15 Jan 2015 07:00
Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: Exploration & Development
15 January 2015
Alecto Minerals plc ('Alecto' or the 'Company')
Placing to Raise £600,000 gross
Alecto Minerals plc (AIM: ALO), the AIM quoted mineral exploration company focussed on West and East Africa, is pleased to announce that it has raised £600,000 (before expenses) by way of a placing, via Hume Capital Securities plc, of 200 million new ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in the capital of the Company ('the Placing Shares') at a price of 0.3 pence per Placing Share, with certain new and existing shareholders ('the Placing').
The net proceeds of the Placing will provide the Company with additional working capital as it progresses discussions, in line with its strategy, to form potential joint ventures for the advancement or early monetisation of opportunities across its gold portfolio in Africa and whilst it continues to explore and evaluate potential attractive opportunities to expand the Company's asset base.
Currently, the Company's core portfolio consists of: the recently acquired KerbouléGold Project in Burkina Faso, where the Company is focussed on delineating a JORC resource estimate in 2015; the Kossanto East Gold Project where the Company has identified a JORC inferred resource estimate of 247,000 ounces of gold; the Kossanto West Gold Project where the Company continues to hold early stage discussions regarding a potential joint venture for its advancement; and two gold projects in Ethiopia which are currently subject to a joint venture with Centamin plc.
Alecto's CEO, Mark Jones, commented:
"We are delighted to have successfully raised £600,000 in the prevailing difficult market conditions for the natural resources sector. The additional funds will further enable us to position our portfolio effectively, whilst at the same time working towards a more advanced project that the company believes can be funded through to production. A stronger balance sheet improves our negotiating position in joint venture and acquisition discussions. Whilst the placing price, at a discount of 40% to the closing bid price per share on 14 January 2015, reflects the funding challenges facing exploration companies in today's market, it puts the Company in a much stronger and better position to achieve its goals in 2015."
Application for trading on AIM and Total Voting Rights
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange plc for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). Admission is expected to become effective and dealings in the Placing Shares commence at 8.00 a.m. on 21 January 2015. On Admission, the Company will have in issue 1,087,566,457 ordinary shares.
The Placing Shares will be fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing ordinary shares.
The Company does not currently hold any ordinary shares in treasury. Accordingly, the above figure 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 Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
**ENDS**
For further information, please visit www.alectominerals.com or contact:
Alecto Minerals plc Mark Jones | Tel: +44 (0)20 3137 8862 |
Strand Hanson Limited Richard Tulloch Matthew Chandler James Dance | Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 3494 |
Hume Capital Securities plc Jon Belliss Abigail Wayne | Tel: +44 (0)20 3693 1470 |
St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Elisabeth Cowell Felicity Winkles | Tel: +44 (0)20 7236 1177 |
Notes to editors:
Alecto Minerals plc is an African focussed, gold and base metal exploration and development company quoted on AIM with exploration projects in Mali, Ethiopia, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
In Mali, the Kossanto Project has a current independent inferred JORC code compliant resource estimate of 6.72Mt grading at 1.14g/t Au for an aggregate of 247,000 oz Au with a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t Au at Kossanto East. The Kossanto Project is located in the centre of the Kenieba inlier in western Mali. The Kenieba inlier is a block of ancient greenstones and granites hosting many significant gold deposits in Senegal and Mali, making it one of the most important gold regions in Africa.
The Kerboulé Project, located in the highly prospective Birrimian-age Djibo gold belt in northern Burkina Faso, is ideally positioned for the definition of a preliminary JORC resource estimate, as well as on-going resource expansion, and accordingly is the near term focus of the Company to provide the basis for commencing a preliminary economic assessment.
Alecto also has a joint venture with Centamin plc over two prospective gold exploration licences in Ethiopia which sees Alecto retain exposure to these assets with no capital expenditure obligations, as well as the wholly owned Wad Amour IOCG Project in Mauritania which is at an exploration stage.
Combined, these projects provide the Company with a strong, diversified portfolio with exciting exploration upside potential.