Partial sale of stake in Bacanora Minerals

RNS Number : 1375Q

Cadence Minerals PLC

07 September 2017

 

Cadence Minerals Plc

("Cadence Minerals", "Cadence" or "the Company")

Cadence Minerals delivers a £2.7 million profit on the partial sale of its equity stake in Bacanora Minerals Ltd.

Cadence Minerals is pleased to announce that it has sold approximately 8.90 million shares representing 42% of its equity stake in Bacanora Minerals Ltd ("Bacanora") for gross proceeds of £6.23 million. Cadence purchased these shares between June 2013 and September 2014 for £3.56 million. The realised gross profit from this sale is £2.67 million, or a 75% realised a return on our equity investment.

As announced in the cleansing statement on the 21 August 2017, Cadence Minerals was approached by a single strategic investor who was interested in taking a material portion of the total equity stake owned by Cadence in Bacanora. Subsequent to this, and after further negotiations, management determined that Cadence should re-engage with institutional investors to complete the sale. As such Cadence has sold approximately 8.9 million shares  to several institutional investors, and it has for the time being ceased discussions with the strategic investor.

Cadence Minerals continues to have great confidence in Bacanora Minerals and its management team, and we look forward to being a supportive shareholder and joint venture partner in the development of the Sonora Lithium  Project. We continue to believe that the Sonora Lithium Project has the potential to be a significant producer of battery grade lithium carbonate and will form an important part of the global lithium compound supply chain in the coming years.

Nonetheless given that Cadence is an Investment company, Cadence has taken this decision to realise some of the profits from this investment for two principal reasons.

First, it is important of itself that we realise investment profits in a timely fashion for the benefit of the Company.

Second, this is also a strategic decision to redeploy some of the sale proceeds for reinvestment in other early stage mineral exploration companies where we can both hold larger stakes and add our considerable mining and financial management expertise to achieve returns of a similarly high level to those made on our Bacanora investment to date.

The board and its strategy have evolved significantly since the Company took a minority stake in Bacanora four years ago and it will be an increasingly stronger theme with our new investments that we take a more active role in the management of the companies we invest in.

In addition, we also will utilise the Companies now bolstered balance sheet to renegotiate the current debt facility which is redeemable during the current fiscal year.

The Sonora Lithium Project and Details of Cadence's ownership:

Subsequent to this disposal Cadence Minerals will hold 9.3% of the equity in Bacanora Minerals and 30% of Mexalit and Megalit joint venture companies. Mexalit is the owner of the El Sauz, El Sauz 1, El Sauz 2, Fleur and Fleur 1 mineral concessions. These concessions form part of the Sonora Lithium Project as assessed in the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") published in April 2016 by Bacanora.

As of the date of publication of the PFS,  The Sonora Lithium Project contained some 7.2 million tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent ("LCE") within the indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate categories sit on the of which  of which 2.1 million tonnes of LCE were classified as probable mineral reserves. Of these mineral resources and reserves, 4.1 million tonnes of LCE total mineral resources and 1.7 million tonnes of LCE probable mineral reserves sit within mineral concessions owned by Mexalit.

Megalit does not form part of the Sonora Lithium Project as defined PFS and as yet has had no mineral resource estimate carried out on it.

The direct and indirect interests of Cadence in the Sonora Lithium Project and other mineral concessions in the Sonora province are as follows:

- La Ventana and La Ventana 1, which are 100 percent owned by Minera Sonora Borax S.A. de C.V.("MSB"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bacanora; Cadence, through its direct interest of 9.3% of Bacanora, has an indirect interest in these concessions of 9.3%.

- El Sauz, El Sauz 1, El Sauz 2, Fleur and Fleur 1 concessions, which are held by Mexilit S.A. de C.V. ("Mexilit"). Cadence has a 30% direct interest in Mexalit through its Joint Venture with Bacanora, and when combined with Cadence's direct interest of 9.3% in Bacanora, has a total economic interest in Mexalit of 36.5%.

- Buenavista, San Gabriel and Megalit concessions, which are held by Megalit S.A. de C.V. ("Meglait"). Cadence has a 30% direct interest in Mexalit through its Joint Venture with Bacanora, and when combined with Cadence's direct interest of 9.3% in Bacanora, has a total economic interest in Mexalit of 36.5%.

Prior to publication, certain information contained within this announcement was deemed to constitute inside information for the purposes of Article 7 or EU Regulation 596/2014. Upon publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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For further information please contact
Cadence Minerals plc	[phone]
Andrew Suckling
Kiran Morzaria
WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Broker)	[phone]
James Joyce
James Bavister
Hannam & Partners LLP (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Neil Passmore
Giles Fitzpatrick
Square1 Consulting	[phone]
David Bick

About Cadence Minerals:

Cadence is dedicated to smart investments for a greener world. The planet needs rechargeable batteries on a global scale - upcoming supersized passenger vehicles, lorries and buses - require lithium and other technology minerals to power their cells. Cadence is helping find these minerals in new places and extracting them in new ways, which will meet the demand of this burgeoning market. With over £35 million vested in key assets globally, Cadence is helping us reach tomorrow, today.

Cadence invests across the globe, principally in lithium mining projects. Its primary strategy is taking significant economic stakes in upstream exploration and development assets within strategic metals. We identify assets that have strategic cost advantages that are not replicable, with the aim of achieving lower quartile production costs. The combination of this approach and seeking value opportunities allows us to identify projects capable of achieving high rates of return.

The Cadence board has a blend of mining, commodity investing, fund management and deal structuring knowledge and experience, that is supported by access to key marketing, political and industry contacts. These resources are leveraged not only in our investment decisions but also in continuing support of our investments, whether it be increasing market awareness of an asset, or advising on product mix or path to production. Cadence Mineral's goal is to assist management to rapidly develop the project up the value curve and deliver excellent returns on its investments.

 

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