Atalaya Mining Regulatory News (ATYM)

18 Dec 2007 07:02

EMED Mining Public Limited18 December 2007 AIM: EMED 18 December 2007 EMED MINING PUBLIC LIMITED ("EMED Mining" or "the Company") ARRANGEMENT OF NEW LOAN FACILITY EMED Mining announces that further to its previously reported £10 millionstandby facility ('SEDA') with Yorkville Associates LLC of New Jersey USA ("YA"), it has made a GBP250k drawdown under this SEDA and also entered into a new loan arrangement with YA Global Investments LP ('YA Global'), an associate of YA, to raise a further US$4.7 million. This has been done to provide morefunding flexibility to the Company. £250,000 has been raised under the SEDA from the issuance of 1,155,268 NewOrdinary Shares at 21.64p per share and US$4.7 million, net after expenses, isavailable by way of a cash advance, should the Company elect to utilize the newfacility. Repayments of such advance can be made in shares or, at the electionof the Company, in cash. As part of its remuneration, upon a drawdown of theadvance, YA Global will be granted 1.0 million options over unissued shares inEMED Mining, exercisable at 50 pence per share within four years. Furtherdetails of this cash advance facility are provided below. Based on current engineering and financial analysis, the estimated fundsrequired for the potential resumption of mining at Proyecto Rio Tinto ('PRT'),acquisition costs and other group activities total approximately US$120 million(€90 million or £60 million). Should the Company elect to utilize the cashadvance facility and then proceed to exercise its PRT option, it intends torepay the advance upon drawdown of project finance facilities currently beingnegotiated. EMED Mining's Annual General Meeting is planned be held in April 2008 at whichshareholder approval will likely be sought for the exercise of the PRT optionand associated financial arrangements, subject to satisfaction of all conditionsprecedent including receipt of all regulatory permits. The Company's most recentprojections show that the earliest that the PRT production restart could occurwould be the third quarter of 2008. Mr Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, Managing Director of EMED Mining said: "EMED Mining continues to steadily build its confidence that the Proyecto de RioTinto copper project in Spain will proceed and will be worthwhile for allstakeholders in Andalucia and for a metal-starved world. The continuedrefinement of our financing capacity and support shows that our preparations arefalling into place as the project advances" Terms of Cash Advance Under new Loan Facility with YA Global 1. The cash advance available under the facility is US$ 4.7 million afterfees and costs of US$ 300,000, subject to funds being drawn down. 2. The interest rate is 8.0% per annum. 3. The advance is available for drawdown within 45 days and failure to drawdown will incur a fee of US$ 165,000 4. There are no repayments for nine months after the date the funds aredrawn down after which the repayments are in 18 monthly installments. 5. Repayments can be made in cash or shares at the election of the Company. 6. If the repayment is made by way of shares, the conversion price is thelower of 120 per cent of the average of the volume weighted average prices forthe 5 consecutive trading days immediately prior to the date the loan is drawndown ('Conversion Price') or 95% of the prevailing market price at the time ofthe repayment. 7. The Company can elect to repay part or all of any advance early in cashsubject to an early repayment fee of 8.0% of the amount so paid. 8. YA Global can, subject to certain restrictions, elect to convert thedebt into shares at any time at the Conversion Price. In this event, the Companycan either issue the shares or pay to YA Global the cash equivalent of theConversion Price, plus the amount by which the weighted average market priceover a 5 day period at the time exceeds the Conversion Price. 9. The parties agree that a further US$ 5 million may be advanced by YAGlobal to the Company under the agreement at some future date. 10. The Company is obliged, if requested by YA Global, to apply 20% of anyamount over US$ 15 million raised after the date of this agreement to reduce anyloan amount outstanding. 