Premier Acquires Milestone Stake in Circum

RNS Number : 7167O

Premier African Minerals Limited

23 August 2017

 

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

For immediate release

23 August 2017

Premier African Minerals Limited

("Premier" or the "Company")

Premier Acquires Milestone Stake in Circum

Summary

Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-traded, multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused in Southern and Western Africa is pleased to announce that it has today conditionally agreed to acquire from Sabona Investment Limited SA ("Sabona") an additional interest of 908,334 shares in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), (representing 1 per cent. of the issued share capital of Circum) at a value of US$1.50 per Circum share for an aggregate consideration of US$1,362,501.00 ("Purchase"). Following completion of the Purchase, Premier's holding in Circum will amount to 5,010,333 Circum shares in aggregate, representing 5.2 per cent, of issued share capital of Circum.

The Company has satisfied the consideration due through the issue to Sabona of 236,166,840 new ordinary shares ("New Shares") at yesterday's closing bid price of 0.45p per share for an aggregate consideration of £1,062,750.78. The New Shares will, when issued rank pari passu in all respects with the existing shares. The Application will be made for the New Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on or around 29 August 2017.

Circum is a privately-owned potash development company which operates the Danakil Potash project in Ethiopia. Circum has published an optimised DFS which reports a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") for the Danakil Potash project of US$2.8 billion and a pre-tax nominal internal rate of return ("IRR") of 29 per cent. The after-tax NPV and nominal IRR were US$2.1 billion and 26 per cent, respectively.

George Roach, CEO commented, "With this purchase, Premier has achieved a meaningful interest and a substantial addition to our asset base. At the same time, there are several potentially significant developments that the Board is reviewing. These include, a possible partnerships and/or the sale of Premier's TCTIF forestry interest whilst ensuring that Premier maintain an interest in the limestone deposit, the appointment of Bara Consulting to conduct a preliminary economic assessment of Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project, commissioning of an independent review of the shaft systems and underground development at RHA that is required to support the projected through put from later in Q4 2017 and a review of plant operational maintenance necessary at RHA. I look forward to report on these matters in the near future."

Further information on Circum

The information on Circum set out below has been extracted from previously reported public disclosures in respect of Circum and which are available from Circum's website.

Circum is a privately-owned potash development company which operates the Danakil Potash project in Ethiopia. The project has a NI 43-101 compliant resource of 4.9 billion tonnes potassium in a very prolific potash basin in Ethiopia. In July 2015, the Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") was completed to the standard of a NI 43-101 Canadian securities code compliant Feasibility Study under the overall supervision of Senet (Pty) Ltd of South Africa ("Senet"). K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies of Germany ("K-UTEC") provided resource definition and wellfield and plant design. Umvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd. provided water resource modelling and Environmental Resource Management ("ERM") conducted the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.

In February 2016, Circum, together with its independent consultants Senet and K-UTEC, reviewed the costs in the DFS. Through their analysis, development capital costs were reduced by US$276 million and operating costs were reduced by approximately US$3 per tonne.

Circum is targeting production of 2.0 million tonnes per annum of Muriate of Potash ("MOP"), the most common form of potash fertilizer, and 0.75 million tonnes per annum of Sulfate of Potash ("SOP"), a premium fertilizer product, with production anticipated to start in 2022.

Due to the shallow nature of the deposit, the Danakil Potash Project will be amenable to low-cost, low-risk, in-situ leaching. Also, the extremely hot surface temperatures and high evaporation rates will allow the use of solar evaporation all year round. As a result, mine gate cash costs are projected to be among the lowest in the potash industry, estimated at US$38 per tonne MOP and US$112 per tonne SOP. Total operating costs (FOB Tadjoura Port, Djibouti) are forecast at US$81 per tonne of MOP and US$156 per tonne of SOP (before the inclusion of royalties payable to the Ethiopian government which are levied at 4 per cent of the Djibouti FOB price minus transport costs from mine gate to port).

The Danakil Potash Project has a low capital intensity due to its shallow potash horizons and proximity to planned infrastructure. Total initial development capital is estimated at US$2.3 billion, including contingencies. Due to revenue from the ramp up in initial production (estimated at close to US$500 million), peak funding is currently planned at just over US$1.8 billion. Given the scale of the Project, at an implied capital intensity of US$838 per tonne, Circum's Danakil Project will be one of the most capital efficient potash projects in the world.

The optimized DFS reported a pre-tax net present value for the Danakil Project of US$2.8 billion and a pre-tax nominal internal rate of return of 29 per cent. The after-tax NPV and nominal IRR were US$2.1 billion and 26 per cent, respectively.

In the year ended 31 December 2016, Circum's reported loss before taxation amounted to US$323,305 and total assets as at 31 December 2016 amounted to US$59,739,438.

For further detail, please click on the link to the Circum presentation

www.circumminerals.com/investors/presentations/.

Acquisition of additional interest in Circum

Today's Purchase is part of part of a broader proposal that Premier made to certain Circum shareholders (as announced on the 18 July 2017) who are willing sellers. Premier proposes to acquire, at its discretion, up to a further 6.8 per cent interest (in aggregate including today's Purchase) in Circum at a price of US$1.50 per Circum share, which together with Premier's existing 2 per cent interest in Circum, will increase Premier's holding in Circum to 12 per cent, in exchange for the issue of new Premier ordinary shares. The maximum consideration would amount to approximately US$14.511 million in the event that the Company completes the purchase of the additional 10 per cent interest in Circum.

Total Voting Rights

Following the issue of the New Shares, the Company's issued share capital consists of 5,593,454,444 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.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory changes, actions by governmental authorities, the availability of capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward looking statements.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

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]
Jon Belliss	Beaufort Securities Limited	Tel: [phone]
Charles Goodwin/ Harriet Jackson	Yellow Jersey PR Limited	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused in Southern and Western Africa with production started at its flagship RHA project in Zimbabwe.

The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, gold, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and Benin, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company has  acquired a 52 per cent controlling stake in Mozambique-based TCT Industrias Florestais Limitada, which owns a substantial limestone deposit and forestry business located on rail in the Sofala Province of Mozambique. In addition, the Company holds 5,010,333 million shares in Circum, the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia, which has the potential to be a world class asset. At present those shares are valued at US$10 million based on the latest price at which Circum has accepted subscriptions. Premier also has an interest in Casa Mining Limited, a privately-owned exploration company that has a 71.25 per cent interest in the 1.5 million ounce inferred resource Akyanga gold deposit in the DRC.

Glossary

KCI:   Potassium Chloride

MOP: Muriate of Potash

SOP: Sulphate of Potash

ENDS

 

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