Raises £1.215m To Fund South Korean Gold Projects

RNS Number : 9998R

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited

06 March 2023

 

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd / EPIC: BMV.L / Market: FTSE / Sector: Mining

6 March 2023

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd ('Bluebird' or 'the Company')

Raises £1.215 Million To Fund South Korean Gold Mine Projects

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a gold company primarily focused on bringing historic mines back into production, has raised £1,215,000 through SI Capital via a placing and subscription for 60,750,000 New Ordinary Shares ('the Placing Shares') at 2 pence per share ('the Placing') to fully fund proof-of-concept production at its Kochang Gold and Silver Mine in South Korea ('Kochang'), expand the in-country team to accelerate developments at both of its mines, and for general working capital. 

The Company is focussed on restoring Kochang and the Gubong Gold Mine ('Gubong') back into production. Ahead of restoring Gubong, the larger of the two mines, back into production with a medium-term target of c.60Koz Au pa, the Company aims to undertake relatively inexpensive proof-of-concept production at Kochang. This will provide confidence in the key parameters of the mining operation including grade, recovery, production and processing, and community and government support.  Once complete, production will be ramped up to an initial 5Koz Au pa and 12-15Koz Au pa thereafter. The Company estimates that the two mines have a potential cumulative +1.5Moz gold resource.

The next steps include the granting of a Temporary Mountain Use Permit ('TMUP'), expected imminently, ordering and securing critical machinery, and ongoing negotiations with streaming partners and debt financiers for full mine development.   

The funding follows the recent Scoping Study announcement (RNS 27.02.23) with headline figures of a post-tax NPV of US$181m, free cash of US$50m per annum and an IRR of 111%. This is based on a US$1,750 gold price for production from two operations with a cumulative c.400Ktpa VAT leach processing operation with a U S$630 per oz All in Sustaining Cost ('AISC').

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has appointed SI Capital as its broker with immediate effect.  The Company looks forward to an on-going relationship with the SI team as it implements its development strategy to restore historic mines back into production and build shareholder value.

Bluebird Merchant Ventures CEO Colin Patterson said, "We are delighted to have raised £1.215 million to fund the proof-of-concept mining at the Kochang Gold and Silver Mine and to prepare operations at Gubong.  The next 12 months is going to be extremely busy once we receive the Temporary Mountain Use Permit, which will allow operations to commence on the ground and head towards production.  The potential of our South Korean projects was highlighted in the recent Scoping Study, which reported a post-tax NPV of US$181m, free cash of US$50m per annum and an IRR of 111% and the AISC estimated at US$630.

"We also look forward to news from the Philippines, where we recently secured a Joint Venture with a local Philippine company with decades of experience in mining, to advance our high grade Batangas Gold Project.  Th JV agreement means we have a free carry on the project to mine construction allows us to focus on South Korea."

"Finally, I would like to welcome new shareholders to the Company and look forward to working with SI Capital as we develop our projects and build shareholder value."

Full Placing Details:

Bluebird is issuing a total of 60,750,000 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 2.0 pence per share through a private placement to raise £1.215 million. 

Pursuant to the Placing, the Company will also grant the placing participants with a warrant to subscribe for 1 New Ordinary Share in the capital of the Company for every 1 share subscribed in the placing, exercisable for a period of 3 year from Admission of the Placing shares at a price of 3.5 pence per ordinary share. The Company will also grant SI Capital with a warrant to subscribe for 1,215,000 shares exercisable with a 3 year life at an exercise price of 2.0 pence per ordinary share.

The Company is pleased to announce that in order to facilitate any conversion of warrants or loans in the short term, senior management, associated parties of Colin Patterson, Aidan Bishop and Momentum Resources, have pledged their collective holdings of c.200 million shares ("Pledged Share Pool") for any warrant or loan conversions that cannot be met with the Company's current headroom. The Company will publish a secondary prospectus to refresh headroom if and as soon as it is necessary and practicable, subject to approval by the FCA.  The Company will update the market with the required disclosures should any of the Pledged Share Pool be utilised.

