HALF-YEARLY REPORT 2023

Tertiary Minerals PLC

30 May 2023

 

30 May 2023

TERTIARY MINERALS PLC

("Tertiary" or "the Company")

HALF-YEARLY REPORT 2023

Tertiary Minerals plc is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six-month period ended 31 March 2023.

Six-Month Operational highlights:

Tertiary continues to develop its mineral project portfolio, focused on copper opportunities in Zambia and copper and precious metals projects in Nevada.

Zambia

·      JV agreement signed with Mwashia Resources recognising the Company's 90% interest and right to purchase the remaining 10% interest in the Jacks Copper Project.

·      Jacks Copper Project soil sampling programme generated multiple copper soil anomalies with a peak value of 535ppm copper and high Cu:Sc ratios which can indicate hydrothermal copper sulphide and compare favourably with soil anomalies in the vicinity of various ore zones at current and past producing mines on the Copperbelt. Drill testing is planned.

·      Data transfer completed from First Quantum Minerals for the Mukai and Mushima North Copper Projects under a data sharing and technical cooperation agreement.

·      Resampling of 1970s drill hole RKN800 at Mushima North returned 33m grading 0.24% copper from 122m-155m downhole, including 9m grading 0.43% copper from 140m-149m. The drillhole ended in mineralisation grading 0.19% copper from 154-155m (EOH) and lies on the edge of an untested gravity anomaly defined and targeted for drilling by BHP for possible Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold style mineralisation.

·      Extensive exploration targeting undertaken in preparation for the 2023 field season. Project Focus presentations published for the Mukai and Konkola West Projects. Mushima North Project Focus presentation to follow.

·      2023 field season commenced with soil sampling programme at the Lubuila Copper Project. In-field portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analytical results indicate a large open-ended copper-in-soil anomaly defined over an area of approximately 1,000m x 680m with a peak copper value of 306 ppm and an average value of 125ppm Cu.

Nevada

Brunton Pass Copper Gold Project:

·      Results received from trenching programme showed wide intervals of low-grade copper skarn mineralisation including 27m grading 1,010ppm copper (0.1% Cu) in T7, open to the east, and 78m grading 473ppm copper in T8 also open to the east.

·      Results suggest the possible presence of a deeper porphyry copper target.

·      Two trenches testing the north and south ends of a 1.2km long zone of mercury/arsenic soil anomalies intersected substantial widths of hydrothermally altered rock with approximately 1,000 times background content of the gold indicator elements, arsenic and mercury. This zone is a compelling drill target for epithermal gold mineralisation.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR THE SIX-MONTH PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2023:

·      Operating Loss of £253,089 comprises:

o  Revenue relating to re-charged expenses of £75,944.

o  Less administration costs of £294,796 (including non-cash share-based payments of £14,145).

o  Pre-licence and reconnaissance exploration costs totalling £34,237.

·      Total Group Loss of £252,854 is after crediting interest income of £235.

·      Project expenditure of £115,162 was capitalised during the six-month period.

Funding and Cash Position:

·      In February 2023, the Company completed a fundraising with Peterhouse Capital Limited raising £300,000 before expenses.

·      The closing cash (and cash equivalent) position at the end of the period was £217,967.

Enquiries Tertiary Minerals plc Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker Richard Morrison/Harry Davies-Ball	[phone]
Peterhouse Capital Limited Joint Broker Lucy Williams/Duncan Vasey	[phone]

CAUTIONARY NOTICE

The news release may contain certain statements and expressions of belief, expectation or opinion which are forward looking statements, and which relate, inter alia, to the Company's proposed strategy, plans and objectives or to the expectations or intentions of the Company's directors. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the control of the Company that could cause the actual performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not rely on any forward-looking statements and save as required by the AIM Rules for Companies or by law, the Company does not accept any obligation to disseminate any updates or revisions to such forward-looking statements.

MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (MAR) DISCLOSURE

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute

inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 which

forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ('MAR').

Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this

inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Chairman's Statement

I am pleased to present our Interim Report for the six-month period ended 31 March 2023 and a summary of our principal activities which continue to be the identification, acquisition, and exploration of mineral projects prospective for copper and precious metals in Zambia and Nevada, USA, both stable democratic and mining friendly jurisdictions.

Copper is often overlooked in the rush for critical minerals for the green economy, yet it is used extensively in renewable power generation and electric vehicles. Long-term demand for copper is forecast to enjoy sustained growth as developed economies look to move towards net zero carbon emissions. Government-backed stimulus projects will add tailwinds to this, whilst infrastructure projects in developing economies will also pressure supply going forward.