11. Draw downs of the SEDA facility are restricted to a further £1 millionbetween the date of the loan drawdown and the date the first repayment is due.Thereafter, the SEDA is unavailable until any loan advance under this newagreement is repaid. -Ends- EnquiriesEMED Mining RFC Corporate FinanceHarry Anagnostaras-Adams Stuart Laing+357 9945 7843 +61 8 9480 2500 Fox-Davies Capital Parkgreen CommunicationsRichard Hail Justine Howarth / Erica Nelson+44 207 936 5220 +44 20 7851 7480 Notes to Editors: About EMED Mining Public Limited EMED Mining was admitted to trading on AIM in May 2005 following a placing ofits shares. In the two years since then the share price has increased from 8p tothe current 19.75p and market capitalisation has increased from approximately £4million to approximately £30 million. The Company is based in Cyprus and has astrong commitment to responsible development of metal production operations inEurope, with an initial focus on copper and gold. The Company's rapid growth reflects the experience of its specialist team andthe clarity of its strategy. The Group's region of interest are the tectonic belts spanning across Europe andover to the Middle East. The strategy is to evaluate exploration and developmentopportunities in several jurisdictions throughout this quality mineral belt andto promote sustainable development practices through implementation of EuropeanUnion and other leading-edge international standards. The Company has, from theoutset, strictly implemented its Environmental & Community Policy whichincludes: • Integrating environmental management into our business, planning andreporting processes. • Promoting a strong environmental ethic throughout the company and thecommunity. • Complying with, as a minimum, all applicable local and European Union lawsand regulations. • Communicating with community stakeholders in a responsible and transparentmanner. In the framework of our community relations policy, EMED Mining co-hostedinternational conference on Responsible Mining and Environmental Protection inCyprus in 2006 and in Slovakia in 2007. A similar conference will be arranged inSpain in 2008 after other relevant stakeholders are consulted. EMED Mining has now established a strong position in the following selectedzones: • Exploration areas in Slovakia are centred on a cluster of volcaniccentres. Low-detection geochemical methods are being applied to these areas forthe first time together with open pit bulk mining concepts. The principaltargeted mineralisation style is low-grade, bulk-mineable porphyry gold. Thecompany has announced a gold discovery at Biely Vrch in Slovakia. • The mines in Cyprus and at Rio Tinto in Spain, located in the Iberianpyrite belt, are probably amongst the best known in the world. EMED Mining'sgoal is to restart copper production at its projects in both of these well-endowed, historical mining districts. Both Spain and Cyprus are progressivemembers of the European Union and EMED Mining has been made to feel welcome inboth host countries. The styles of mineral deposits and production techniquesare similar in both mining districts. • EMED Mining's main prospects in Georgia are gold prospects within theUpper Racha Licence, the country's largest minerals licence with many untestedprospects. The Company has confirmed Russian Resources of 1.0 million ouncesgold at the Zopkhito Prospect and discovered high grade mineralisation atsurface at other prospects (detailed in 2006 Annual Report). • Exploration areas in Turkey were vended into 34%-owned KEFI Minerals Plcwhich was admitted to AIM in December 2006. KEFI Minerals owns carefullyselected licence areas in Turkey, as well as an extensive proprietary databaseof regional and specific exploration data providing a pipeline of furtherprojects to evaluate. The KEFI Minerals team has mobilized into the field toexplore the company's tenements and to expand the portfolio of licenses asopportunities warrant. See www.kefi-minerals.com. For further information on the Company's activities, visit www.emed-mining.comor www.emed.tv. Competent Person for Reporting of Resources and Reserves References in this announcement to exploration results and potential, includingthe reported resources in Georgia (under the Russian reporting system), havebeen approved for release by Mr Ron Cunneen, B.Sc. (Honours). Mr Cunneen isHead of Exploration for EMED Mining and has more than 20 years' relevantexperience in the field of activity concerned. He is a member of The AustralianInstitute of Geoscientists. Mr Cunneen consents to the inclusion in theannouncement of the material in the form and context in which it appears in thisannouncement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange