Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.
4th March 2019
Strategic Minerals plc
("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")
Issuance of Final Shares for Leigh Creek Copper Mine Acquisition
Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials, is pleased to announce that further to the announcement dated 10 April 2018, the Company has arranged the issuance of the remaining 2,866,730 shares due to Resilience Mining Australia Limited ("RMA"), in respect of the acquisition of Leigh Creek Copper Mine Pty Ltd ("LCCM").
Under the Share Purchase Agreement ("SPA"), signed on 5 March 2018, the Company provided RMA shares in Strategic Minerals to the value of AUD 1,450,000 based on the March 2018 volume weighted average price and the relevant exchange rate as quoted by the Reserve Bank of Australia. As per the SPA, and to provide warranties associated with the acquisition, shares representing AUD 100,000 of the total amount were not to be issued until the first anniversary of the signing of the contract, provided no warranty claim was made during this one year period.
The boards of SML and RMA agreed that the total number of SML shares to be issued was 41,567,630, of which 38,700,900 were issued in March 2018 and the remaining 2,866,730 were be issued on 5 March 2019, subject to no warranty claim having been made.
Admission to AIM and Total Voting Rights
Application has been made for admission of these 2,866,730 new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take place and that trading will commence on AIM at 8.00 a.m. on 6 March 2019.
Following Admission, there will be a total of 1,404,059,857 Ordinary Shares in issue. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. Consequently, 1,404,059,857 is the figure which may be used by shareholders 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 Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Notes to Editors
Strategic Minerals Plc is an AIM-quoted, operating minerals company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials. It has an operation in the United States of America and development projects in the UK and Australia. The Company is focused on utilising its operating cash flows, along with capital raisings, to develop high quality projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals being sought in the burgeoning electric vehicle/battery market.
In September 2011, Strategic Minerals acquired the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA, a cash-generating asset, which it brought into production in 2012 and which continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. This operating revenue stream is utilised to cover company overheads and invest in development projects orientated to supplying the burgeoning electric vehicle/battery market.
In January 2016, the portfolio was expanded with the acquisition of shares in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd, which holds tenements in Western Australia and the Northern Territory that are prospective for cobalt, gold, nickel sulphides and rare earth elements. The Company has since acquired all shares in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd. In September 2018, the Company entered contracts for the sale of certain CARE tenements that have been identified as gold targets.
In May 2016, the Company entered into an agreement with New Age Exploration Limited and, in February 2017, acquired 50% of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project in Cornwall, UK. The bulk of the funds from the Company's investment were utilised to complete a drilling programme that year. The drilling programme resulted in a significant upgrade of the resource. The 12-hole 2018 drilling programme has been completed and the subsequent resource update was announced in February 2019.
In March 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of the Leigh Creek Copper Mine situated in the copper rich belt of South Australia and is currently working to bring this into operation in 2019.