In Zambia, this six-month reporting period spans the end of the 2022 dry season, the main field season, and the majority of the 2022-23 wet season where exploration access is largely restricted. We made the most of the wet season, however, by carrying out extensive data collection, evaluation and exploration planning for the 2023 field season, now underway.

This planning has been helped enormously by our data sharing and technical cooperation agreement with multi-national copper miner, First Quantum Minerals ("FQM"). FQM has provided extensive and valuable databases for our Mukai Project, which lies adjacent to FQM's Sentinel copper and Enterprise nickel mines, and for our Mushima North Project, where recent sampling of a 1970s drillhole has returned wide intervals of low-grade copper mineralisation, open at depth. These are exciting results as the drillhole lies on the margins of a significant untested gravity anomaly, now a target for Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold ("IOCG") stye mineralisation.

The agreement with FQM has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in exploration expenditures and will harness the experience of FQM's technical staff for the benefit of our projects.

Shareholders can find extensive information on our Zambian Projects on our website where we have published project specific presentations on our Mukai and the Konkola West copper projects. Notably, our Mukai Project lies to the east of Arc Minerals' Zambian Copper Project where mining giant Anglo American recently signed a joint venture agreement with Arc Minerals and must spend US$88.5 million to earn a 70% interest in that project.

Our Konkola West Project lies adjacent to, and covers projected, deep, down dip extensions to, the Lubambe-Konkola mining complexes and where KoBold Metals is developing the large and high grade Mingomba deposit with backing from Microsoft's Bill Gates, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Virgin's Sir Richard Branson, and mining giant BHP.

The Company's interests in Zambia also include the Jacks Copper Project where the Company completed an extensive soil sampling programme and we are delighted that this has defined a number of high priority copper soil anomalies. These are ready for drill testing and include anomalies associated with the original Jacks copper occurrence that we drill tested successfully in 2022 and where mineralisation is open at depth and along strike.

We anticipate that 2023 will be a busy year for the Company in Zambia with fieldwork planned on most of our projects in the country. We hit the ground running at the start of the 2023 field season having recently completed soil sampling at the Lubuila copper prospect. Preliminary field analysis using a pXRF analyser has defined a large open ended copper soil anomaly that now requires verification with conventional laboratory analysis.

Our objective is to define targets at all our Zambian projects in the next few months and to drill test priority targets within the current field season.

Our commitment to Zambia is illustrated by our recent co-sponsorship of a UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Critical Minerals reception held in honour of the Zambian President, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema, who is ambitious for the growth of the Zambian copper mining industry and is improving the fiscal regime to encourage this.

We remain committed to testing our projects in Nevada and in this reporting period received results for a trenching programme at the Brunton Pass Project that has defined drill targets for copper skarn, porphyry copper and epithermal gold. However, Nevada is, at least in the short term, taking a backseat to Zambia where we have immediate expenditure commitments to the Government and to our local partner, Mwashia Resources. The two geographical regions are complementary for us in that exploration is not seasonal in most areas of Nevada.

Our activities during the period have been funded through existing cash resources and a share placing with our joint broker, Peterhouse Capital Limited, that raised £300,0000 before expenses, and the sale of a shareholding in TSX-V listed Aurion Resources.

We anticipate strong news flow in 2023 and are hopeful that this will result in a rerating of the Company by investors - a justifiable expectation highlighted by research initiated by our joint broker, SP Angel, and which can be accessed via our website. SP Angel has recommended the Company's shares as a "buy" and provides a comparison to other junior copper explorers across the AIM, TSX, and ASX markets which clearly emphasises the relatively undervalued nature of the Company.

Patrick L Cheetham

Managing Director

30 May 2023

Consolidated Income Statement

for the six-months' period to 31 March 2023

	Six months to 31 March 2023 Unaudited		Six months to 31 March 2022 Unaudited		Twelve months  to 30 September 2022 Audited
	£		£		£
Revenue	75,944		89,906		171,052
Administration costs	(294,796)		(305,933)		(566,675)
Pre-licence exploration costs/impairment costs	(34,237)		(26,807)		(80,843)
Impairment of deferred exploration asset	-		(361,379)		(699,484)
Operating loss	(253,089)		(604,213)		(1,175,950)
Interest receivable	235		20		133
Loss before income tax	(252,854)		(604,193)		(1,175,817)
Income tax	-		-		-
Loss for the period attributable to equity holders of the parent	(252,854)		(604,193)		(1,175,817)
Loss per share - basic and diluted (pence) (Note 2)	(0.02)		(0.05)		(0.08)

