Placing to fund Bushranger phase 2 drilling

RNS Number : 8099V

Xtract Resources plc

19 April 2021

 

For immediate release

19 April 2021

Xtract Resources Plc

("Xtract" or the "Company")

Placing to fund accelerated

Bushranger phase 2 drilling programme

Total voting rights

Highlights

· Placing to raise £5,500,000 (before expenses)

· Contracting 2 drill rigs for an accelerated six-month, 20,000 metre drilling programme at Bushranger

· Planned recruitment of a quality exploration team and site expansion at Bushranger

· Objective of drilling is a potential 2 million tonne copper target

Placing

The Board of Xtract Resources Plc ("Xtract" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's Broker, Novum Securities, has today conditionally raised £5,500,000 (before expenses) for the Company following the placement of of 98,214,286 new Ordinary Shares of 0.02p each ("Placing Shares") at 5.6p ("Placing Price") per Placing Share (the "Placing"). The Placing Shares represent approximately 13.2% of the current issued ordinary share capital of the Company.  The Placing Price is at a discount of approximately 9.6% compared to the closing mid-market price on 16 April 2021 of 6.2p per ordinary share.

The net proceeds from the Placing will be principally utilised by the Company to fund the next stage of exploration development on the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project, located in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, Australia. The Phase One drilling has been recently completed producing very good results and indicates a considerably larger mineralised system than previously envisaged by the Company. A small proportion of the funds will also be used to complete the exploration and development phase of the copper and gold mining projects in Zambia and Mozambique, and the balance to provide additional working capital.

In concluding the Placing, the Board has utilised share authorities approved by shareholders at the last Annual General Meeting.

Following the successful Phase One drilling programme, the Company has decided to accelerate the next stage of exploration drilling at Bushranger by undertaking an approximately 20,000 metre drilling programme. The objective is to delineate the necessary 2 million tonnes of contained copper which is the trigger point for the Anglo American buy back option.

Bushranger Phase Two Drill Planning

· The Company is currently modelling all of the results of the Phase One programme and integrating the results of the current geophysical programme

· Contracting the hire of two drill rigs for drilling programmes for up to six months

· Recruiting the necessary geologists for the drilling programmes

· Increase in the drill core handling and storage capacity at site

· Organising core store capability and own core cutting machinery and the logistics connected with speedy turnaround of raw data

· Extension of MIMDAS geophysical survey based on positive initial results and extending the geophysical actives beyond those already planned  

Colin Bird, Executive Chairman said: "This fund raise has been implemented on the back the excellent results of the Phase One drilling programme at Bushranger. The Company's intent is to accelerate exploration activities with an objective to target the 2 million tonnes of contained copper resource necessary to trigger a major company 80% buyout option. All the indications are that the Racecourse project and surrounding areas have the potential for a large porphyry conglomeration.

At the moment there are a large number of active exploration projects in Australia and we are keen to contractually engage our chosen drilling company and additional geologists of a calibre suitable for our proposed programme. We intend to commence drilling no later than July 2021 subject only to the aforementioned and New South Wales State approvals for drilling pad positions. In light of the favourable and improving copper price and forward projection we are optimistic that our efforts should lead to a world class p orphyry system which can compete globally in an environment where p orphyry deposits are much sought after by the major copper producers."

Bushranger drilling programme

On 6 April 2021, the Company announced that it had successfully completed Phase One of its drilling programme at the Bushranger porphyry copper-gold project, located in the Lachlan Fold Belt ("LFB") in New South Wales, Australia by extending the footprint of the deposit down-plunge and laterally. The Company will now focus on accelerating Phase Two of the drilling programme which entails drilling of up to 20,000 metres using two drill rigs operating for approximately six months. This will assist the Company in achieving its objective of expanding the current JORC (2012) compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of 71Mt @ 0.44% Cu and 0.064g/t Au to a deposit greater than approximately 2 million tonnes of contained Cu equivalent (e.g. 450Mt @ 0.45% Cu equivalent).

Warrants

In conjunction with the Placing, the Company will issue the Broker 4,910,714 warrants, exercisable in whole or in part at 5.6p per new Ordinary Share within 2 years of being issued.

In conjunction with the Placing, the Company proposes to issue the placees a total of 49,107,142 warrants, being half a warrant for every share. The warrants will be exercisable in whole or in part at 8.5p per new Ordinary Share to be exercised within 2 years of being issued. The issue of warrants is   conditional on shareholder approval of the necessary increase in authority to issue the warrants. A General Meeting will be convened as soon as practicable and a further announcement will be made in due course as and when the notice convening the meeting is published.

Admission to AIM

Application will be made for admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission") on or around 10 May 2021. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing issued ordinary shares.

Total Voting Rights

On Admission of the Placing Shares, the Company will have 840,893,693 Ordinary Shares in issue with voting rights.  Xtract does not currently hold any shares in treasury.  Accordingly, this figure of 840,893,693 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Further details are available from the Company's   website which details the company's project portfolio as well as a copy of this announcement:  www.xtractresources.com  

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR"). Upon publication of this announcement, the inside information is now considered to be in the public domain for the purposes of MAR. The person responsible for arranging release of this information on behalf of the Company is Colin Bird, Director.

Enquiries :

Xtract Resources Plc	Colin Bird, Executive Chairman	[phone] www.xtractresources.com
Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker	Roland Cornish Michael Cornish Felicity Geidt	[phone] www.beaumontcornish.co.uk
Novum Securities Limited Joint Broker	Jon Belliss / Colin Rowbury	[phone] www.novumsecurities.com

Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the FCA, is acting as Nominated Adviser ("Nomad") to the Company in connection with the Placing, the terms of which have been agreed solely between the Company and the Broker, and will not be acting for any other person or otherwise be responsible to any person for providing the protections afforded to clients of Beaumont Cornish or for advising any other person in respect of the matters set out in this announcement or any transaction, matter or arrangement referred to in this announcement. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the Company's Nomad are owed solely to London Stock Exchange and are not owed to the Company or to any Director or to any other person in respect of his or her decision to acquire any shares in the Company.

 

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