4 Sep 2017 07:00
Expiry of the Standstill Agreement
Avocet Mining PLC, ('the Company') announces today that the standstill agreement between its subsidiary Société des Mines de Bélahouro SA ('SMB') that operates the Inata gold mine in Burkina Faso and certain of SMB's financial and trade creditors (the 'Major Creditors') has expired.
The Major Creditors amongst themselves could not agree on an extension of the standstill agreement to further concrete strategic options at hand.
Given the current status of discussions, it is unclear whether agreement on a restructuring of the balance sheet can be reached before SMB has exhausted all available sources of financing.
In light of the current circumstances, the boards of both Avocet and SMB will convene on 8 September 2017 to assess the status of the discussions with the Major Creditors, SMB's current liquidity position and its imminent liabilities. The boards will consider all available options, including the potential filing of an insolvency petition by SMB. No decision regarding whether or not to file for insolvency has been made at this time.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Avocet Mining PLC | Blytheweigh Financial PR | J.P. Morgan Cazenove Corporate Broker |
Boudewijn Wentink, CEOYolanda Bolleurs, CFO | Tim Blythe Camilla Horsfall Megan Ray
| Michael Wentworth-Stanley |
+44 20 3709 2570 | +44 207 138 3204 | +44 20 7742 4000
|
NOTES TO EDITORS
Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or the "Company") is an unhedged gold mining and exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (ticker: AVM.OL). The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in West Africa.
In Burkina Faso the Company owns 90 per cent of the Inata Gold Mine. The Inata Gold Mine poured its first gold in December 2009 and produced 72,485 ounces of gold in 2016. Other assets in Burkina Faso include five exploration permits surrounding the Inata Gold Mine in the broader Bélahouro region. The most advanced of these projects is Souma, some 20 kilometers from the Inata Gold Mine.
The Company also holds an interest in the Tri-K project in Guinea. On 22 May 2017, the Company announced that it had completed its agreement to dispose of 40 per cent of the project to Managem, a Moroccan group listed on the Casablanca stock exchange, which will increase upon completion of a bankable feasibility study for a CIL plant at the site, the incurring of expenditures of at least US$10 million, and the enlarging of the ore reserve, to 70 per cent (in the event of an increase of the reserve to 1 million ounce or more) or 60 per cent (if less than 1 million ounces).