Bushveld Minerals Limited first day of trading

RNS Number : 0167A

Obtala Resources Limited

23 March 2012

 



26 March 2012

Obtala Resources Limited

("Obtala" or the "Company")

(AIM: OBT)

Bushveld Minerals Limited first day of trading

The Board of Obtala Resources Limited, the natural resources investment and development company is pleased to announce the first day of trading of Bushveld Minerals Limited ("BMN") in which the Company holds a 46% interest.

A copy of the announcement made by BMN this morning has been included below:

Obtala Resources Francesco Scolaro - Chairman Simon Rollason - Managing Director www.obtalaresources.com	[phone]
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited (Nomad and Broker)
Steve Baldwin	[phone]
Nicholas Harland
Threadneedle Communications
Beth Harris	[phone]

26 March 2012

Bushveld Minerals Limited

("Bushveld" or the "Company")

Admission to trading on AIM

Highlights

·     Placing of 28,665,000 new Ordinary Shares at 20p each to raise gross proceeds of  £5.46m

·     Market capitalisation of approximately £56.7m

·     Bushveld owns the Bushveld Iron Ore Project and Mokopane Tin Project in South Africa

·     Proceeds to be used for further development of Bushveld Iron Ore Project and Mokopane Tin Project and to fund working capital

Bushveld Minerals Limited, a mineral development company focused on iron and tin projects on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, announces the commencement of trading on AIM ("Admission") at 8.00 a.m. today after a placing (the "Placing") raised gross proceeds of £5.46 million. Pursuant to the Placing, the Company has issued 28,665,000 new ordinary shares of par value £0.01 ("Ordinary Shares") at 20p each (the "Placing Price") to a broad base of institutional and other investors following a roadshow across the United Kingdom.  Based on the Placing Price, the market capitalisation of Bushveld immediately following completion of the Placing and Admission will be approximately £56.7million. Fox-Davies Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser and broker. 

The Bushveld Iron Ore Project is the Company's primary project and comprises two licences covering 7,409 ha where a JORC compliant open-castable Vanadium-Titanio-Magnetite ("VTM") resource in excess of 600 million tonnes (comprising 260 million tonnes Indicated and a further 373 million tonnes Inferred) has been established from a 4.5 km strike length. Further drilling along strike is expected to significantly add to the resource on the basis of identified strike extensions several kilometres long to the north and south of the project area.

The Mokopane Tin Project consists of one licence covering 13,422 ha of open-castable disseminated tin resource. The Company has explored one target and plans to drill at a further four targets. The Company has a JORC resource in excess of 5,000 tonnes of tin and is looking to expand the resource base by undertaking a drilling programme on the other three targets in the licence area and one target in a licence area currently under application. In the longer term, the Company intends to expand the resource base by acquiring further projects.

The Bushveld Complex is an approximately 66,000 square kilometre metalurgenic province hosting deposits that rank among the world's top three largest for Platinum Group Metals, Chrome and Vanadium. The province also hosts significant resources of Tin, Fluorspar, Uranium and Iron Ore.

The management team believes that the Bushveld Complex continues to provide a substantial number of new geological targets especially across iron ore and tin commodities. The management team will seek to identify new opportunities in the Bushveld Complex that are capable of rapid development due to the well understood mineralisation in the Bushveld Complex.

Commenting today, Fortune Mojapelo, Chief Executive of Bushveld Minerals, said: "Following today's successful listing and admission to AIM, our immediate objective is to undertake a drilling programme to expand the resource base, undertake a detailed metallurgical testwork programme and commence a scoping study. We believe that this project has the potential to be rapidly developed and contribute to the emergence of the world renowned Bushveld complex as a significant source of iron ore in South Africa. We are delighted to be bringing the Company to AIM and look forward to using our London listing as a platform for the further development of our iron and tin assets and future opportunities."

