92.92	1.00	0.40	0.64

 

2458	Zulu DD 1a	92.92 - 93.92	1.00	0.75	0.90
2459	Zulu DD 1a	93.94 - 94.38	1.00	0.46	0.67
2460	Zulu DD 1a	94.38 - 95.38	1.00	0.58	0.74
2461	Zulu DD 1a	95.38 - 96.38	1.00	0.79	1.24
2462	Zulu DD 1a	96.38 - 97.38	1.00	0.56	0.66
2465	Zulu DD 2a	316.38 - 316.58	0.20	0.02	0.01
2477	Zulu DD 2a	329.38 - 331.00	1.62	0.07	0.04
2489	Zulu DD 2a	343.78 - 344.78	1.00	0.00	0.00
2490	Zulu DD 2a	344.78 - 345.70	0.92	0.01	0.00
2495	Zulu DD 1a	152.18 - 154.38	2.20	0.58	0.39
2496	Zulu DD 1a	156.40 - 159.00	2.60	0.26	0.16

 

 

Securities now in issue   

Following the issue of these Subscription Shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of 668,871,512 ordinary shares, with voting rights. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and 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.

 

Qualified Person

Wolfgang Hampel, Exploration Manager of Premier African Minerals Limited, reviewed and approved the Company's regulatory announcement dated 10^th February 2015 in respect of inter alia the Zulu Project and the attachments thereto that are available for download from the Premier website. Mr Hampel has 24 years' experience in the African, American, European and Asian exploration and mining industry and holds a Diploma in Economic Geology (Dipl.-Geol.) from the Technical University of Munich. He is a registered European Geologist (EurGeol), n° 1261, with the European Federation of Geologists.

 

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.

 

 

Enquiries

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
Kelsey Traynor/Dominic Barretto	Yellow Jersey PR Limited	Tel: +44 (0) 779 900 3220

 

 

Notes

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and resource development company focused in Southern and Western Africa with production started at its flagship RHA project in Zimbabwe.

The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which includes tungsten, rare earth elements, gold, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and Togo, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company also holds 2 million shares in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia, which has the potential to be a world class asset. At present those shares are valued at US$2.5 million based on the latest price at which Circum has accepted subscriptions.

ENDS