Fundraising and appointment of Joint Broker

RNS Number : 2215B

Keras Resources PLC

29 January 2020

 

Keras Resources plc / Index: AIM / Epic: KRS / Sector: Mining

29 January 2020

Keras Resources plc ('Keras' or the 'Company')

Fundraising of £310,000 to Commence Fabrication of 25ktpm Expansion Plant

& Appointment of Joint Broker

Keras Resources plc, the AIM listed mineral resource company is pleased to announce that it has raised £310,000 (before expenses) through the placing of 206,666,660 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each ('Ordinary Shares') at a price of 0.15p per Ordinary Share (the 'Placing Shares') (the 'Placing').  

Overview

·    Capital raise of £310,000 through placing of 206,666,660 new Ordinary Shares

·    Funds raised to be used to fast track infrastructure development at the Nayega Manganese ('Mn') Project ('Nayega', or the 'Project') held through the Company's 85% owned subsidiary Société Générale de Mines SA ('SGM') including:

o  Place order to commence fabrication of the 25,000 tonnes per month ('tpm') expansion plant;

o  Finalise hydrogeological study to increase the water supply;

o  Secure storage facilities near Port Lomé to ensure efficient export of beneficiated Mn ore; and

o  Ongoing working capital.

·    Appointment of Shard Capital Partners LLP as Joint Broker, effective immediately

·    Ongoing discussions with third party off-takers with a view to securing pre-payment and stockpile financing to minimise dilution as Nayega is developed.

Russell Lamming, CEO of Keras Resources, commented, "Post the completion of the corporate restructuring which created the platform to transition into a mining company, we are now focussed on delivering on the target of production in this first quarter of 2020.  Although production will commence immediately post completion of the permitting process, it is important that the long-lead items underpinning the expansion to 25,000tpm are ordered to ensure that we reach nameplate capacity by year end.  As such, the new plant will be ordered, and we will finalise the hydrogeological project to ensure sufficient water is available for the expansion.  In addition to on-site activities, we will be setting up a secure storage facility near Port Lomé to ensure that we can manage the export of the manganese ore efficiently.

"It has been a busy start to the year, and we intend to maintain this momentum as we progress to the planned production rate of 25,000tpm by the end of 2020.  Post the successful bulk sampling programme that proved up the mine to market project we have had significant interest from third party trading companies and end-users and are currently assessing the best financing option for all stakeholders.

We continue to work closely with all parties associated with the Nayega permitting process as we look to start production in the near future.  I welcome the team at Shard Capital on board and look forward to updating shareholders on a consistent basis."

Background

Keras is focused on advancing its Nayega Manganese Project in Togo, West Africa, to commercial production. The Project hosts a current JORC Compliant Mineral Resource of 13.5Mt @ 11.1% Mn and an Ore Reserve of 8.48Mt @ 14.0% Mn with additional upside identified through exploration work. The known deposit at Nayega covers 2.2km by 500m and averages 3.3 metres in thickness.

The installed processing capacity at Nayega has the capacity to produce 6,500tpm.  An expansion plant designed to increase that capacity to 25,000tpm will now be ordered at a total cost, including all ancillary water and power inputs of USD$1.5m with annual production now planned for 300,000 tonnes.

On 18 October 2019, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Togo adopted a decree to grant a license for large-scale exploitation of the manganese deposit at Nayega to SGM.  The Company expects to commence commercial production at Nayega in Q1 2020. 

Details of the Placing

In addition to the Placing, the Company has also agreed to issue a further 6,666,660 new Ordinary Shares in lieu of advisory fees.

Application will be made for admission of the 213,333,320 new Ordinary Shares to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission").  It is anticipated that Admission will take place on 12 February 2020. The Placing Shares and Director Conversion Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares, which are currently traded on AIM.

Following Admission, there will be 2,784,802,182 Ordinary Shares in issue with each share carrying the right to one vote.  There are no shares currently held in treasury.  The total number of voting rights in the Company will therefore be 2,784,802,182 and this figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they 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 Rules and Transparency Rules.

Corporate Presentation

An updated corporate presentation for Q1 2020, which was used for the purposes of the Placing, will be made available on the Company's website on 29 January 2020 and can be viewed at www.kerasplc.com.

For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this announcement is being made on behalf of Russell Lamming, Chief Executive Officer.  This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.kerasplc.com, follow us on Twitter @kerasplc or contact the following:

Russell Lamming	Keras Resources plc	[e-mail]
Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker Ewan Leggat / Charlie Bouverat	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	[phone]
Joint Broker Damon Heath, Erik Woolgar	Shard Capital Partners LLP	[phone]
Financial PR Isabel de Salis / Cosima Akerman	St Brides Partners Ltd	[phone]

 

END

 

 

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