Loan to Otjozondu Manganese Mine - Board Changes

RNS Number : 3292K

Premier African Minerals Limited

28 August 2019

 

Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

For immediate release

28 August 2019

Premier African Minerals Limited

Completion of Loan into Otjozondu Manganese Mine and

Board Appointment

Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier" or the "Company") is pleased to confirm the completion of the strategic loan by Premier to MN Holdings Limited ("MNH"), the owner and operator  of the Otjozondu Manganese Mine ("Otjozondu") in Namibia, and the appointment Mr. Herbert to the Premier board.

George Roach, CEO commented: "I am pleased that we are at last able start implementing the board changes I have referred to recently and I look forward to working with Mr. Herbert. The completion of this loan payment and the appointment of MNH's Chairman to Premier's board cements the establishment of a strategic relationship and firmly aligns the best mutual interest of both parties. It is also pleasing to note that export tonnages at MNH continue to increase and mine production more than doubled in the last 12 months.  

As I have previously stated, it is essential to the future of our Company that we find a means to move to being production and cash generative, rather than development oriented and dependent on placements and the need to raise finance."

Terms of the Loan

As announced on 8 July 2019, the Company and Cambrian Limited entered into a secured US$1.35 million loan agreement ("Loan Agreement") with MNH. The annual interest rate payable by MNH on the outstanding loan amount is 10% per annum. In accordance with the Loan Agreement, Cambrian has already provided US$350,000 in cash to MNH and Premier agreed to provide the remaining US$1 million (as Lender) in the form of 1,763,668,430 new ordinary Premier Shares conditionally issued to the equivalent value of US$1,000,000 at an issue price of 0.045p ("Issue Price"), being the Premier closing share price on 5 July 2019 ("Loan Shares"). Under Premier's existing share authorities on the date of issue of the Loan Agreement, Premier could only issue 1,009,889,850 of the Loan Shares for a value of £454,450.

Following the approval by shareholders to increase the Company authorised share capital, as announced on the 6 August 2019, the Company has now elected to issue the balance of the 753,778,580 Loan Shares at a value of £339,200 at the Issue Price ("Second Loan Shares"). The Second Loan Shares will be subject to an orderly market agreement such that they may subsequently only be sold by MNH through the Company's broker to ensure an orderly market is maintained.

Appointment of Mr. Herbert  

Mr. Herbert has nearly three decades of experience in finance. Mr. Herbert trained with PwC and has been involved in growing mining ventures, both as an executive (including Antofagasta plc, Brancote Holdings plc and UraMin Inc.) and as a manager of investments (including Galahad Gold plc and Polo Resources Limited). Mr. Herbert has served as a director of companies on the AIM, ASX, LSE, JSE and TSX and was previously a director of Premier between 20 August 2013 and 22 April 2016. Today, Mr. Herbert works with growth companies across sectors and he is chairman of IronRidge Resources, Helium One, Siderian Resource Capital and the acting Chairman of MNH and its subsidiaries which operate Otjozondu.

Mr. Herbert has a BA with Joint Honours from the University of Leicester and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Admission to AIM and total voting rights

The Second Loan Shares will, when issued, rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. Application will be made for the Second Loan Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on or around 3 September 2019.

Following the issue of the Second Loan Shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of 9,753,778,580 Ordinary Shares, with voting rights. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company 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 share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Further AIM Disclosures

Further disclosures on Mr. Herbert as required under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) (i)-(viii) of the AIM Rules for Companies are as follows:

Neil Lindsey Herbert, aged 53, has held the following directorships and/or partnerships in the past five years:

Current:	Past:
MN Holdings Limited Shaw River Mauritius Limited Qube Logistics (Pty) Limited Otjozondu Holdings (Pty) Limited Otjozondu Mining (Pty) Limited Longland Resource Limited Uramerica Limited Siderian Resources Capital Limited Helium One Ltd Ironridge Resources Limited	Altyn Plc Premier African Minerals Limited Archean Resources Limited Anglo African Agriculture Plc Kemin Resources Plc Concepta Plc Agroamerica Limited Cotes Consulting Limited Bera Minerals Limited Irun Consulting Limited Mobecom Limited Dynamic Intertrade Limited Eshmond Films Limited

Mr. Herbert will be a non-executive director. Mr. Herbert currently has 4 million vested options in the Company with the first 2 million being exercisable at 1.15 pence and the second 2 million being exercisable at 1.5 pence. Apart from the above options, Mr. Herbert holds no ordinary shares in the Company.

There is no further information on Mr. Herbert required to be disclosed under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George Roach.

Enquiries:

Fuad Sillem	Premier African Minerals Limited	Tel: [phone]
Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish	Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
Jerry Keen/Edward Mansfield	Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused on Southern Africa with its RHA Tungsten and Zulu Lithium projects in Zimbabwe.

The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. In addition, the Company holds 5,010,333 shares in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia, which has the potential to be a world class asset.

ENDS

 

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