Enquiries: [e-mail]

Bushveld Minerals Fortune Mojapelo	[phone]
Fox Davies Jonathan Evans	[phone]
Tavistock Communications Lydia Eades/Jos Simson	[phone]

Further information

Placing Price                                                                                                                                                          20 pence

Number of Placing Shares                                                                                                                               28,665,000

Number of Ordinary Shares in issue before Admission                                                                     255,304,110

Number of Ordinary Shares in issue following the Placing and Admission                               283,969,110

Number of Options in issue following the Placing and Admission                                                 Nil

Number of Ordinary Shares on a fully diluted basis following the Placing and Admission 283,969,110

Percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital represented by the Placing Shares                         10 per cent

Estimated cash proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company (net of expenses)     £4.86 million

Approximate market capitalisation of the Company at Admission at the Placing Price      £56.7 million

AIM symbol                                                                                                                                                           BMN

International Security Identification Number ("ISIN")                                                                      GG00B4TM3943

Forward looking statements

Certain statements in this Document are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on management's expectations regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, planned exploration and development activity and the results of such activity, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to management. Forward looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory changes, the results of exploration and

development drilling and related activities, actions by governmental authorities, the availability of capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although the forward looking statements contained in this Document are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward looking statements. Except as required by law, the Directors undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future earnings or otherwise.

Overview of the Company

The Company is a mineral development company focused on exploring and developing mineral projects on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The Company's primary project is the Bushveld Iron Ore Project and in addition the Company holds the Mokopane Tin Project, both located on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

The Company was incorporated on 5 January 2012 in Guernsey and is the holding company of a group developing a portfolio of iron ore and tin projects in South Africa through its wholly owned subsidiaries Bushveld Resources Limited and Greenhills Resources Limited respectively.

The Bushveld Complex

The Bushveld Complex is approximately 66,000 square kilometre metalurgenic province hosting deposits that rank among the world's top three largest for Platinum Group Metals, Chrome and Vanadium. The province also hosts significant resources of Tin, Fluorspar, Uranium and Iron Ore.

The management team believes that the Bushveld Complex continues to provide a substantial number of new geological targets especially across iron ore and tin commodities. The management team will seek to identify new opportunities in the Bushveld Complex that are capable of rapid development due to the well understood mineralisation in the Bushveld Complex.

The Group has focused on the exploration of iron ore and tin projects following due diligence on a number of projects. The Directors believe that the Company's iron ore and tin projects provide the potential for substantial value creation based on the first phase drilling in 2010 and 2011 and further exploration programmes planned for 2012.

Management Team and Consultants

The Company's management team has a proven track record of identifying, developing and managing mineral exploration projects. The management team has extensive experience of exploration and mining geology, mining engineering and metallurgy on the African continent and in particular the Bushveld Complex. Also, the management team has developed strong networks in Africa and has the ability to work with a number of mining related organisations to advance mineral exploration projects more rapidly.

The geological consultants to the Company are Prof. Richard Viljoen and Prof. Morris Viljoen, who are widely recognised as leading geological consultants in South Africa with particular experience of the Bushveld Complex. They have been associated with leading studies on key geological projects including the Amalia and Blaaubank lode gold deposits, the Akanani/Afri Ore platinum project and the Uramin uranium project.

Fortune Mojapelo and Anthony Viljoen as executive directors have been responsible for developing projects from greenfield through to the maiden resource in recent years. The Board and its consultants have substantial experience of mineral projects in the Bushveld Complex and public company matters.

Group Strategy

Following Admission, the Group intends to focus on the further exploration and development of each Project with a particular focus on the Bushveld Iron Ore Project. It is the Group's intention to establish strong iron ore and tin operations comprising attractive deposits with the potential for rapid development. The Directors intend to continue to identify and evaluate other possible opportunities for the acquisition of iron ore and tin projects in Africa where appropriate.

The Directors intend to leverage the Group's target generation capabilities to identify opportunities for investment in projects and companies which are, in their opinion, undervalued, or capable of producing a satisfactory return for Shareholders. The criteria for reviewing any additional projects will be the scope for the development of relatively large scale resources, attractive cost-curve positioning and located in countries which the Directors understand fully and have previous operational success.

The Directors have focused on iron ore and tin projects because of the potential return from developing the Projects and their expertise in the commodity groups.

The Projects

The Company's primary project is the Bushveld Iron Ore Project and in addition the Company has an interest in the Mokopane Tin Project.

