Placing & ELF Drawdown

RNS Number : 8397V

Oracle Coalfields PLC

18 January 2013

 



18 January 2013

Oracle Coalfields PLC

("Oracle" or "the Company")

Placing & ELF Drawdown

Issue of Equity

Total Voting Rights

Oracle Coalfields PLC (AIM:ORCP), the UK coal developer of a lignite mineral property located in the south-eastern desert of the Sindh Province, Pakistan, is pleased to announce that it has raised approximately £0.93m (before expenses) in a placing of 62,282,707 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company ("Placing Shares") at a placing price of 1.5 pence per share (the "Placing").

The table below sets out the Directors' participation in the Placing:

Director	Beneficial Holding prior to the Placing	Issued Share Capital prior to the Placing	Number of Placing Shares	Beneficial Holding immediately after the Placing	% of Enlarged Share Capital
Adrian Loader	100,000	0.05%	1,681,665	1,781,665	0.64%
Shahrukh Khan	29,530,791	13.74%	1,308,415	30,839,206	11.08%
Roderick Stead	20,000	0.01%	433,332	453,332	0.16%
Anthony Scutt	113,000	0.05%	433,332	546,332	0.20%
Tony Philip	NIL	NIL	221,728	221,728	0.08%
Management
Brian Rostron	NIL	NIL	855,901	855,901	0.31%

Shahrukh Khan is classified as a "related party" (as defined by the London Stock Exchange's AIM Rules for Companies (the "AIM Rules")) of the Company by virtue of being an existing substantial shareholder in the Company.

The Directors of the Company, save for Shahrukh Khan, consider, having consulted with Seymour Pierce Limited, the Company's Nominated Adviser for the purposes of the AIM Rules, that the terms of the subscription by the related party in the Placing are fair and reasonable insofar as the shareholders of the Company are concerned.

The participation of the Directors, when considered on an aggregated basis, is also classified as a related party transaction under the AIM Rules. Seymour Pierce as the Company's Nominated Adviser, for the purposes of the AIM Rules, consider that the terms of the subscription by the related party in the Placing are fair and reasonable insofar as the shareholders of the Company are concerned.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has raised £26,667 under its £2million Equity Line Facility ("ELF") with Dutchess Opportunity Cayman Fund Ltd ("Dutchess").

Under the terms of the ELF, the Company has drawn down a net amount of £22,542 through the issue of 1,133,334 new ordinary shares of 0.1p ( the "ELF Shares") each to Dutchess at a gross price of 2p per share, conditional on admission of the new ordinary shares to trading on AIM.

The draw down is the first undertaken by the Company since the ELF was announced on 24 July 2012.

Application will be made for the Placing Shares and ELF Shares, which will rank pari passu with the Company's existing issued ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM.  Dealings in the Placing and ELF Shares on AIM are expected to commence 23 January 2013 ("Admission"). The Placing and ELF Shares are being issued under existing shareholder authorities.

Following Admission of the Placing and ELF Shares, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise 278,293,707 ordinary shares. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. This figure of 278,293,707 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 FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Shahrukh Khan, CEO of Oracle, said:

 "I am very pleased with the results of this Placing and drawdown of the Equity Line Facility, which demonstrates the support Oracle continues to receive. A number of new financial institutions participated in the Placing and I welcome them to our shareholder register.

"The funds raised enable us to approach the year ahead with confidence including the ability to further advance the pre-development work at site and our local CSR programme to enhance the social and healthcare amenities for the local inhabitants.

"It is the latest step towards our goal of developing a producing mine capable of supplying indigenous coal to contribute towards alleviating Pakistan's growing energy crisis while simultaneously delivering long-term sustainable returns for our loyal shareholder base. We continue to make steady progress and remain totally committed to achieving these two goals."

Ends

For further information:

Oracle Coalfields PLC    

Shahrukh Khan, CEO                                                                                       [phone]  

Blythe Weigh Communications

Tim Blythe, Paul Weigh, Robert Kellner                                                [phone]

Seymour Pierce (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)

Stewart Dickson / Julian Erleigh (Corporate Finance)                       [phone]

Richard Redmayne / Jacqui Briscoe / Jeremy Stephenson (Corporate Broking)

Novus Capital Markets (Joint Broker)

Charles Goodfellow / Mike Murphy                                                          [phone]

Notes to editors:

Oracle Coalfields PLC (AIM:ORCP) is the UK coal developer of a lignite mineral property located in the south-eastern desert of the Sindh Province, Pakistan. The property is Block VI of the Thar Coalfield, covering an area of 66.1km².

Thar Coalfield project history:

·     2007 - Oracle received the exploration license for Block VI.

·     2008 - Dargo Associates Limited prepared a Competent Persons report on Block VI.

·     2009 - Oracle signs MOU with Karachi Electric Supply Company and MOU with Lucky Cement for supply of coal.

·     2010 - SRK Consulting Limited was engaged to carry out a Technical Feasibility Study for the development of a mine to supply a power plant, and to prepare a JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate . Oracle commission RPS Aquaterra to produce a Hydrogeological Report and Wardell Armstrong International and Hagler Bailly Pvt. to prepare an Environmental and Social Impact Study.

·     February 2012 - Oracle engaged Mott MacDonald to carry out a Pre-Feasibility study for power generation to examine the range of power plants that could be constructed at the mine site along with the volumes of lignite required for plants of various capacities from 300MW to 900MW.  The Mott MacDonald study confirmed the suitability of the lignites for both pulverised fuel and circulating fluidised bed power plants. Technical Feasibility Study completed and announced by SRK Consulting.

·     April 2012 - Mining lease granted to Oracle

·     June 2012 - Oracle signs a Joint Development Agreement with the Karachi Electric Supply Company to develop a mine-mouth 300MW power plant, with the provision to increase its capacity to 1100MW.

·     July 2012 - Oracle commission Dargo Associates Limited to prepare Implementation plan to demonstrated the capital and operating costs for the development of a 2.4 million wet tonnes lignite mine to support a 300MW power plant.

·     September 2012 - Oracle announces details of Implementation Plan, including a significant reduction of investment required to bring the mine into full production. The ESIA Baseline Studies are complete with impact study to be finalised.

·    November 2012 - Oracle signs MOU with Thatta Cement for coal supply

 

END

 

 

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