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Power Metal Resources #POW – Strategic Option Agreement – Pilot Mountain Project Nevada USA
Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio, announces that the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary Golden Metal Resources Ltd (“Golden Metal”) have signed a Strategic Option Agreement (the “Agreement”) allowing Golden Metal to acquire a 100% interest in the Pilot Mountain Project (“Pilot Mountain” or the “Project”), in Nevada, United States of America (“USA”), subject to completion of detailed due diligence.
HIGHLIGHTS
Project:
· The Pilot Mountain Tungsten-Copper-Silver-Zinc Project is located approximately 200km southeast of Reno, in Nevada, USA
· Pilot Mountain hosts a JORC (2012)1 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 12.53Mt @ 0.27% WO3 for 34.3kt of contained tungsten metal plus significant silver, copper and zinc.
· The Project has undertaken metallurgical testwork and a 2018 Scoping Study for a conceptual open pit mining operation with an 8-year mine life.
· There is a clear pathway for upgrading and supplementing the scoping study work, addressing the permitting requirements and advancing the Project towards a mining Feasibility Study.
· Pilot Mountain has significant upside exploration potential.
The Option:
· Power Metal and its wholly owned subsidiary Golden Metal have secured an option (the “Option”) to acquire a 100% interest in the Pilot Mountain Project.
· 60 day Option Period to undertake detailed Project due diligence and during which it may exercise the Option.
Option Exercise:
· Upon Option exercise, Golden Metal will acquire a 100% interest in Pilot Mountain (the “Acquisition”), the consideration for which will be paid by Power Metal, as outlined in detail below, but principally including the issue of US$1.65million of Power Metal new ordinary shares of 0.1p each at an issue price of 2.5p ( 48,118,920 shares – equivalent to 3.88% of current Power Metal issued share capital and subject to a minimum 6 month hold period as outlined below).
Listing of Golden Metal:
· Power Metal plans to spin-out Golden Metal into a new listing on the London capital markets, and assuming Option exercise Golden Metal will hold 100% interests in Pilot Mountain together with the Garfield and Stonewall projects. Golden Metal will also hold the right to earn-in to a 100% interest in the Golconda Summit project. All projects are in Nevada USA.
· Further announcements will be made to outline listing plans and project exploration/development plans.
Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc commented:
“We plan to list our wholly owned subsidiary Golden Metal as soon as possible in the London capital markets. The Pilot Mountain project, subject to due diligence, will be an important strategic interest embedded within that listing, and provide a significant increase to the value of the Golden Metal listing proposition.
In addition to the JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource at Pilot Mountain we are of the view that there is considerable exploration upside potential.
Historic work undertaken, including a Scoping Study completed in 2018, has demonstrated the potential viability of production from the Pilot Mountain deposit, further bolstered by strong metallurgical test results.
On a standalone basis Pilot Mountain is a significant advanced asset and complements the earlier stage exploration interests currently held by Golden Metal.
Importantly on completion of the acquisition we believe the Golden Metal portfolio will be one of the most exciting resource exploration and development opportunities in Nevada, USA.
We are now working with advisers to complete Project due diligence and undertake an accelerated listing process.”
PILOT MOUNTAIN PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Pilot Mountain Tungsten-Copper-Silver-Zinc Project is located approximately 200km southeast of Reno, in Nevada, USA, ranked first in overall Investment Attractiveness Index by Fraser Institute 2020 annual survey2, entirely on United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) land.
The 5,908-acre Project is centered around four existing mineral deposits including Garnet, Good Hope, Gunmetal and Desert Scheelite all which possess significant skarn-style tungsten-copper-silver-zinc mineralisation.
The Desert Scheelite and Garnet deposits host a combined JORC (2012) compliant resource of 12.53Mt at 0.27% Tungsten Trioxide (“WO3“) with significant copper (“Cu”), silver (“Ag”) and zinc (“Zn”) credits (see Table 1).
