Stmnt re Share Price Movement

RNS Number : 0535K

Sula Iron & Gold PLC

23 December 2015

 



Sula Iron & Gold plc / Index: AIM / Epic: SULA / Sector: Natural Resources

23 December 2015

Sula Iron & Gold plc

("Sula" or the "Company")

Statement re Share Price Movement

Pursuant to the release of the Company CEO's blog of 21 December 2015 (the "CEO Blog"), Sula notes the recent share price movement and the Board would like to confirm that it is not aware of any reason for such decline.

The most recent fundraising, announced on 14 October 2015, financed the Company's extended drill programme at its Ferensola Gold Project, which was completed on budget and ahead of schedule. The Board remains optimistic about the Company's future and looks forward to providing further updates in early 2016 and is confident of the outlook for its potential world class gold deposit at Ferensola.

For reference, the full text of the abovementioned CEO Blog is set out below:

"21 December 2015

Dear Shareholders,

As 2015 draws to a close it's a perfect time to summarise some of the Company's key activities over the year and its ongoing initiatives.

We completed the expanded scout drilling programme on our gold asset ahead of time and under budget as announced on 30 November 2015. It was a splendid team effort spearheaded by our local Blue Horizon team, together with first class co-operation by Energold's drilling team. I was on site prior to the drilling and throughout the programme and it was immensely gratifying to witness the enthusiasm and professionalism of Howard Baker, our Technical Non-Executive Director and Dr. Paul Stenhouse, a Senior Structural Geologist from SRK Consulting. The more recent RNS announcement released on Monday 14 December 2015 sets out the first batch of assay results, which I believe are highly encouraging and very exciting. We await the results of the second batch with a high level of confidence.

Iron 

We have now finalised terms with our Indian based adviser who is introducing our iron ore asset to his network but, unsurprisingly, given the current market backdrop, with little success to date. It is exceedingly difficult to garner interest in our iron ore asset whilst the iron ore price is in the doldrums. West African producers simply cannot compete with the three major mining companies operating out of the Pacific Rim Basin with their low shipping costs to their Chinese buyers. We believe that we need to see a sustainable iron ore price north of $80 per tonne to generate interest in our iron ore project.

Coltan 

In the first week of May 2015, we temporarily discontinued our coltan exploration activities and switched our geological team's focus to the gold drilling programme to save costs. The team has since resumed our coltan exploration but it is still at too early a stage to state whether we have a viable project or not. We have learned that the higher value coltan is trending westwards and away from the small licence area we applied for in May 2015.

Accordingly, we have decided to wait and see if the initial exploration assessment is promising and then potentially apply for a larger area in due course which will include the smaller licence area. On a nontechnical front, we have had preliminary discussions with a potential JV partner for our coltan but we cannot conclude these discussions whilst the potential viability of the project still remains to be proven. It is possible that if the westward extension of the coltan deposit proves positive we will consider extending the exploration programme in Q1 2016.

Potential Joint Venture Partner 

The previously mentioned Tier 1 gold producer's Chief Exploration Manager informed us that he had been indisposed for approximately two months and could therefore not visit our gold project at Ferensola in November. However, he has since reconfirmed his company's interest and indicated that he would like to arrange a site visit in early 2016 such that discussions are ongoing.

Overall, 2015 has clearly been a challenging year for all of us in the natural resources sector but I believe your board has successfully met these challenges head on. With the announcement by the World Health Organisation declaring Sierra Leone Ebola free on 7 November 2015, together with a potential world class gold deposit at Ferensola, we look forward to 2016 with great confidence and to potentially delivering significant shareholder value in due course.

Best wishes,

Nick Warrell

CEO

Blue Horizon (SL) Limited

Sula Iron & Gold"

**ENDS**

For further information please contact:

Sula Iron & Gold plc
Nick Warrell / Matt Wood / Howard Baker	[phone]
Strand Hanson Limited (Financial and Nominated Adviser)
James Harris / Matthew Chandler / James Dance	[phone]
VSA Capital Limited (Broker)
Andrew Raca / Richard Buckle	[phone]
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR)
Dominic Barretto / Harriet Jackson	[phone]

Notes:

Sula Iron & Gold plc is a multi-commodity exploration company focused in West Africa. The Company's main objective is to explore and advance its 153 sq. km. Ferensola Project in Northern Sierra Leone, which is highly prospective for coltan, gold and iron ore. In December 2014, the Company achieved a corporate milestone in delivering its JORC MRE for the BIF 1 iron ore project in which total resource of 514.5Mt @ 31.8% Fe was identified and total oxide resource of 55.5Mt @ 45.26% Fe.

 

END

 

 

SPMEAAADAFLSFFF