Placing

RNS Number : 2529R

Savannah Resources PLC

24 October 2013

 

Date: 24 October 2013

Savannah Resources Plc ('Savannah' or 'the Company')

£0.5 million Placing to Support Development of Jangamo Mineral Sands Project, Mozambique

Savannah Resources plc, the AIM listed exploration company, is pleased to announce that it has raised £496,313 (before expenses) through the placing ('Placing') of 18,047,748 new ordinary shares at a placing price of 2.75p per ordinary share.  N+1 Singer acted as broker to the Placing, which was oversubscribed and featured both new and existing investors.

Overview

·    Placing combined with an additional £500,000 equity investment in July 2013 takes total funds raised for 2013 to approximately £1,000,000, underpinning Savannah's value potential

·    Funds raised will be used to support the development of the Company's flagship 180km² Jangamo Mineral Sands Project in Southern Mozambique ('Jangamo' or 'the Project') and for working capital

·    Jangamo is located in a world class mineral sands province and is highly prospective for total heavy minerals including ilmenite, rutile and zircon

Savannah's CEO, David Archer, said, "This Placing is an endorsement of the significant change in strategy and structure the Company has undertaken over the past few months, as we look to establish ourselves as a multi-commodity exploration and development company.  Through the Placing we are delighted to introduce new shareholders to our share register, including a significant new institutional investor, which I believe is testament to the Company's strong value potential."

"Our strengthened cash position, which includes an additional equity investment of up to £500,000 in July 2013, provides us with a strong platform from which to commence exploration at our flagship Jangamo project in Southern Mozambique, which is highly prospective for heavy mineral sands.  Furthermore, having recently reduced our overheads by approximately 50%, and securitised our investment in the highly prospective Kossanto Gold Project in Mali through our strategic shareholding in Alecto Minerals Plc, which in turn offers exposure to both the Kossanto Gold Project and two highly prospective gold exploration projects in Ethiopia in which Centamin Plc is investing up to US$14m, I believe we are well placed for growth.  I look forward to updating shareholders on our future exploration plans at Jangamo in due course."

Details of Placing and Adviser Service Agreements

In addition to the Placing, Savannah will be issuing shares to the Company's advisers in lieu of fees at a price of 2.75p per share ('Adviser Issue').  The combined Placing and Adviser Issue of 18,620,477 shares represents the maximum possible under the relevant authorities conveyed upon the Company at the General Meeting held on 24 September. 

Application will be made for the new ordinary shares, which will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company, to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). Admission is expected to occur at 8.00 a.m. on or around 7 November 2013. Following Admission, the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 138,365,781 ordinary shares.  This number may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

The net proceeds of the Placing will be used by the Group to fund an initial drilling campaign at Jangamo, to reimburse agreed costs of the sellers of the 80% shareholding in Matilda and to provide working capital.

Capital Structure and Cash Position

Following the admission of the 18,620,477 new ordinary shares referred to in this announcement, the Company's capital structure will be as follows (the definitions of the equity Instruments in Table 1 are included in the Company's June 2013 Interim Accounts):

Equity Instrument	Quantity	Strike Price (Pence)	Expiry Date
Ordinary Shares	138,365,781	N/A	N/A
2010 Warrants	57,949,993	12.50	01/11/2014
2013 Warrants	11,111,112	3.00	19/07/2018
Part A Share Options (IPO)	2,100,000	10.00	01/11/2015
Part A Warrant Options (IPO)	2,000,000	12.50	01/11/2015
2013 Share Options	3,726,667	4.62	28/02/2018
2013 Share Options	9,821,776	3.00	19/07/2018
2013 Share Options	1,575,000	4.62	30/09/2018

Table 1: Savannah Resources Plc capital structure pro-forma table

The Company's cash position at the 21 October 2013 was £669,000 and does not include the proceeds of the Placing.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com or contact:

David Archer	Savannah Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
James Maxwell / Jenny Wyllie	N+1 Singer	Tel: [phone]
Felicity Edwards/ Charlotte Heap	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]

Notes

About Savannah

Savannah Resources Plc (AIM:  SAV) is a multi-commodity focussed exploration company. Through its 80% ownership of Matilda Minerals Limitada it operates the Jangamo exploration licence in a world class mineral sands province in Mozambique which borders Rio Tinto's Mutamba deposit, one of two major deposits Rio Tinto has defined in Mozambique, which collectively have an exploration target of 7-12 billion tonnes at 3-4.5% THM (published in 2008). The effectively 30% strategic shareholding in Alecto Minerals Plc provides Savannah with exposure to both the highly prospective Kossanto Gold Project in the prolific Kenieba inlier in Mali and also to the Wayu Boda and Aysid Meketel gold / base metal projects in Ethiopia for which Alecto have a JV with Centamin Plc, under which Centamin Plc are committing up to US$14m in exploration funding to earn up to 70% of each project. The Company is also evaluating additional opportunities to expand its portfolio and geographical focus.

 

END

 

 

IOEQXLFLXBFXFBK