ALO.L Regulatory News (ALO)

Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: Exploration & Development

7 June 2012

Alecto Minerals plc ('Alecto' or 'the Company')

Raises Additional £363,500

Alecto Minerals plc, the AIM listed multi-commodity exploration and development company with projects in Ethiopia and Mauritania, and the right to acquire a highly prospective bauxite asset in Guinea, is pleased to announce that it has raised a further £363,500 by way of a placing of 23,451,613 New Ordinary Shares at 1.55 p per share with new strategic investors. 

This follows the recent raising of £1,472,500 by way of a placing to a new cornerstone investor, Mr. Al-Tamimi, as outlined in the announcement dated 21 May 2012, bringing the total amount raised to £1,836,000. The funds will be generally applied to exploration work to advance the Company's highly prospective African resource portfolio, which will include:

·; A 1,500m scout drilling programme to explore a potentially significant Iron Oxide Copper Gold ('IOCG') mineralisation identified at the 615 sq km Mauritanian Wad Amour licence in Mauritania;

·; Exploration programmes for the Ethiopian portfolio, consisting of the 945 sq km Wayu Boda Gold Project in the central-southern Adola greenstone belt, which has advanced artisanal workings, and the 1,953 sq km Aysid-Metekel gold licence in the Aysid-Metekel region of north-western Ethiopia;

·; Due diligence at the highly prospective 711 sq km bauxite licence 223 in Guinea; and

·; General working capital for the Company.

Alecto Managing Director Damian Conboy said, "The successful raising of £1,836,000 during these challenging markets is a notable achievement and we are delighted that Alecto is now well placed to build value across its African resource portfolio through further exploration as well as evaluating other growth opportunities. Additionally, this placing has enabled us to broaden our shareholder base, and along with our cornerstone investor, Mr. Al-Tamimi, we are very pleased to welcome a range of experienced resource investors to our register that are supportive of our portfolio and its exploration potential."

As part of the Placing, the investors will also be issued with warrants on the basis of one warrant being issued for every two and one half shares subscribed for, a total of 9,380,645 warrants on the basis of a subscription for 95,000,000 New Ordinary Shares. Such warrants will be valid for two years and exercisable at a price of 3.1p

The Placing is conditional, inter alia, on admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission will occur, and dealings in the Placing Shares will commence, at 8.00 a.m. on 3 July 2012.

The Placing represents approximately 7.28 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company and following Admission, the Placing Shares will represent 6.79 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital, which will then comprise 345,585,707 Ordinary Shares.

The Placing Shares will, when issued, rank pari passu in all respects with the existing issued Ordinary Shares, including the right to receive any dividends and other distributions declared following Admission.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.alectominerals.com or contact:

Notes:

Alecto Minerals plc is an AIM listed exploration company focussed on Africa with a diverse portfolio of exploration assets in Mauritania and Ethiopia. Also, the Company is currently conducting due diligence on the 711 sq km bauxite licence 223 located in the highly prospective south west coastal region of Guinea which already has established infrastructure and producing bauxite operations. The Company believes the project has the potential to host an in-situ bauxite resource of over 500 million tonnes. 

Additionally, in Mauritania, it has three gold and base metal development licences totalling 1,902 sq km and two uranium licences totalling 1,592 sq km in the highly prospective Mauritanide mobile belt. It also holds the 1,953 sq km gold exploration licence in the highly prospective Aysid-Metekel region of north western Ethiopia and the 945 sq km Wayu Boda gold licence in the mineral-rich central-southern Adola greenstone belt in southern Ethiopia. 

The Company is committed to conducting exploratory work across its portfolio, designed to strengthen its knowledge of the assets and delineate targets for further exploration. In tandem, the Board continues to evaluate a number of synergistic assets to build shareholder value.