Placement

RNS Number : 8458B

Bezant Resources PLC

25 February 2011

 

25 February 2011

Bezant Resources Plc

("Bezant" or the "Company")

Placing to raise approximately £4.75 million

Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM listed gold and copper exploration and development company operating in the Philippines, Argentina and Tanzania, today announces a placing to raise approximately £4.75 million before expenses and provides an update in respect of its Mankayan Project in the Philippines.  

Highlights:

·      Placing to raise approximately £4.75 million before expenses

·      Shares placed with new and existing shareholders at a price of 50p per share

·      The net proceeds will be used to fund the option exercise and initial work programme in respect of Bezant's Eureka Project in Argentina

·      Preliminary discussions commenced with a number of interested parties in the mining and industrials sectors in respect of a potential disposal of the Mankayan Project

The Placing

The Board of Bezant announces that the Company has conditionally placed a total of 9,498,935 new ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the capital of the Company (the "Placing Shares") at a placing price of 50 pence per share (the "Placing") to raise approximately £4.75 million before expenses.  The Placing Shares, conditional upon admission to trading on AIM, have been placed with new and existing investors in the Company by the Company's broker, Singer Capital Markets Limited.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Placing to fund the option exercise and initial work programme in respect of its Eureka Project in the Jujuy Province of north-west Argentina, with the core details of the Asset Purchase Agreement having been previously set out in the Company's announcement of 7 December 2010. The Eureka Project currently has unaudited unclassified resource estimates, from historic exploration activities, in the order of up to approximately 62 million tonnes grading at approximately 1% copper (620 thousand tonnes of copper) and approximately 52,000 ounces of gold, as credits.

Update on Mankayan Project

As announced previously, the Board has for some time been conducting a comprehensive review of the strategic options available in respect of its flagship Mankayan Project situated on the island of Luzon, approximately 260km north of Manila (the "Mankayan Project" or "Project").  This review process was considering, inter alia, the potential divestment of all or part of the Company's interest in the Project, the possible identification and assessment of long term commercial or joint venture partners to finance and/or assist with the further evaluation and development of the Project, and the potential advancement of the Project by the Company alone.

The Board today announces that, while forming a long term commercial or joint venture partnership to finance and/or assist with the further evaluation and development of the Project remains a possible option, it believes that an outright sale of the Project is the most suitable and least risky objective for the Company as this would maximise the potential return to its shareholders in the near term.

To that end, the Directors are now focussing their efforts on achieving the potential divestment of 100 per cent. of the Company's interests in the Project and the Board is pleased to announce that it is in preliminary discussions with a number of interested parties in the mining and industrials sectors.  Shareholders should note, however, that any potential sale would be subject, inter alia, to detailed due diligence and there can therefore be no certainty as to the timing of any disposal or that any offers for the Project will be secured on terms acceptable to the Board.

Further details on the Placing

The Placing Shares will represent approximately 15.58 per cent. of Bezant's enlarged issued share capital. The Placing Shares will be fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each ("Ordinary Shares"). 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 and that dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on Monday 28 February 2011. The Company's issued ordinary share capital will consist of 60,993,603 Ordinary Shares with voting rights. Bezant does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury and accordingly there are no voting rights in respect of any treasury shares.

The aforementioned figure of 60,993,603 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 to their interest in, Bezant under the Financial Service Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Gerry Nealon, Executive Chairman, commented:

"We are pleased to have raised £4.75 million from new and existing investors through a placing which was significantly over-subscribed. The proceeds of the placing will be used to fund the option exercise and initial work programme in respect of our Eureka Project in Argentina, which we acquired in December last year.  Whilst discussions are at a preliminary stage, we are nevertheless encouraged by the interest received from a number of significant parties in respect of the potential sale of the Mankayan Project and look forward to updating shareholders on progress as and when appropriate."

For further information, please contact:

Gerry Nealon

Executive Chairman, Bezant Resources Plc                            Tel: [phone]

Bernard Olivier

Technical Director, Bezant Resources Plc                Tel: [phone]

James Harris / Matthew Chandler / David Altberg

Strand Hanson Limited                                                           Tel: [phone]

James Maxwell / Jenny Wyllie

Singer Capital Markets Limited                                               Tel: [phone]

Laurence Read / Beth Harris

Threadneedle Communications (UK)

Email: [e-mail]                          Tel: [phone]

                                                                                            Mob: [phone]

or visit http://www.bezantresources.com

 

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