Application will be made for the Placing Shares, which will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue, to be admitted to trading on the Standard Listing Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission").  Admission is expected on or around 13 March 2023.

The Company's total issued and voting share capital upon Admission will be 712,865,042 Ordinary Shares. This figure may be used by shareholders 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, the securities of the Company.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the market abuse regulation EU 596/2014 ("MAR").

**ENDS**

For further information please visit https://bluebirdmv.com or contact:

Colin Patterson   Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd   Email: [e-mail]

Nick Emmerson   SI Capital   Tel: [phone]

About Bluebird:

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd (BMV.L) is a London listed South Korea-focused resources company centred on bringing historically producing gold mines back into production. The Company, led by a team of proven mine rehabilitation experts, currently has two 100% owned licensed high grade narrow vein mining projects, the Kochang Gold and Silver Project ('Kochang') and the Gubong Gold Project ('Gubong'), which each have a defined route to low cost/ low capex production with a cumulative target of producing 100,000 oz + Au per annum. 

The management team has invested cUS$2 million personally into the Company and believe, following analysis of historic production and exploration data, as well as extensive sampling, geological, geophysical, and engineering studies, there is potential for in excess of 1.5 million oz of mineable gold in its Korean projects alone.

Kochang is an epithermal vein deposit with parallel vertical ore bodies covering 8.3 sq km that reportedly produced 110,000 oz of gold and 5.9 million oz of silver between 1961 and 1975.  Consisting of a gold and silver mine, there are currently four main veins and a number of parallel subsidiary veins vein which have been identified, as well as a newly identified cross-cutting vein. Historic drilling indicates the veins continue to depth below the current 150m mine and mapping shows the veins on surface providing potential above and below the old workings. The veins extend to the NE providing a strike length of 2.5km with 600m between the two mines not exploited.  There is potential to expand operations to the southwest/northeast and to depth, as well as exploit the already mined areas. The total resource potential is between 550,000 and 700,000 tonnes, with a range of grades between 5.2 g/t to 6.6 g/t gold, and 27.3 g/t to 34.8 g/t silver.  Following the granting of a Mountain Use permit, there is an estimated 6-to-9-month development time to trial mining.

Gubong, which was historically the second largest gold mine in South Korea has 9 granted tenements covering c.25 sq km.  Gubong is moderately dipping with 9 veins extending 500m below surface and known to extend at least a further 250m. However, the production opportunity for Bluebird prior to looking at deepening the mine is the 25 levels already developed with all the remnants and unmined areas left by the original miners.  The 25 levels extend over 120km in total length which indicates the size of the opportunity. The Korea Resources Corporation ('KORES') estimated 2.34M tonnes at some 7.3g/t Au garnered from 57 drill holes over 17,715.3 metres.  With additional sampling, mapping, pit modelling and grade analysis, plus the fact that Gubong is an orogenic deposit, which typically have a depth of 2km compared to the current depth of 500m, the Board believe it has a geological potential of 1 million + oz Au in-situ, plus an estimated additional 300,000 oz Au from satellite ore bodies.

Additionally, the Company has the highly prospective Batangas Gold Exploration Project in the Philippines, where it has an agreement with a Philippine company, whose owners have decades of experience in mining, to develop the Project.  The JV covers the entire Batangas Project area, which has a current JORC compliant resource of 440,000 ounces, including a maiden ore reserve of 128,000 ounces (including silver credits). Exploration expenditure to the tune of c.$20m has already been invested.  Work is focused on completing Exploration and Environmental Work Programmes initially targeting the high-grade Lobo area, although there is excellent exploration potential across the licence with high-grade targets already identified and 14km of identified mineralised structures.  The staged agreement is based on the JV partner achieving defined development goals and provides Bluebird with a free carry on the development of Batangas with a view to advancing to construction. 

 

END

 

 

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