·     The Bushveld Iron Ore Project comprises two licenses covering 7,409 ha where a JORC compliant open-castable resource in excess of 600 million tonnes (comprising 260 million tonnes Indicated and a further 373 million tonnes Inferred) has been established from a 4.5 km strike length. Further drilling along strike is expected to significantly add to the resource on the basis of identified strike extensions several kilometres long to the north and south of the project area. The extensions were identified based on an interpretation, undertaken by the Company's geologists, of regional geophysical and geochemical surveys, conducted by the Council of Geoscience (CGS), as well as satellite imagery interpretation. This potential will be evaluated by securing the Prospecting Rights to these contiguous properties, followed by further drilling before any addition to the stated Mineral Resource could be contemplated.

·     The Mokopane Tin Project consists of one licence covering 13,422 ha of open-castable disseminated tin resource. The Company has explored one target and plans to drill at a further four targets. The Company has a JORC resource in excess of 5,000 tonnes of tin and is looking to expand the resource base by undertaking a drilling programme on the other three targets in the licence area and one target in a licence area currently under application. In the longer term, the Company intends to expand the resource base by acquiring further projects. The Company's objectives during the course of the next 18 months are set out below.

The Bushveld Iron Ore Project

The Company plans the following diamond drilling programme on the existing farms to be part of the Pre-Feasibility Study planned to be completed by mid-2013:

·     In-fill drilling and core sampling/assaying to upgrade the Inferred Mineral Resource to an Indicated Mineral Resource category and the Indicated Mineral Resource to a Measured Mineral Resourcecategory

·     Drill-testing and core sampling/assaying on the Malokong and Vogelstruisfontein farms to at least an Inferred Mineral Resource level

In addition to the envisaged drilling campaigns, the Company plans to complete the following activities on the Bushveld Iron Ore Project by mid-2013:

·     Indicated/Inferred Mineral Resource Estimation on the existing and new farms

·     Trenching to expose weathered material for processing and metallurgical test work

·     Ore characterisation and beneficiation/recovery test work

·     Bulk sampling for preliminary pyrometallurgical test work

·     Product definition and marketing studies, including initiating discussions with potential off-take partners with the aim of securing off-take agreements for mine products

·     Mining Scoping Studies

·     Environmental studies as stipulated and required by the DMR

·     Hydrogeological studies

·     Infrastructure (rail and road) and utility (power and water) studies

·    

Concurrently with the above exploration and evaluation programme on the current farms, the Company intends to acquire additional farms adjacent to the existing Bushveld Iron Ore Project area and carry out the following prospecting programme and target evaluation to confirm continuity of the VTM mineralization over an additional strike length of approximately 10 km. The planned activities include:

·     Geological mapping and ground magnetic survey

·     Soil sampling to aid in delineating sub-outcrop positions of the mineralisation

·     Trenching to verify sub-outcrop positions and to test oxidised VTM material

·     Diamond drilling programme to determine continuity of the mineralization

·     Preliminary Mineral Resource Estimation

Mokopane Tin Project

The Company plans the following diamond drilling programme on the existing farms and targets:

·     In-fill drilling and core sampling/assaying on the Groenfontein and Zaaiplaats targets to establish an Inferred Mineral Resource and to upgrade the identified Inferred Mineral Resource to an Indicated Mineral Resource category and the Indicated Mineral Resource to a Measured Resource category

·     Drill-testing and core sampling/assaying on the other targets to at least an Inferred Mineral Resource level 22

Further, the Company intends to carry out metallurgical testwork and complete a pre-feasibility study on some of the existing targets. This is expected to include the following activities:

·     Drilling programme to establish an Inferred and/or Indicated Mineral Resource on the identified targets

·     Ore characterisation and beneficiation/recovery test work

·     Bulk sampling for preliminary pyrometallurgical test work

·     Product definition and marketing studies

·     Mining Scoping Studies

·     Environmental studies as stipulated and required by the DMR

·     Hydrogeological studies

·     Infrastructure (rail and road) and utility (power and water) studies

Directors and Senior Management

Ian Watson (aged 69), Non-executive Chairman

Mr Watson trained as a mining engineer and has considerable experience in the african mining sector. His previous roles include Managing Director of Northam Platinum, CEO of Platmin Limited, CEO of International Ferro Metals (SA) and Consulting Engineer at Gold Fields Limited. Currently, he is a Non-Executive Director on board of the Shaft Sinkers (Pty) Ltd.

