Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
For immediate release
18 July 2017
Premier African Minerals Limited
("Premier" or the "Company")
Premier Increases stake in Circum Minerals Limited
Summary
Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-traded, multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused in Southern and Western Africa is pleased to announce that it has today conditionally agreed to acquire from Aspen Capital Partners Limited ("Aspen") an additional interest of 649,333 shares in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum") (representing 0.7 per cent. of the issued share capital of Circum) at a value of US$1.50 per Circum share for an aggregate consideration of US$974,000 ("Purchase"). Following completion of the Purchase, Premier's holding in Circum will amount to 2,649,333 Circum shares in aggregate, representing 2.7% of issued share capital of Circum.
The Company has satisfied the consideration due through the issue to Aspen of 189,491,750 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each ("New Shares") at yesterday's closing bid price of 0.4p per share for an aggregate consideration of £757,967. The New Shares will, when issued rank pari passu in all respects with the existing shares. The Application will be made for the New Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on or around 24 July 2017.
Circum is a privately-owned potash development company which operates the Danakil Potash project in Ethiopia. Circum has published an optimised DFS which reports a pre-tax net present value (NPV) for the Danakil Potash project of US$2.8 billion and a pre-tax nominal internal rate of return (IRR) of 29%. The after-tax NPV and nominal IRR were US$2.1 billion and 26%, respectively.
George Roach, CEO commented: "Circum's wholly-owned Danakil Potash Project is a tier one, world class asset that will be developed and is expected to afford Premier with a significant liquidity and profit event. By direct comparison to neighbouring and other potash development projects, Circum is significantly more advanced, has major size advantage and will be one of the lowest cost producers of potash salts in the world. Increasing our stake in Circum further underwrites our asset base."
Further information on Circum
The information on Circum set out below has been extracted from previously reported public disclosures in respect of Circum and which are available from Circum's website.
Circum is a privately-owned potash development company which operates the Danakil Potash project in Ethiopia. The project has a NI 43-101 compliant resource of 4.9 billion tonnes potassium in a very prolific potash basin in Ethiopia. In July 2015, the Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") was completed to the standard of a NI 43-101 Canadian securities code compliant Feasibility Study under the overall supervision of Senet (Pty) Ltd of South Africa ("Senet"). K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies of Germany ("K-UTEC") provided resource definition and wellfield and plant design. Umvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd. provided water resource modelling and Environmental Resource Management (ERM) conducted the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.
In February 2016, Circum, together with its independent consultants Senet and K-UTEC, reviewed the costs in the DFS. Through their analysis, development capital costs were reduced by US$276 million and operating costs were reduced by approximately US$3 per tonne.
Circum is targeting production of 2.0 million tonnes per annum of Muriate of Potash ("MOP"), the most common form of potash fertilizer, and 0.75 million tonnes per annum of Sulfate of Potash ("SOP"), a premium fertilizer product, with production anticipated to start in 2022.
Due to the shallow nature of the deposit, the Danakil Potash Project will be amenable to low-cost, low-risk, in-situ leaching. Also, the extremely hot surface temperatures and high evaporation rates will allow the use of solar evaporation all year round. As a result, mine gate cash costs are projected to be among the lowest in the potash industry, estimated at US$38 per tonne MOP and US$112 per tonne SOP. Total operating costs (FOB Tadjoura Port, Djibouti) are forecast at US$81 per tonne of MOP and US$156 per tonne of SOP (before the inclusion of royalties payable to the Ethiopian government which are levied at 4% of the Djibouti FOB price minus transport costs from mine gate to port).
The Danakil Potash Project has a low capital intensity due to its shallow potash horizons and proximity to planned infrastructure. Total initial development capital is estimated at US$2.3 billion, including contingencies. Due to revenue from the ramp up in initial production (estimated at close to US$500 million), peak funding is currently planned at just over US$1.8 billion. Given the scale of the Project, at an implied capital intensity of US$838 per tonne, Circum's Danakil Project will be one of the most capital efficient potash projects in the world.
The optimized DFS reported a pre-tax net present value (NPV) for the Danakil Project of US$2.8 billion and a pre-tax nominal internal rate of return (IRR) of 29%. The after-tax NPV and nominal IRR were US$2.1 billion and 26%, respectively.
In the year ended 31 December 2016, Circum's reported loss before taxation amounted to US$323,305 and total assets as at 31 December 2016 amounted to US$59,739,438.
For further detail, please click on the link to the Circum presentation
www.circumminerals.com/presentations.
Acquisition of additional interest in Circum
Today's Purchase is part of part of a broader proposal that Premier made to certain Circum shareholders who are willing sellers and who are not restricted under the Circum Shareholder Alliance Agreement from disposing of all or part of their holdings in Circum. Premier proposes to acquire, at its discretion, up to a further 10% interest (in aggregate including today's Purchase) in Circum at a price of US$1.50 per Circum share, which together with Premier's existing 2% interest in Circum, will increase Premier's holding in Circum to 12%, in exchange for the issue of new Premier ordinary shares. The maximum consideration would amount to approximately US$14.511 million in the event that the Company completes the purchase of the additional 10% interest in Circum.
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the New Shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of 4,580,513,769 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.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014
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.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Enquiries:
Fuad Sillem |
Premier African Minerals Limited |
Tel: +44 (0)7734 922074 |
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 |
Jon Belliss |
Beaufort Securities Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8300 |
Charles Goodwin/ Harriet Jackson |
Yellow Jersey PR Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 7747 788221 |
Notes to Editors:
Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and natural 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 include tungsten, rare earth elements, gold, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and Benin, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company recently acquired a 52% controlling stake in Mozambique-based TCT Industrias Florestais Limitada, which owns a substantial limestone deposit and forestry business located on rail in the Sofala Province of Mozambique. In addition, the Company holds 2,649,333 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$5.2 million based on the latest price at which Circum has accepted subscriptions. Premier also has an interest in Casa Mining Limited, a privately-owned exploration company that has a 71.25% interest in the 1.2 million ounce inferred resource Akyanga gold deposit in the DRC.
Glossary
KCI: Potassium Chloride
MOP: Muriate of Potash
SOP: Sulphate of Potash
ENDS
