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.
10th June 2019
Strategic Minerals plc
("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")
Cobre Client Update
Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials, wishes to inform the market that the payments of just over US$4 million, to be made by the major client at Cobre by 7th June 2019, referred to in the Company's announcement of 24th May 2019, have not, as yet, been received. The client has been keeping the Company informed of procedural delays to its funding lines and continues to indicate that payment is imminent. However, despite the client's assurances, the Company considers that it is in the best interests of shareholders to prepare a claim for service on the client, which is likely to seek damages in excess of the amounts due.
John Peters, Managing Director of Strategic Minerals, commented:
"The Company is hopeful that a non-litigious solution can be reached with the major Cobre client. However, in the best interests of shareholders, the board has agreed to prepare a claim in relation to potential lost profits associated with the balance of sales due under the contract. It is expected that this claim will be served shortly, and the Company will keep the market apprised of developments in respect of this claim."
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 Australia along with 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 distribution rights to 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 prospective for cobalt, 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 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. This was followed in 2018 with a 12-hole 2018 drilling programme has now been completed and the resource update that resulted 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 brought the project into production in April 2019.
The Company, in March 2019, entered into arrangements to acquire the balance of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project in Cornwall, UK which has now been scheduled for 27 June 2019.