Fortune Mojapelo (aged 35), Executive Director

Mr Mojapelo is a mining entrepreneur and founding shareholder of VM Investment Company (Pty) Ltd, a principal investments and advisory company focusing on mining projects in Africa. Mr Mojapelo has played a leading role in the origination, establishment and project development of several junior mining companies in Africa including New Kush Exploration and Mining (Gold in South Sudan), Greenhills Resources (Tin), Bushveld Resources Limited (Iron Ore), New Horizon Minerals (Iron Ore), Bushveld Platinum Limited (PGMs) and Eagle Resources Limited (Uranium). Mr Mojapelo graduated from University of Cape Town with a B.Sc (Actuarial Science). He has previously worked at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant, where he worked on corporate strategy and organisational development in several sectors in South Africa and Nigeria.

Anthony Viljoen (aged 35), Executive Director

Mr Viljoen is a mining entrepreneur and founding shareholder and director of VM Investment Company (Pty) Ltd, a principal investments and advisory company focusing in mining. Mr Viljoen has been involved for the establishment and project development of a number of junior mining companies across Africa, including New Kush Exploration and Mining (Gold in South Sudan), Lemur Resources (Coal and listed on the ASX), Greenhills Resources (Tin), New Horizon Minerals (Iron Ore), Frontier Platinum Resources and Eagle Uranium. Mr Viljoen graduated from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg with a Bachelor of Business and Agricultural Economics and a Post Graduate Diploma of Finance Banking and Investment Management. Mr Viljoen is currently studying towards a Masters degree in African Development Finance through the University of Stellenbosch. Mr Viljoen has previously worked at Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital in London and Loita Capital Partners, a pan African investment banking firm.

Geoff Sproule (aged 69), Finance Director

Mr Sproule is a chartered accountant with more than 40 years experience in various financial management roles. He is a former partner of auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, South Africa. Mr Sproule's directorships include the property related J H Issacs Group of Companies.

Jeremy Friedlander, (aged 57), Non-executive Director

Jeremy has a BA LLB from University of Cape Town and practiced as an attorney after completing his Articles in Cape Town. He joined the Old Mutual as a legal advisor and in 1993 established McCreedy Friedlander, which became one of the premier property agencies in South Africa and negotiated an association with Savills. In 1998 he listed McCreedy Friedlander as part of a financial services group on the JSE and shortly afterwards relocated to London. In the United Kingdom Jeremy has been involved in a number of property transactions. More recently Jeremy was a director Onslow Resources (Oil and gas in Namibia and Yemen). He is business development director of a number of Avana companies involved in uranium, coal, gold, oil and gas and industrial minerals. Over the past six years has been involved in the establishment of a number of natural resource projects predominantly in Africa and South America.

Consultants

Prof. Richard Viljoen

Prof. R Viljoen has over 30 years experience in the mining industry including 15 years as chief consulting geologist for Gold Fields of South Africa. Notable past experience includes the development of significant mines

including Northam Platinum, and the Leeudoorn and Tarkwa gold mines, identifying and development of a significant platinum deposit in the Bushveld complex for Akanani Resources, acting as consultant for exploration and mining companies in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, India and China in the fields of base metals, gold and platinum, A number of Competent Persons Report for projects including the Witwatersrand South Reef Project, Doornkop mine project and the Uramin uranium project.

Prof. Morris Viljoen

Prof. M Vilojen has over 30 years experience in the mining industry following a role with JCI in base metals (including nickel, copper antimony, gold and platinum) exploration and mining in Southern Africa and as consulting geologist for Rustenburg Platinum Mines (now Anglo Platinum Limited). Moreover, he has been Professor of Mining Geology at the University of Witwatersrand for the last 13 years and established the Centre for Applied Mining and Exploration Geology that identifies and develops mineral projects including the Amalia and Blaaubank lode gold deposits, the Akanani/Afri Ore platinum project and the Uramin uranium project.

 

END

 

 

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