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six-months' period to 31 March 2023

	Six months t 31 March 2023 Unaudited	Six months to 31 March 2022 Unaudited	Twelve months to 30 September 2022 Audited
	£	£	£
Loss for the period	(252,854)	(604,193)	(1,175,817)
Items that could be reclassified subsequently to the Income Statement:
Foreign exchange translation differences on foreign currency net investments in subsidiaries	(44,041)	11,229	136,753
Items that will not be reclassified to the Income Statement:
Changes in the fair value of equity investments	(3,647)	(23,053)	(26,346)
Total comprehensive loss for the period attributable to equity holders of the parent	(300,542)	(616,017)	(1,065,410)

Company Registration Number 03821411

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

at 31 March 2023

	As at 31 March 2023 Unaudited		As at 31 March 2022 Unaudited		As at 30 September 2022 Audited
	£		£		£
Non-current assets
Intangible assets	603,889		624,920		542,907
Property, plant & equipment	2,476		3,071		2,398
Other investments	18,003		27,443		24,150
	624,368		655,434		569,455
Current assets
Receivables	62,857		103,569		272,667
Cash and cash equivalents	217,967		620,626		59,414
	280,824		724,195		332,081
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables	(67,815)		(119,784)		(80,929)
Net current assets	213,009		604,411		251,152
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(13,825)		(7,154)		(15,158)
Net assets	823,552		1,252,691		805,449
Equity
Called up Ordinary Shares	180,251		153,626		153,626
Share premium account	12,379,636		12,101,760		12,101,761
Capital redemption reserve	2,644,061		2,644,061		2,644,061
Merger reserve	131,096		131,096		131,096
Share option reserve	105,931		99,835		101,985
Fair value reserve	(20,663)		(13,723)		(17,016)
Foreign currency reserve	416,428		334,945		460,469
Accumulated losses	(15,013,188)		(14,198,909)		(14,770,533)
Equity attributable to the owners of the parent	823,552		1,252,691		805,449

                Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

	Ordinary Share Capital	Share Premium  Account	Capital redemption reserve	Merger Reserve	Share Warrant Reserve	Fair Value Reserve	Foreign Currency Reserve	Accumulated Losses	Total
	£	£		£	£	£	£	£	£
At 30 September 2021	118,332	11,567,055	2,644,061	131,096	80,048	9,330	323,716	(13,604,166)	1,269,472
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(604,193)	(604,193)
Change in fair value	-	-	-	-	-	(23,053)	-	-	(23,053)
Exchange differences	-	-	-	-	-	-	11,229	-	11,229
Total comprehensive loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	(23,053)	11,229	(604,193)	(616,017)
Share issue	35,294	534,706	-	-	-	-	-	-	570,000
Share based payments expense	-	-	-	-	29,237	-	-	-	29,237
Transfer of expired warrants	-	-	-	-	(9,450)	-	-	9,450	-
At 31 March 2022	153,626	12,101,761	2,644,061	131,096	99,835	(13,723)	334,945	(14,198,909)	1,252,692
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(571,624)	(571,624)
Change in fair value	-	-	-	-	-	(3,293)	-	-	(3,293)
Exchange differences	-	-	-	-	-	-	125,524	-	125,524
Total comprehensive loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	(3,293)	125,524	(571,624)	(449,393)
Share issue	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cancellation of deferred shares	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Share based payments expense	-	-	-	-	2,150	-	-	-	2,150
Transfer of expired warrants	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At 30 September 2022	153,626	12,101,761	2,644,061	131,096	101,985	(17,016)	460,469	(14,770,533)	805,449
Loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	(252,854)	(252,854)
Change in fair value	-	-	-	-	-	(3,647)	-	-	(3,647)
Exchange differences	-	-	-	-	-	-	(44,041)	-	(44,041)
Total comprehensive loss for the period	-	-	-	-	-	(3,647)	(44,041)	(252,854)	(300,542)
Share issue	26,625	277,875	-	-	-	-	-	-	304,500
Share based payments expense	-	-	-	-	14,145	-	-	-	14,145
Transfer of expired warrants	-	-	-	-	(10,199)	-	-	10,199	-
At 31 March 2023	180,251	12,379,636	2,644,061	131,096	105,931	(20,663)	416,428	(15,013,188)	823,552

