Raise of £2.5 million for Exploration Activities

RNS Number : 0942G

Alien Metals Limited

23 November 2020

 

Trading Symbols

AIM: UFO

FWB: I3A1

23 November 2020

Alien Metals Ltd

("Alien Metals", "Alien" or "the Company")

ALIEN RAISES £2.5 MILLION TO ACCELERATE EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES IN MEXICO AND AUSTRALIA

Alien Metals Ltd ("Alien Metals", "Alien" or "the Company"), a minerals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has conditionally raised £2,500,000, before expenses, in a Placing of 227,272,727 new ordinary shares ("Placing Shares") at a price of 1.1 pence per share (the "Placing"). The Placing, which was oversubscribed, was undertaken at a 100% premium to the Company's most recent fund raise which included a mixture of new and existing Professional and Institutional investors .

The proceeds from the Placing augment the Company's strong cash balance and will be used to extend and accelerate a range of exploration activities across the Company's portfolio, with immediate programs to be expanded in both Mexico and Western Australia.   Based on current budgets and in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the Board believes that the Company's existing work programs are now fully funded through to end-2021.

Highlights:

· £2,500,000, before expenses, raised through a Placing of new ordinary shares of no-par value

· Proceeds of the Placing to be utilised for high-impact exploration in Mexico and Australia

-  Initial and in-fill drilling to define strike and depth potential and grades of known mineralised veins at Los Campos and San Celso Silver Projects in Mexico following finalisation of drill permit applications 

-  Preliminary Scoping study on the San Celso and Los Campos Silver Projects

-  Development of exploration work on Elizabeth Hill High-Grade Silver project to include detailed geological mapping and trenching program, initial drilling and potential re-entering of the historic mine

-  Initial drilling on highest priority targets of the Hamersley Iron Ore projects in Western Australia 

· Following the Placing, the Company is well capitalised with over £4.3m (US$5.6m) cash available for exploration and working capital purposes

· Funds will also be used to continue to evaluate strategic opportunities and to conduct detailed reviews on prospective new projects 

THE PLACING

The Company is pleased to announce that it has conditionally raised £2,500,000 (before expenses), through a Placing of 227,272,727 new ordinary shares of no-par value each in the capital of the Company (the "Placing Shares") at an issue price of 1.1 pence per share (the "Issue Price") (the "Placing").

The Placing was arranged by Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited ("Turner Pope") and undertaken with a combination of new and existing Professional and Institutional investors.

Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director of Alien Metals, commented:

"I am really pleased with the placing result and ongoing strong support from Turner Pope Investments and its clients, including institutional investors.

"The proceeds of this Placing will be utilised to fast-track activities in all our projects and allow us to really advance them all with larger exploration budgets. With the continued strength of silver, iron ore and gold prices, we are excited that with these additional funds we can really fast-track on our projects.  

"We are eager to undertake a follow-up work program at the Hamersley Iron Ore projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia with some maiden drilling; we now have the scope to test additional priority prospects in more detail to materially advance them.  

"We continue to push for the award of drill permits in Mexico to pursue our maiden drilling programs on both San Celso and Los Campos Silver projects, which will now be subject to larger programs to further define the potential of the projects.

"The Company looks forward to updating the market on a range of fronts in coming months."   

USE OF PROCEEDS FOR WORK PROGRAM

The net proceeds secured from the Placing will fund the 2021 exploration activities and be utilised towards exploration and development of the Company's assets, including the following activities:

Mexico  

Placing proceeds will be used to fund maiden drill programs and potentially follow up in-fill programs at both the San Celso and Los Campos silver projects to start developing initial resources for both projects. Metallurgical testing will be factored in as well as for San Celso continuing to add strategic ground contiguous to the project to enhance its potential and ground holding. An initial scoping study is also envisaged for either or both of San Celso and Los Campos, dependent on positive drill results.

Alien will also continue to review other project opportunities that may fit with the Company's strategy and experience within Mexico and surrounding jurisdictions.

Australia

Following finalisation of the digitisation of historical data, the Placing proceeds will be used to update resource modelling and undertake a comprehensive trenching and sampling program at the Elizabeth Hill Silver project with possibility of some initial drilling to follow. Further, the Company is planning to undertake more detailed exploration across the conditionally acquired Exploration Licence ELA 47/4422, which surrounds Elizabeth Hill.

As per the RNS dated 29 October 2020, the Company plans to follow-up on five priority prospects at the Hamersley Iron Ore Projects that were identified for next stage exploration. This program, subject to the final laboratory results,  will entail some in-fill surface sampling and mapping but more importantly maiden drilling programs on the priority prospects. For the Brockman Project, three targets focus on the historic high-grade BHP prospect numbers BHP15, BHP19 and BHP20, with Prospect BHP15 still to be mapped and sampled while for prospects 19 and 20 final interpretation of recent field work will hopefully lead to detailed planning of a maiden drilling program. Two key targets in the Hancock Ranges Project are the Sirius Extension prospect, that has previously been drilled by Volta Mining (refer RNS dated September 20th, 2019 for further information), and the Kalgan Prospect in the north-north-west of the project, that the Company believes has excellent potential.

Part of this new funding is now planned to be used for some initial scout drilling on the highest priority targets following the planned field mapping and sampling work.

The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 28 per cent to the closing mid-market price of 1.525p on 20 November 2020, and a discount of approximately 13 per cent to the 5-day VWAP of 1.257p up to 20 November 2020, being the latest practicable date before this Announcement.

The Placing Price is 100 per cent above that of the September 2020 fund raise.

The Placing is conditional on Admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM and, following Admission, the Placing Shares will represent, in aggregate, approximately 6.7 per cent of the Company's enlarged issued share capital. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with existing Ordinary Shares in issue and application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the 227,272,727 Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission of the Placing Shares is expected to become effective at 8:00 am on or around 30 November 2020.

Following Admission, the Company will have 3,415,997,575 Ordinary Shares of no par value in issue. The Company has no shares in treasury, therefore the figure of 3,415,997,575 should be used by shareholders for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change of their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Broker Warrants

In addition, Turner Pope has been issued with 13,600,000 warrants to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares at 1.3 pence each, exercisable for a period of three years from Admission.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.alienmetals.uk , or contact:

Alien Metals Limited Bill Brodie Good, CEO & Technical Director St-James' Corporate Services, Company Secretary Tel: [phone]	Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited (Joint Broker) Andy Thacker/ Zoe Alexander Tel [phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad) James Biddle/ Roland Cornish www.beaumontcornish.com Tel: [phone]	First Equity Limited (Joint Broker) Jason Robertson  Tel [phone]
Blytheweigh (Financial PR) Megan Ray/Rachael Brooks Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

Alien Metals Ltd is a mining exploration and development company listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE: UFO). The Company's focus is on precious and base metal commodities.

Alien Metals has embarked upon an acquisition-led strategy headed by a high-quality geological team to build a strong portfolio of diversified assets including two recent acquisitions in 2019. These include the Brockman and Hancock Ranges high-grade (Direct Shipping Ore) iron ore projects and the Elizabeth Hill Silver project, both located in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.

In addition to progressing and developing its portfolio of assets and following its strategic review of its portfolio of silver and precious metals projects in Mexico, Alien Metals has identified priority exploration targets within its 9 mining concessions which it is working to advance systematically. The Company's silver projects are located in the Zacatecas State, Mexico's largest silver producing state which produced over 190m oz of silver in 2018 alone accounting for 45% of the total silver production of Mexico for that year.

 

END

 

 

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