Saudi Strategic Investor Led Placing to Raise £3m

Empire Metals Limited

22 January 2024

 

Empire Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

22 January 2024

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

Saudi Strategic Investor Led Placing to Raise £3 million to Advance Development of Pitfield Titanium Project

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that is has raised £3 million before expenses by way of a placing of 27,272,728 new ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company at 11p (the 'Placing Shares') to a strategic investor in Saudi Arabia and existing shareholders (the 'Placing').

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "We are extremely pleased to welcome TransOceanic Minerals, a group focused on investments in the natural resource sector as a shareholder of the Company. The principal, Mr Fahad Al-Tamimi has also led some of the largest engineering and construction projects in the natural resource sector in Saudi Arabia. This is an important milestone for the Company as this strategic partnership not only recognises the global significance of our Pitfield project but with the on-going support of TransOceanic Minerals and potential future partnerships in Saudi Arabia, the Company will have the capacity to expand project development and accelerate value creation for all shareholders. We also thank our existing shareholders for their continued support as we now add to our on-going exploration efforts a significant work stream of mineralogical studies and metallurgical test work and design which will move the project the next critical step towards mine development."

The net proceeds of the Placing will be primarily used to allow the Company to continue to expand the Reverse Circulation ('RC') drilling and to undertake additional Diamond Core drilling for petrology, mineralogical and metallurgical studies. These programmes will be in addition to the current RC drill programme, the final results from the first phase being announced shortly with the second, already funded, phase expected to commence in February. The new funds will also be used to expand mineralogical and metallurgical studies and process design work that will focus on the beneficiation and recovery of a high-value TiO₂ product with a view to moving to the design phase for a test plant in 2025.

Application for Admission and Total Voting Rights

The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company.  Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission').  It is expected that Admission will become effective on or around 26 January 2024.  As a result of the issue of the Placing Shares as described above, the issued share capital of the Company now consists of 598,850,524 ordinary shares of no-par value.

Warrants

The Company has agreed to issue warrants over a total of 224,886 ordinary shares in the Company exercisable at 11p per share for a period of two years from date of grant in relation to the Placing.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk  or contact:

Empire Metals Ltd Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel	Tel: [phone]
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker) Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl / Kasia Brzozowska	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker) Damon Heath	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR)                                          Susie Geliher / Ana Ribeiro	Tel: [phone]

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising copper, titanium and gold interests in Australia and Austria.

The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, which has demonstrated to contain a newly recognised giant mineral system that hosts a globally significant titanium discovery.  The Company is also advancing the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project in Western Australia, which is prospective for high-grade gold and also kaolin used to produce high-purity alumina, an essential component in lithium-ion batteries.

Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Walton Project in Western Australia, and the Stavely Project in the Stavely Arc region of Victoria, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.

 

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