Broker Option - Fully Subscribed

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.

8 June 2020

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")

Broker Option - Fully Subscribed

Further to the announcement made at 7am on 4 June 2020, the Company advises that the Broker Option - a facility to allow existing shareholders to participate in the Fundraise on similar terms to the Placing announced, has been fully subscribed for by existing shareholders of the Company. This brings the total amount raised by the Company under the Placing and Broker Option to £1,200,000 before expenses.

The Broker Option has raised £100,000 at a price of 0.45p per share through the issue of 22,222,223 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the Company ("Offer Shares").

Application for Admission

Application will be made for the 22,222,223 Offer Shares to be admitted 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 or around 12 June 2020.  Once issued, the Offer Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each. 

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will comprise 1,734,297,949 Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each.  The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. Consequently, 1,734,297,949 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 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 2019, the Company entered into arrangements to acquire the balance of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project.  This was completed on 24 July 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.