Tabel 1: Pilot Mountain Project JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate , dated 13 December 2018
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2315K_1-2021-8-31.pdf
PILOT MOUNTAIN CURRENT OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE
Thor Mining plc holds 100% of Black Fire Industrial Minerals Pty Ltd (Australian private company) which owns 100% of Industrial Minerals Pty (USA) Pty Ltd (Australian private company) which owns 100% of: BFM Resources Inc and Pilot Metals Inc (USA private companies) which own tenements representing the entire Pilot Mountain Project.
As at 30 June 2020 BFM Resources Inc had Gross Assets of AUD$21,449 (circa £11,317) and incurred no profit or loss (AUD$Nil) for the year ended 30 June 2020.
As at 30 June 2020 Pilot Metals Inc had Gross Assets of US$3,055,411 (circa £2,226,602) and a loss of US$106,164 (circa £77,366) for the year ended 30 June 2020.
As at 30 June 2020 Black Fire Industrial Minerals Pty Ltd on a consolidated basis had Gross Assets of AUD$5,181,951 (circa £2,738,397) and a loss of AUD$154,690 (circa £81,746) for the year ended 30 June 2020.
PROJECT STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
There is currently no domestic United States primary tungsten production, and Tungsten is classified as a strategic mineral by the United States Department of the Interior. Set against this backdrop, the Pilot Mountain project is potentially a key strategic metal deposit in the United States.
Production Potential
Potential production viability was reinforced with a scoping study completed in 2018 on the Project indicated the potential for an inital 8-year mine life from an open pit at Desert Scheelite supplemented by production from Garnet.
Furthermore 694kg of Pilot Mountain mineralised rock tested by Guanzhou Research Institute highlighted strong metallurgical results including the successful production of two saleable concentrates (scheelite, and copper/silver) from a coarse grind treated by floatation or by flotation and wet high-intensity magnetic separators (“WHIMS”).
Shallow JORC (2012) compliant deposits at the Desert Scheelite and Garnet deposits may be amenable to shallow open-cut mining methods (as modelled in the 2018 scoping study) which would allow for rapid low-cost start-up costs.
Exploration Potential
The Company is of the view that there is the significant potential to build on the current the Pilort Mountain Mineral Resource through exploration. The Project hosts significant resource upside through the upgrading of existing but under drilled targets, as well as the potential for discovery of new zones of skarn-style mineralisation located under post-mineral alluvial and basaltic cover.
Additionally, widely-spaced drillholes recently completed indicate that significant copper-rich zones at the Desert Scheelite and Good Hope deposits remain largely untested, and will be a focus of the of exploration going forward.
The exploration upside potential under post-mineral alluvial cover includes:
· The Desert Scheelite deposit remains open to the east, west and at depth along its entire strike length. The furthest east hole drilled into the Desert Scheelite intersected a copper-rich zone which assayed 17.5m averaging 1.80% Cu. A 2013 geophysical survey completed east of Desert Scheelite highlighted a strong induced polarisation (“IP”) conductor which is much larger than known mineralisation on the Project.
· Surface outcrops and historic small scale mine workings indicate that Good Hope mineralisation may comprise multiple copper-rich sub-vertical lodes which have been subject to minimal drilling which include results of 26.6m averaging 0.21% WO3, 1.0% Cu and 1.2% Zn starting at surface.
· Kaiser Engineering in 1981 estimated that the Gunmetal South deposit comprised a historical non-compliant estimate 2-3 Mt at an average grade of 0.3 – 0.5% WO3. This area has not been subject to minimal modern exploration.
· The most recent exploration efforts conducted across the whole project area occurred in the 1970s, and minimal modern geophysical coverage and drilling has been completed in areas with alluvial cover which exists over much of the eastern part of the Project.
TRANSACTION INFORMATION
Under the terms of the Agreement Golden Metal may acquire a 100% interest in Pilot Mountain, from Thor Mining plc (“Thor Mining” or the “Vendor”)
Option Period
Under this Agreement Golden Metal will have a 60 calendar day Option Period (ending 5pm GMT on Friday 29 October 2021, the “Option Expiry Date”) during which it may conduct due diligence with regard to Pilot Mountain.