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the six-months' period to 31 March 2023

	Six months to 31 March 2023 Unaudited		Six months to 31 March 2022 Unaudited		Twelve months to 30 September 2022 Audited
	£		£		£
Operating activity
Operating Lloss	(253,089)		(604,213)		(1,175,950)
Depreciation charge	768		869		1,661
Share based payment charge	14,145		29,237		31,387
Broker fee paid in shares	4,500		-		-
Impairment of deferred exploration asset	-		361,379		699,484
Reclamation provision	-		(8,840)		-
(Increase)/decrease in receivables	209,810		(22,545)		(35,049)
Increase/(decrease) in payables	(13,114)		42,934		4,079
Net cash outflow from operating activity	(36,980)		(201,179)		(474,388)
Investing activity
Interest received	235		20		133
Exploration and development expenditures	(115,162)		(222,876)		(561,431)
Purchase of property, plant & equipment	(769)		(245)		(107)
Cash receipt from disposal of equity investments	28,333		-		-
Net cash outflow from investing activity	(87,363)		(223,101)		(561,405)
Financing activity
Issue of share capital (net of expenses)	304,500		570,000		570,000
Net cash inflow from financing activity	304,500		570,000		570,000
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	180,157		145,720		(465,793)
Cash and cash equivalents at start of period	59,414		472,733		472,733
Exchange differences	(21,604)		2,173		52,474
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	217,967		620,626		59,414

Notes to the Interim Statement

1.       Basis of preparation

The consolidated interim financial information has been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies that are expected to be adopted in the Group's full financial statements for the year ending 30 September 2023 which are not expected to be significantly different to those set out in Note 1 of the Group's audited financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022. These are based on the recognition and measurement requirements of applicable law and UK adopted International Accounting Standards. The financial information has not been prepared (and is not required to be prepared) in accordance with IAS 34. The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the Group for the purposes of preparation of this financial information.

The financial information in this statement relating to the six-month period ended 31 March 2023 and the six-month period ended 31 March 2022 has neither been audited nor reviewed by the Independent Auditor, pursuant to guidance issued by the Auditing Practices Board. The financial information presented for the year ended 30 September 2022 does not constitute the full statutory accounts for that period.  The Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 September 2022 have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The Independent Auditor's Report on the Annual Report and Financial Statement for the year ended 30 September 2022 was unqualified, although it did draw attention to matters by way of emphasis in relation to going concern, and did not contain a statement under 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors prepare annual budgets and cash flow projections for a 15-month period. These projections include the proceeds of future fundraising necessary within the period to meet the Company's and the Group's planned discretionary project expenditures and to maintain the Company and the Group as a going concern. Although the Company has been successful in raising finance in the past, there is no assurance that it will obtain adequate finance in the future. These factors represent a material uncertainty related to events or conditions which may cast significant doubt on the entity's ability to continue as a going concern and, therefore, that it may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business. However, the directors have a reasonable expectation that they will secure additional funding when required to continue meeting corporate overheads and exploration costs for the foreseeable future and therefore believe that the going concern basis is appropriate for the preparation of the financial statements.

2.       Loss per share

Loss per share has been calculated on the attributable loss for the period and the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period.

	Six months to 31 March 2023 Unaudited	Six months to 31 March 2022 Unaudited	Twelve months to 30 September 2022 Audited
Loss for the period (£)	(252,854)	(604,193)	(1,175,817)
Weighted average shares in issue (No.)	1,340,117,157	1,320,361,876	1,428,608,504
Basic and diluted loss per share (pence)	(0.02)	(0.05)	(0.08)

The loss attributable to ordinary shareholders and the weighted average number of ordinary shares used for the purpose of calculating diluted earnings per share are identical to those used to calculate the basic earnings per ordinary share. This is because the exercise of share warrants would have the effect of reducing the loss per ordinary share and is therefore not dilutive under the terms of IAS33.

3.       Share capital

During the six-month period to 31 March 2023 the following share issues took place:

An issue of 250,000,000 0.01p Ordinary Shares at 0.12p per share, by way of placing, for a total consideration of £300,000 before expenses (3 February 2023).

An issue of 16,250,000 0.01p Ordinary Shares at 0.12p per share, as part of placing and settlement of broker commission and fee, for a total consideration of £19,500 (3 February 2023).

The total number of Ordinary Shares in issue on 31 March 2023 was 1,802,513,621 (30 September 2022: 1,536,263,621).

 

END