Acquisition - Canadian Graphite Project

RNS Number : 7042L

Power Metal Resources PLC

04 January 2023

 

4 January 2023

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Acquisition - Canadian Graphite Project

New Battery Commodities Vehicle

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW),  the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces the acquisition of the 4,222-hectare Doerksen Bay graphite Project ("Doerksen Bay" or the "Project") located in mining friendly Saskatchewan, Canada. Power Metal also announces the formation of ION Battery Resources Limited, a new UK private battery metals and minerals focused vehicle.

HIGHLIGHTS

· The acquisition of Doerksen Bay gives Power Metal shareholders exposure to the exciting graphite space, a key component in new age battery technology.

· Graphite flake prices are trading near to historic highs, and tight supply is expected to underpin the graphite market into 2023.¹

· Historical rock samples from Doerksen Bay have returned graphite grades of up to 45% carbon (C) from coarse-grained graphitic gneiss ².

· The Project complements the Company's Authier North/Duval East as well as North Wind lithium projects which are all to be held within a newly incorporated special purpose battery commodities vehicle, ION Battery Resources Limited.

Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources PLC commented:

"The acquisition of Doerksen Bay brings a potential high-grade graphite opportunity into the Power Metal portfolio.

This acquisition enables us to create critical mass in specialist battery commodities, through the formation of a new holding company ION Battery Resources Ltd which we plan to hold Doerksen Bay, together with the Company's two existing Canadian lithium interests.

We are continuing our desktop research for the Project with a view to designing ground exploration to test the extremely high-grade graphite occurrences reported from the Project as soon as weather conditions and team availability allows."

ACQUISITION TERMS

The vendors of the Project (the "Vendors") are a consortium led by established local prospector Brian Fowler. Mr. Fowler was previously the vendor of the Schreiber-Hemlo properties that Power Metal sold in exchange for a strategic shareholding in First Class Metals PLC as announced on 7 September 2021 and the Reindeer Lake, Porter Lake and Old Woman Rapids uranium properties as announced on 26 July 2022.

As consideration for the 100% acquisition of the Project, Power Metal will pay the Vendors a total of £37,500 (the "Consideration").

The Consideration is payable through the issue of 2,500,000 Power Metal new ordinary shares of 0.1p each ("Consideration Shares") at an issue price of 1.5p per share. The Consideration Shares will be subject to a 4-month lock-in from today's date.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Doerksen Bay is located 230km northeast of La Ronge, Saskatchewan. The Project is centred around five Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index ("SMDI") graphite occurrences including the Ben, Ben North, Bear Bones, Brabant Lake and Doerksen Bay showings.

These occurrences returned multiple grab samples of graphite bearing gneisses including assays up to 45% C (incl. 45%, 36%, 14%, 13%, 12% and 10% C).

A modern airborne geophysical survey was carried out over the Project in 2013, which highlighted numerous untested very-low-frequency electromagnetic ("VLF-EM") conductors. Graphite is a known conductor, and the SMDI graphite occurrences on the Project are broadly coincident with the VFL-EM conductors. As a result, the recently identified conductive anomalies may be related to additional undiscovered high-grade graphite bearing gneiss units and ground-truthing them will be a priority of future work programmes undertaken by Power Metal planned for 2023.

NEW VEHICLE

Power Metal has formed a new wholly owned UK private subsidiary ION Battery Resources Limited ("ION Resources"), which will act as a holding company (through 100% owned Canadian operating vehicles) and through which we plan to hold the Company's battery resources exploration interests including Doerksen Bay (graphite), Authier North/Duval East (lithium) and the North Wind (lithium).

ION Resources will focus on battery metals and minerals and will house the Company's current graphite and lithium interests in Canada as outlined above, as well as any future potential acquisitions in the battery metal space including lithium, graphite and potentially vanadium.

After a suitable period of structuring, exploration and development, ION Resources will be available for outright disposal or listing on an appropriate stock exchange.

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Qualified Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.

ADMISSION AND TOTAL VOTING RIGHTS

Application will be made for the 2,500,000 Consideration Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM which is expected to occur on or around 11 January 2023 ("Admission"). The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the ordinary shares of the Company currently traded on AIM.

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 1,663,289,092 ordinary shares of 0.1p each. This number will represent the total voting rights in the Company and may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

References:

1: https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2403887-tight-supply-to-underpin-china-graphite-market-in-2023

2:  Gneiss: a foliated (banded) metamorphic rock that is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please visit   https://www.powermetalresources.com/  or contact:

Power Metal Resources plc
Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer)	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat	[phone]
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
Nick Emerson	[phone]
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)
David Cockbill/Jason Robertson	[phone]

 

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