Power Metal will pay US$25,000 in cash to Thor Mining and issue to Thor Mining 500,000 new Power Metal Ordinary shares of 0.1p (“Ordinary Shares”) at an issue price of 2.5p (£12,500 of Ordinary Shares). The cash compenent is a contribution toward Bureau of Land Management fees due in respect of the PMP due 1 September 2021, which will be paid in full by Thor Mining to keep the project in good standing.
Option Exercise
Subject to written confirmation of Option Exercise by the Option Expiry Date Golden may acquire Pilot Mountain on the following terms:
Power Metal will pay US$115,000 in cash to Thor Mining and US$1,650,000 payable through issue to the THR of 48,118,920 Ordinary Shares at an issue price of 2.5 pence per share (“Initial Consideration Shares”).
Thor Mining will hold the Initial Consideration Shares in full for a minimum of 6 months after the Option Exercise date and thereafter the Initial Consideration Shares will become freely tradable in 25% instalments (25% tradable 6 months after Option Exercise date, 50% – 9 months after Option Exercise date, 75% – 12 months after Option Exercise date and 100% – 15 months after Option Exercise date.) This trading restriction period may be varied with the written agreement of both parties.
In addition, Power Metal will issue to Thor Mining 12.5 million warrants to subscribe for Ordinary Shares with an exercise price of 4p per Ordinary Share and life to expiry of 3 years from the Option Exercise date (“Initial Consideration Warrants”). Should the volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) of Power Metal shares meet or exceed 10 (ten) pence for 5 consecutive trading days Power Metal may serve notice on Thor Mining providing 14 calendar days to exercise and pay for the Initial Consideration Warrants or the Initial Consideration Warrants will be cancelled.
Should Thor Mining exercise the Initial Consideration Warrants above within 12 months from the Option Exercise date, Thor Mining will receive one for one replacement warrants to subscribe for Ordinary Shares at a fixed price of 8p per Ordinary Share, and life to expiry ending 3 years from the date of Option Exercise (“Super Warrants”). Should the Power Metal volume weighted average share price meet or exceed 20p for five consecutive trading days Power Metal may at any time issue Thor Mining with a written notice providing 14 days to exercise and pay for the Super Warrants or the Super Warrant will be cancelled.
Tail Benefit
POW will issue Thor Mining with a further US$500,000 of Ordinary Shares if Golden Metal publishes a JORC or 43-101 compliant resource at Pilot Mountain which increases against current declared levels by 25% across total indicated and inferred categories within two years after the Agreement date. The number of Ordinary Shares to be issued will be calculated based on the volume weighted average Power Metal share price in the ten trading days immediately preceding the announcement by Golden Metal of the JORC or 43-101 compliant increase.
Additional Terms
Thor Mining and their professional corporate, licensing and geological teams will continue to work with Power Metal and Golden Metal to assist with Pilot Mountain ownership transfer and to manage local corporate & exploration/development operations in the 12 months following the Option Exercise date. Power Metal and Golden Metal will pay for any assistance provided post Acquisition on reasonable commercial terms to be agreed.
ADMISSION AND VOTING RIGHTS
Application will be made for the 500,000 Option Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM which is expected to occur on or around 7 September 2021 (“Admission”). The Option Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the ordinary shares of the Company currently traded on AIM.
Following Admission, the Company’s issued share capital will comprise 1,240,567,944 ordinary shares of 0.1p each. This number will represent the total voting rights in the Company and may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT
The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O’Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules – Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O’Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.
Reference Notes
1 JORC (2012): The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (‘the JORC Code’) is a professional code of practice that sets minimum standards for Public Reporting of minerals Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The current edition of the JORC Code was published in 2012, and is available at http://www.jorc.org/docs/JORC_code_2012.pdf
2 Fraser Institute: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/categories/mining
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“MAR”), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company’s obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:
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Power Metal Resources plc |
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Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer) |
+44 (0) 7766 465 617 |
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SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker) |
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Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat |
+44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
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SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) |
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Nick Emerson |
+44 (0) 1483 413 500 |
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First Equity Limited (Joint Broker) |
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David Cockbill/Jason Robertson |
+44 (0) 20 7330 1883 |
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) is an AIM listed metals exploration company which finances and manages global resource projects and is seeking large scale metal discoveries.
