Spring Hill Acquisition Update

RNS Number : 8605E

Thor Mining PLC

14 April 2011

 

THOR MINING PLC

Spring Hill Acquisition Update

Dated: 14 April 2011

On 21 January 2011, the Directors of Thor Mining PLC ("Thor" or the "Company") (AIM, ASX: THR, THRO), the exploration company focussed on gold and base metal projects and advancing tungsten-molybdenum projects in the Northern Territory of Australia, announced that the Company had agreed terms for the staged acquisition from Western Desert Resources Limited ("WDR") of up to an 80% interest in the 274,000oz Spring Hill Gold Project in the Northern Territory ("Spring Hill").

The Company advises that, for ASX Listing Rule compliance purposes, key terms of the Spring Hill acquisition have been revised, such that the consideration for the initial acquisition of a 25% interest in ML23812 and EL22957 will now be A$250,000 and the issue to WDR of 40 million Thor ordinary shares (in the form of CHESS Depositary Interests trading on ASX) ("Consideration CDIs"). The Consideration CDIs will be subject to a 12 month escrow period from the date of issue and allotment.

The ASX Listing Rules require that the consideration for the acquisition of an asset of the kind that Spring Hill is be in the form of restricted securities, except to the extent the consideration is reimbursement of expenditure in developing the asset, which consideration may be in the form of cash. The revised cash component of the consideration represents the amount expended by WDR in developing ML23812 and EL22957 and is to reimburse WDR for that expenditure.

The transaction is subject to:

·      approval by Thor Shareholders proposed to be sought at a general meeting on 18 May 2011;

·      the Company receiving Foreign Investment Review Board approval to the transaction (or the time period for objection by the Treasurer expiring);

·      renewal of EL 22957 being granted for a term of not less than 2 years on terms acceptable to the Company; and

·      all necessary approvals under the Mining Act 1980 (NT) being obtained in respect of the initial acquisition.

As the Company raised approximately A$1.76 million (£1.1 million) in January 2001 and a further approximately A$541,700 (£337,500) in March 2011 for a total of approximately A$2.3 million, it has determined to waive the condition to the transaction that it raise a minimum of A$2.5 million by 30 April 2011.

All other key terms of the transaction remain the same.

Commenting on the changes to the acquisition terms, the Chairman of Thor, Mr Mick Billing, said today "the result of these alternative arrangements is conservation of the Company's cash reserves during the next few months of aggressive exploration.  The Thor Mining PLC balance sheet is strengthened as a result"

Enquiries:

Mick Billing	[phone]	Thor Mining PLC	Executive Chairman
Allan Burchard	[phone]	Thor Mining PLC	CFO/Company Secretary
John Simpson	[phone]	Daniel Stewart & Co. plc	Nominated Adviser
Nick Emerson/ Renato Rufus	[phone]	Simple Investments	Broker

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.

 

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