Strategic Review of Lemur Resources Limited

RNS Number : 9225T

Bushveld Minerals Limited

26 November 2013

 



26 November 2013

For Immediate Release

Bushveld Minerals Ltd

("Bushveld")

Strategic Review of Lemur Resources Limited

Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM: BMN) is pleased to announce the completion of its strategic review of ASX listed Lemur Resources Limited ("Lemur") and provides an update in respect of the Lemur strategy.

As previously announced, Bushveld closed its bid for Lemur Resources Limited on 1 November 2013, having successfully acquired a majority shareholding interest of 54.39%. Pursuant to this acquisition and the strategic review, Bushveld reports the following key outcomes of this process:

1.     Lemur Operational Management

1.1.           Appointment of Mr. Anthony Viljoen as Chief Executive Officer of Lemur Resources Limited

In the RNS dated 06 November 2013 Bushveld announced several interim operational/management changes to Lemur, which included the interim appointments of Mr. Anthony Viljoen as Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Ryan Rockwood as interim Executive Director. Bushveld is pleased to confirm its support for the appointment of Mr. Anthony Viljoen and Mr. Ryan Rockwood as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director respectively. .

In anticipation of this new role and in order to provide the required focus to Lemur, Mr. Anthony Viljoen has resigned from his role as Executive Director of Bushveld Minerals Limited with immediate effect. He will retain a role on Bushveld's Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director.

1.2.           Relocation of Lemur's operational and financial base to Johannesburg

Bushveld believes that it would be in the best interest of Lemur for it to be re-located to Johannesburg from Perth, Australia in order to maximize potential synergies between the different subsidiaries of the Bushveld Group. Also, this will allow Lemur to access the technical team at Bushveld and more easily drive project origination, review and development as it embarks on new acquisition opportunities in Africa. Moreover, Lemur can be expected to realize material cost savings from this re-location and concentration of group resources to one location and near its target African market.

2.     Lemur Strategy

Bushveld continues to be supportive of the strategic intent outlined by Lemur in its previous announcements, which is to further unlock the value in the Imaloto Coal Project in Madagascar and to pursue new investment opportunities in Africa.

2.1.           Imaloto Coal Project

The on-going elections in Madagascar provide some encouragement that the political environment will now stabilise sufficiently to encourage investment into the country. The project is one of only three significant coal opportunities in the country.

Bushveld believes that efforts should be geared to:

·        Securing an IPP (Independent Power Producer) license for a thermal coal power plant supplying power to meet growing demand from increasing mining activities in the power-starved southern Madagascar. The IPP will provide a captive off take opportunity for the Imaloto coal project based on which the recently completed and released Scoping Study showed a US$36m NPV10 (at a 10% discount) for a modest ~US$12m capital expenditure investment to commence Phase 1 open pit operations

·        This will allow the project to be developed into production, in tandem with the development of the currently constrained export infrastructure

·        Secure a strategic partner for both the IPP and coal project development, in line with the overall Bushveld strategy for its platforms, to tap into the operational and financial capabilities to deliver the projects to their full potential

2.2.           New Investment Opportunities

Lemur has a strong balance sheet with US$16.5m available in cash. This will provide the opportunity to develop Lemur through the acquisition and development of attractive mining projects that have suffered distress in recent times. There is scope for a "company making" acquisition given the backdrop of limited capital in the mining sector.

The following investment/acquisition themes are considered ideally suited to Lemur:

·        African focus

·        Broad commodity focus but supported by sound market and asset fundamentals

·        Early stage exploration plays with potential for scale and favourable cost-curve positioning

·        Materially developed near cash flow producing assets, where Lemur can syndicate some of its balance sheet to acquire sizable producing assets with significant growth upside

The new executive team leading Lemur will accelerate the origination and review of mining projects. Consideration for the only nascent global economic recovery prospects means that Lemur would do well to look to be very selective in its transactions and preserve a reasonable level of financial liquidity at all times

2.3.           Listing on the ASX

In line with Bushveld's Third Supplementary Bidder's Statement, the strategic review of Lemur did include the continuing listing of Lemur on ASX in respect of which Bushveld has decided to defer the matter while Lemur considers different investment propositions. Suffice to state that the review of the listing, when it does take place, will be undertaken in consideration of all applicable regulatory requirements.

Commenting on this, Fortune Mojapelo, Bushveld's CEO, said

"Following the successful acquisition of a majority 54.39% shareholding interest in Lemur, we are pleased to complete the strategic review process for Lemur and can now focus on building it into a successful Bushveld company delivering value to its shareholders. Relocating the office to Johannesburg will allow for a combination of the respective technical teams and a more efficient corporate structure. We look forward to updating the market as appropriate in deploying Lemur's cash resources in undervalued opportunities in Africa "

Enquiries:[e-mail]

Fortune Mojapelo Bushveld Minerals Jonathan Evans	[phone]
Fox Davies Nuala Gallagher / Jos Simson	[phone]
Tavistock Communications Stéphanie Leclercq	[phone]
Tielle Communications	[phone]

 

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