The Company has a principal focus on opportunities offering district scale potential across a global portfolio including precious and base metal exploration in North America, Africa and Australia.
Project interests range from early-stage greenfield exploration to later-stage prospects currently subject to drill programmes.
Power Metal will develop projects internally or through strategic joint ventures until a project becomes ready for disposal through outright sale or separate listing on a recognised stock exchange thereby crystallising the value generated from our internal exploration and development work.
Value generated through disposals will be deployed internally to drive the Company’s growth or may be returned to shareholders through share buy backs, dividends or in-specie distributions of assets.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
Thor Mining #THR – Replacement: Managing Director Appointment
The directors of Thor Mining Plc (“Thor” or the “Company”) (AIM, ASX: THR, OTCQB: THORF) are pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Nicole Galloway Warland, previously Exploration Manager, to the Board position of Managing Director with immediate effect.
Chairman, Mick Billing will relinquish the role of Chief Executive Officer, remaining as Executive Chairman.
Ms Galloway Warland, who graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a BSc (Hons) Applied Geology, has had a career spanning more than 25 years in the mining & exploration industry, working across a broad range of jurisdictions and geological provinces in Australia, Eastern Europe, and South America.
Her experience spans from grassroots exploration through to project evaluation, and both open cut and underground mining. Her commodity focus to date has principally been on gold, copper-gold, base metals, nickel, uranium, and lithium.
Nicole is an active member of the geological fraternity, with a Directorship on the Federal Council of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and Chairs the annual South Australian Exploration and Mining Conference (SAEMC). She is a Fellow of the Gemmology Association of Australia (“GAA”) and has a diploma in Gemmology from the GAA.
Mick Billing, Executive Chairman of Thor Mining, commented:
“On behalf of the board, I would like to congratulate Nicole Galloway Warland on her promotion to the position of Managing Director. Her performance, commitment, and enthusiasm as Exploration Manager has been outstanding, and we believe she is more than ready for the additional challenges of her new role.”
“Thor Mining has a diverse portfolio of high-quality projects in commodities such as copper, uranium and gold that are highly favoured by the market at the current time. These projects are now entering a very busy period of exploration activity and we look forward to the contribution of Nicole and her team.”
Nicole Marie Galloway Warland (nee Nicole Marie Galloway, aged 53) owns 250,000 shares in the Company and has confirmed that there is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.
A list of Ms Galloway Warland’s current directorships and partnerships together with those held within the last five years is set out below:
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Current appointments: |
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Australian Institute of Geoscientists |
South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy |
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Nile Exploration Pty Ltd |
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The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the UK Market Abuse Regulation. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
– Ends –
For further information on the Company, please visit www.thormining.com or contact the following:
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Thor Mining PLC |
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Mick Billing, Executive Chairman Ray Ridge, CFO / Company Secretary |
Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935 Tel: +61 (8) 7324 1935 |
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WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) |
Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666 |
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Jessica Cave / Darshan Patel Jasper Berry (Corporate Broking) |
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SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) |
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413 500 |
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Nick Emerson |
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Yellow Jersey (Financial PR) |
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Sarah Hollins / Henry Wilkinson |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512 |
Updates on the Company’s activities are regularly posted on Thor’s website www.thormining.com , which includes a facility to register to receive these updates by email, and on the Company’s twitter page @ThorMining.
About Thor Mining PLC
Thor Mining PLC (AIM, ASX: THR; OTCQB: THORF) is a diversified resource company quoted on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange, ASX in Australia and OTCQB Market in the United States.
The Company is advancing its diversified portfolio of precious, base, energy and strategic metal projects across USA and Australia. Its focus is on progressing its copper, gold, uranium and vanadium projects, while seeking investment/JV opportunities to develop its tungsten assets.
