16 Dec 2014 07:00
Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: Exploration & Development
16 December 2014
Alecto Minerals plc ('Alecto' or the 'Company')
Termination of Yorkville equity swap and issue of equity
Alecto Minerals plc (AIM: ALO), the AIM quoted mineral exploration company focussed on West and East Africa, announces that the equity swap agreement (the 'Equity Swap'), announced on 7 November 2013 between the Company and YA Global Master SPV Ltd ('Yorkville') has been terminated by mutual consent.
Following termination of the Equity Swap, no further payments are due between Yorkville and the Company and Yorkville remains interested in 33,875,003 ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in the capital of the Company ('Ordinary Shares') representing approximately 3.8 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. Yorkville has been a supportive shareholder in Alecto and in respect of such Ordinary Shares, Yorkville has placed the shares onto their long book and when ready to trade will do so through Alecto's broker, Hume Capital Securities plc.
The equity swap provided the Company with an alternative funding arrangement and provided working capital for the successful exploration at the Kossanto Gold Project in Mali where the Company increased its JORC-code compliant resource to 247,000 oz Au during the 2014 field season.
The termination of the equity swap by mutual consent comes at an appropriate time while Alecto consolidates its current gold portfolio and looks to expand through operational and corporate activity.
Issue of equity
Additionally, the Company has agreed to issue 2,777,143 new Ordinary Shares ('Fee Shares') to a consultant to the Company in lieu of fees.
The Fee Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company.
Application for trading on AIM and Total Voting Rights
Application will be made for the Fee Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to become effective and dealings commence at 8.00 a.m. on 22 December 2014 ('Admission'). On Admission, the Company will have in issue 887,566,457 Ordinary Shares.
The Company has no Ordinary Shares held in treasury. The above figure may therefore 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 Edwards | 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, following completion of the abovementioned acquisition, 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 will be 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.