Last checked at 5 May 2020 07:00
5 May 2020
AfriTin Mining Limited
("AfriTin" or the "Company")
£2.05 million Unsecured Loan Note Facility
AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), a tin mining company with assets in Namibia and South Africa, is pleased to announce it has secured £2.05 million in a new loan note facility. The funds will be used to improve its financial position as production ramps up at the Company's flagship Uis Tin Mine in Namibia, and to mitigate any potential effects from the Covid-19 pandemic that may occur in relation to future tin shipments or the Company's wider supply chain.
The loan note facility includes the entering into of unsecured loan notes (the "Notes") with Yellow Dragon Holdings Limited ("Yellow Dragon"), a private, strategic investor in African resource projects.
The Notes, which are issued in tranches of £50,000, bear an interest rate of 10% per annum to be accrued and payable in full on redemption, and have a 12-month term. The Notes carry an early redemption premium, so that in the event they are repaid prior to the redemption date of 4 May 2021, the full annual interest of £205k is payable. The redemption of the Notes can be by way of cash or shares, but the repayment mechanism will be by way of mutual agreement of both parties and the Company is not obliged to issue shares. If shares were to be issued it would be at a 20-day VWAP calculated on the date prior to the repayment date. However, at this stage, the Company intends to repay the Loan Notes in cash. The Notes will be unsecured and rank in subordination to AfriTin's existing working capital facility with Nedbank Namibia.
In addition, as part of the agreement, the subscribers to the Notes will receive 10 warrants for every £1 subscribed, each warrant giving the holder the right to subscribe for one share in AfriTin. The warrants, which have been issued today, can be exercised at any time from the date of issue and will lapse after 3 years. The exercise price of the warrants is 1.95p, being 130% of the Company's closing share price on 4 May 2020.
With the uncertainty of the pandemic affecting the global economy and supply chains, the Notes will provide added liquidity for the Company and will support AfriTin in the upcoming months. The Company has reduced its mining activity and is actively assessing its cost base during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to further secure the financial stability of the Company. Any cost reductions implemented will not have an effect on the Phase 1 ramp up of the pilot plant at Uis, which remains the primary objective of the Company.
As previously announced, AfriTin continues to take the necessary steps to mitigate the risk to its employees and local communities. As part of the Company's drive to help the local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the executive team will be donating a portion of their salary to a number of local community initiatives at Uis and the surrounding area. There continues to be no confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the Company's operations to date.
Related party transaction
The Orange Trust, which owns 9.9% of the issued shares of AfriTin, wholly owns and controls Yellow Dragon, which is a company participating in the loan note issue. Yellow Dragon is subscribing to £2m of the Notes. The Orange Trust and Yellow Dragon are deemed to be Related Parties to AfriTin under the AIM Rules for Companies and the participation of Yellow Dragon in the issue of the Notes means that this transaction must be treated as a related party transaction pursuant to Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Having consulted with WH Ireland, the Company's nominated adviser, the directors of the Company consider that the terms of this transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.
Anthony Viljoen, CEO of AfriTin Mining, commented:
"We are pleased to announce this facility of £2.05m that improves our balance sheet, during what is an exceptionally challenging market environment.
This facility will provide us with added stability and the ability to continue executing our growth strategy for the ramp-up phase of the Plant, as well as achieving steady state production.
As always, the health and safety of all our employees and local communities remains of paramount importance to the Company and as such, we continue to uphold the strictest hygiene and social distancing measures across the business."
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
For further information, please visit www.afritinmining.com or contact:
AfriTin Mining Limited | |
Anthony Viljoen, CEO | +27 (11) 268 6555 |
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker | |
WH Ireland Limited Katy Mitchell James Sinclair-Ford | +44 (0) 207 220 1666 |
Corporate Adviser and Joint Broker | |
H&P Advisory Limited Andrew Chubb Jay Ashfield Nilesh Patel | +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 |
Joint Broker | |
NOVUM Securities Limited Jon Belliss | +44 (0)20 7399 9400 |
Financial PR (United Kingdom) | |
Tavistock | +44 (0) 207 920 3150 |
Jos Simson Barney Hayward |
About AfriTin Mining Limited
Notes to Editors
AfriTin Mining is the first pure tin company listed in London and its vision is to create a portfolio of world-class, conflict-free, tin-producing assets. The Company's flagship asset is the Uis tin mine in Namibia, formerly the world's largest hard-rock tin mine.
AfriTin is managed by an experienced board of directors and management team with a current two-fold strategy: fast track Uis tin mine in Namibia to commercial production in 2020 ramping up to 5,000 tonnes of tin concentrate, and consolidation of other quality African tin assets. The Company strives to capitalise on the solid supply/demand fundamentals of tin by developing a critical mass of tin resource inventory, achieving production in the near term and further scaling production by consolidating tin assets in Africa.