Thor owns 100% of the Ragged Range Project, comprising 92 km2 of exploration licences with highly encouraging early stage gold and nickel results in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, for which drilling is planned in the first half of 2021.
At Alford East in South Australia, Thor is earning an 80% interest in copper deposits considered amenable to extraction via Insitu Recovery techniques (ISR). In January 2021, Thor announced an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 177,000 tonnes contained copper & 71,000 oz gold¹.
Thor also holds a 30% interest in Australian copper development company EnviroCopper Limited, which in turn holds rights to earn up to a 75% interest in the mineral rights and claims over the resource on the portion of the historic Kapunda copper mine and the Alford West copper project, both situated in South Australia and both considered amenable to recovery by way of ISR.²
Thor holds 100% interest in two private companies with mineral claims in the US states of Colorado and Utah with historical high-grade uranium and vanadium drilling and production results.
Thor holds 100% of the advanced Molyhil tungsten project, including indicated and inferred resources⁴, in the Northern Territory of Australia, which was awarded Major Project Status by the Northern Territory government in July 2020.
Adjacent to Molyhil, at Bonya, Thor holds a 40% interest in deposits of tungsten, copper, and vanadium, including Inferred resource estimates for the Bonya copper deposit, and the White Violet and Samarkand tungsten deposits.⁵
Thor holds 100% of the Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada, USA which has a JORC 2012 Indicated and Inferred Resources Estimate on 2 of the 4 known deposits.⁶
Andrew Hore – Quoted Micro 22 January 2018
NEX EXCHANGE
Capital for Colleagues (CFCP) reported a decline in full year revenues from £560,000 to £372,000 and there was no repeat of the realised gains on investments in the previous year. There was an increase in unrealised gains from £71,000 to £317,000. However, there was a £1.32m investment impairment. This meant that a profit of £158,000 was turned into a loss of £1.17m. There is £1.28m in the bank. The employee-owned businesses investor is focusing on managing its portfolio and the advisory business spun off into a joint venture. The NAV is 42.7p a share.
First Sentinel (FSEN) has invested the £1.4m it raised when it joined NEX last year. These investments include fellow NEX-quoted company NQ Minerals, where First Sentinel boss Brian Stockbridge is chairman, AIM-quoted UK Oil and Gas Investments and AIM-quoted Premier African Minerals. There is a £65,000 loan to unquoted tea cafés operator Yumchaa, where Stockbridge is 50% shareholder. The loan has an interest rate of 12% and lasts until October.
Block Energy (BLOK) has further delayed the planned move to AIM. The oil and gas company has a new expected admission date of end-February. Trading remains suspended on NEX.
AIM
Mark Watkin Jones intends to step down as chief executive of student and private rental accommodation developer Watkin Jones (WJG) but he will stay until a successor is identified. In the year to September 2017, revenues were 13% higher at £301.9m and underlying operating profit rose by a similar percentage to £42.7m. The dividend was 6.6p a share, equivalent to a 10% increase if Watkin Jones had been quoted for all the previous year. Investor demand for student accommodation and private rental residential property remains strong.
Van Elle (VNL) has an outstanding debt of £1.6m from failed facilities management and construction company Carillion. finnCap has also assumed lower second half profit of £1.3m relating to expected business from Carillion. The specialist piling contractor has a poor record since floating and this does not help.
Engineering and IT recruitment company Gattaca (GATC) says that most of Carillion’s debt to the company is insured with around £100,000 uninsured. Premier Technical Services (PTSG) says that it has £800,000 of annual revenues with Carillion with £300,000 still owed. Elsewhere, business is in line with expectations. Bilby (BILB) says that it does not think that the contract with CarillionAmey will be impacted.
Sinclair Pharma (SPH) directors have been buying shares on the back of the news that it has received regulatory approval of Ellanse pre-mixed bioresorbable collagen stimulating fillers in Brazil, one of the most important global markets. Ellanse will be soft launched immediately and the full launch is a matter of weeks away. Other Sinclair dermatological products are selling well in Brazil.
K3 Capital (K3C) reported interim figures that were better than forecast. This led to a £1m increase in forecast full year revenues but the pre-tax profit forecast is maintained at £5.4m because of additional costs required to accelerate the growth of the business. The business broker and corporate finance adviser announced an interim dividend of 2.85p a share and a total dividend of 8.2p a share is forecast for the full year.
Full year trading at Midwich (MIDW) was better than expected with revenues 28% ahead at £470m, helped by acquisitions performing ahead of expectations. The audio visual equipment distributor has also improved gross margin. The 2017 results will be published on 13 March.
Utilitywise (UTW) has changed its accounting policy relating to initial revenue recognition of new contracts.
LiDCO (LID) has signed up a new Japanese distributor. Merit Medical has a three year exclusive agreement and there is potential to significantly increase last year’s sales of £117,000. The LiDCOunity version 2 monitor has been approved in Japan.
African Battery Metals (ABM) is the new name for Sula Iron and Gold. Prior to the name change, £1.75m was raised and the Riverfort facility terminated with an associated buy back of shares. ABM is paying $100,000 ($50,000 is still outstanding) for a 70% stake in cobalt licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The other shareholder will retain its 30% stake up until a decision is made to mine, so ABM will pay the exploration costs.
Orosur Mining Inc (OMI) produced 7,052 ounces of gold at an average cash operating cost of $867/ounce in the second quarter and plans to produce at least 30,000 ounces in the financial year. Although the South America-focused gold producer and explorer generated $2.16m in cash in the second quarter, there was a $251,000 loss in the period because the all in sustaining cost was higher than the gold price received. Asset Chile has forfeited the 16% stake it earned in Anillo because it did not move into phase 2 of the project.
Shareholders have approved share buybacks by China New Energy Ltd (CNEL) until the end of 2019. Up to one-fifth of the shares can be acquired for less than 2p a share. The bioenergy technology developer and operator increased revenues from £8.85m to £24.7m in 2017 and the order book is worth £13.7m. The company was profitable last year and anticipates it will be in 2018.
Data software company WANdisco (WAND) says bookings increased 45% to $22.5m in 2017 with two-thirds generated by WANdisco Fusion software. There was cash of $27.4m at the end of 2017, with $4m from a new growth capital facility.
Thor Mining (THR) has had its stake in US Lithium diluted to 20.8% due to a A$240,000 fundraising at A$0.12 a share, which is four times the Thor acquisition price. US Lithium plans an ASX-listing.
Veltyco Group (VLTY) is acquiring a 51% stake in Varkasso, which has exclusive rights to use the crypto wallet technology platform 8Crypt, for £265,000 in cash and shares. Veltyco will incorporate the 8Crypt crypto wallet in all the gaming platforms it is involved with.
Newmont Mining has decided not to become involved in the Greatland Gold (GGP)-owned Ernest Giles gold project in Australia. It appears that the project was not in the right place or large enough for Newmont to go ahead with, although it took its time to make a final decision. Greatland benefits from the work conducted by Newmont, which has identified a large gold anomaly. Targeted exploration will be undertaken at Ernest Giles in the first quarter of 2018.
Kodal Minerals (KOD) says that the authorities have approved its exploration licences for the Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali. Triumvirat Mining Company will have a 10% economic interest in the licences, which are for an initial three year life. There has been positive drilling news concerning the Ngoualana and Sogola-Baoule prospects.
Electrical accessories supplier Volex (VLX) moved from the Main Market to AIM on 19 January.
Waste gasification technology business EQTEC (EQT) has partially repaid a five-year, £1.1m loan facility with an annual interest rate of 15%. The remaining balance of £621,000 is repayable in July 2020. The £2m of convertible secured loan note with Altair Group Investment Ltd has been extended until July 2020 and the interest rate doubled to 15%.
Renewable fuels technology developer Velocys (VLS) has raised £14m via a placing at 10p a share and hopes to raise up to £4.4m through an open offer at the same price. Last year, there was a £1.16m share issue at 45p a share. The cash will be used to finance initial development of the Mississippi biorefinery and fund the UK waste-to-renewable jet fuel project which has been around for many years.
Generic drugs supplier Beximco Pharmaceuticals (BXP) expects to complete the £18.2m acquisition of a 85.2% stake in Nuvista Pharma by the end of February.
Gama Aviation (GMAA) says last year’s trading was in line with expectations. The business aviation services provider has incurred $1m of costs relating to legal proceedings and there will be a similar amount to come. There will be around $2.5m of restructuring costs and write-downs. Net debt fell from $19m to $13m.
Although Blancco Technology Group (BLTG) says that first half sales declined this is due to the fact that certain contracts were not repeated in the latest period. The data erasure software business is expected to report continuing full year revenues 6% higher at £28.5m. However, higher overheads mean that there will be little profit.
Cyber security software supplier Crossrider (CROS) says that 2017 trading was in line with expectations and revenues improved 16% to $65.8m, while underlying EBITDA was 29% ahead at $8.3m. Profitability from the core activities more than doubled. There was $69.4m in the bank at the end of 2017.
Legend Gold Corp shareholders have agreed to the arrangement for Altus Strategies (ALS) to acquire the entity that owns the Legend gold projects in Mali in return for 41.1 million Altus shares. The mining projects investor is also applying for a dual listing on the TSX-V. Legend shareholders will be issued three Altus shares for each Legend share that they own, giving them 27.6% of Altus.
Toys supplier Character Group (CCT) says it has exited Christmas with “virtually no excess stocks”. International sales were poor but domestic sales grew. Pokemon products will be launched during the summer.
Caledonia Mining Corporation (CMCL) reported higher than guided annual production at the Blanket gold mine. The prediction was 54,000-56,000 ounces but the outcome was 56,135 ounces.
Sustainable pallets manufacturer RM2 International SA (RM2) had unrestricted cash of $4.1m at the end of 2017, but that could fall to $2m by the end of January. That means that there should be enough cash until the third week in February. Management continues to seek additional finance. There are plenty of potential customers but little in the way of orders.
Tiziana Life Sciences (TILS) has raised a further £150,000 at 150p. This is on top of the £150,000, £275,000 and £200,000 raised at the same price during November and December. There is a warrant with each new share and they are exercisable at 160p a share, although the most recent warrants last until January 2024. The cash is being invested in the phase IIa clinical trial for the Milciclib cancer treatment.
Remote tracking and monitoring products developer Starcom (STAR) says that last year’s turnover improved from $5.1m to $5.5m and lower operating costs mean that it will move from loss to breakeven. Strong orders mean that revenues and margins should improve this year.
Condor Gold (CNR) has obtained a TSX listing.
MAIN MARKET
Path Investments (PATH) is cancelling its standard listing even before finalising its acquisition of a 50% participating interest in the Alfeld-Elze licence and gas field in Germany. The plan is to cancel the standard listing on 19 February and raise money and apply for an AIM quotation in the first quarter of 2018. Path has previously been on AIM in a different guise but if the deal does not go ahead the plan would be to maintain the standard listing.
World Trade Systems (WTS) plans a transaction involving the sale of its assets to a new company that will float on the Channel Islands-based The International Stock Exchange. WTS shareholders will be distributed shares in the new company that will be used to acquire the assets.
Loss-making telecoms firm Toople (TOOP) did not publish a full set of figures on RNS. That is always a giveaway. It did announce that the operating loss declined by 23% to £1.31m in the year to September 2017. Cash flow is much more important for a colander company like Toople.
Technology investment company Sure Ventures (SURE) has joined the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market, having raised £3.31m at 100p a share. The main focus is augmented reality, fintech and the Internet of Things.
Challenger Acquisitions Ltd (CHAL) has invested $300,000 in a new giant observation wheel for Dallas, Texas. Challenger also has the opportunity to operate the wheel.
Andrew Hore