Capital Raising

RNS Number : 3580Y

Solomon Gold PLC

29 February 2012

 



                                                                                                                       29 February 2012

Solomon Gold Plc

("Solomon Gold" or the "Company")

Announcement to London Stock Exchange

Solomon Gold Placement 28.8 Million Shares at £0.08 to Raise AUD3,405,000

The Board of Solomon Gold Plc ("Solomon Gold" or "Company"; AIM code: SOLG) is pleased to advise that the Company has entered agreements for a placing of 28,758,445 shares at £0.08 per share for gross proceeds of AUD3,405,000 with institutional and private investors.  The shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM by 6 March 2012.

Solomon Gold recently announced further results from its continuous drilling campaign on its Rannes gold-silver Project in Queensland, Australia.  An updated Inferred resource estimate is expected to be released in March 2012 for the Rannes Project.  Solomon Gold also recently announced the acquisition of further tenement interests in the Solomon Islands.

The funds raised will be utilized for continued exploration at Rannes, including:

Ø further resource drilling at Kauffmans and Crunchie;

Ø preliminary metallurgical testing and planning for scoping studies;

Ø drill testing of the multitude of surface anomalies (for images associated with this announcement see the 'latest news' section on the website, www.solomongold.com ) in the vicinity of the main prospects; and

Ø exploration throughout the 30km long belt comprising additional soil sampling and geophysical surveys to define additional targets for drilling.

Solomon Gold has embarked on a comprehensive review of new gold-copper opportunities in the SE Australasian region and in Central and South America with a view to acquiring opportunities that demonstrate the ability to deliver Tier 1 discoveries.  This search is well advanced and market updates will be provided as opportunities are secured.

The Company's management and a number of existing shareholders supported the placement.  The Company now has a total of 313,381,934 fully-paid ordinary shares and 11,264,000 options exercisable at 50p on issue.

Director Interests

The table below sets out each director's interests in the Ordinary Shares of the Company before and after the current share placement.

Company Director	Pre Placement Shareholding	% Total	Placement Shares Issued	Shareholding Following Placement	% Total
Cameron Wenck	2,260,937	0.8%	-	2,260,937	0.7%
Malcolm Norris	-	-	422,297	422,297	0.1%
Nicholas Mather	38,156,724	13.4%	844,595	39,001,319	12.4%
Brian Moller	1,158,017	0.4%	-	1,158,017	0.4%
Robert Weinberg	738,287	0.3%	-	738,287	0.2%
John Bovard	591,365	0.2%	-	591,365	0.2%
Total Company	284,623,489		1,266,892	313,381,934

A copy of the Company's latest presentation is available on the website www.solomongold.com 

By order of the Board

Karl Schlobohm

Company Secretary

Contacts:

Mr Karl Schlobohm                                                                           Tel: [phone]

Solomon Gold Plc (Company Secretary)

[e-mail] 

Mr Ewan Leggat/Miss Katy Birkin                                                     Tel: [phone]

Fairfax I.S. PLC (Broker)

[e-mail] /[e-mail] 

Mr Stephen Weir                                                                               Tel: [phone]

RFC Corporate Finance (Nominated Advisor)

[e-mail] 

Mr Dominic Barretto                                                                         Tel: [phone]

Yellow Jersey PR (PR & IR)

[e-mail] 

NOTES TO EDITORS

Solomon Gold's exploration projects are located in Queensland, Australia and the Solomon Islands. In Australia, they comprise the Rannes, Mt Perry, Cracow West and Normanby Projects. In the Solomon Islands they comprise the Fauro Project (located on Fauro Island), and the Guadalcanal Joint Venture with Newmont Mining Corporation.

At the Rannes project Solomon Gold has announced Inferred resources of 25.5 million tonnes at 1.0 g/t gold equivalent (gold + silver) for 812,000 ounces of gold equivalent (486, 935 ounces of gold and 13,014,294 ounces of silver; see announcement dated 30 November 2011 for details of the resource statement and gold equivalent ratios). The 2012 exploration program, including drilling to define new ore positions and grow the resource, has commenced.

Exploration continues at Mt. Perry, Normanby and Cracow West with drilling expected to commence in Q2 2012.

In the Solomon Islands, final data from the 2011 exploration program on the Fauro project is being compiled for review. The 2012 Guadalcanal Joint Venture exploration program with NVL Solomon Islands Limited (a subsidiary of NYSE-listed Newmont Mining Corporation) has commenced with drilling on highly prospective gold-copper porphyry targets expected to resume in March 2012.

Solomon Gold's strategy is to be an integrated gold and copper explorer, developer and miner.

Solomon Gold's Board includes accomplished professionals with strong track records in the areas of exploration, mine development in Australia and Melanesia, investment, finance and law.  Board and Management have significantly vested interests in the Company holding approximately 16.3% of its issued share capital.

Solomon Gold is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.  The Company listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2006, under the AIM Code 'SOLG' and following the current placement, has 313,381,934 shares and 11,264,000 options exercisable at 50p on issue.  Further details concerning the Company's key projects and personnel can be found at www.solomongold.com.

 

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