10 Nov 2009 07:00
Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc
("BMR" or "the Company")
Placing Raises £170,000 to Develop Kabwe
Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc, a company engaged in the reprocessing of tailings dumps at Kabwe in Zambia, announces that it has raised a total of £170,000 by way of a Placing to clients of a private client stockbroker and other investors of 17 million new ordinary shares at a price of 1p per share.
These funds have been raised for working capital and to develop the processing of the tailings dumps that the Company has acquired at Kabwe Mine in Zambia, as previously announced.
In addition, Wills & Co will be issued 943,396 shares at the mid market share price of 2.12p on 9th November 2009 in lieu of £20,000 of fees for the provision of research and Investor Relations services.
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the 17,943,396 ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and dealings are expected to commence on 24 November 2009.
Following the allotment of the 17,943,396 ordinary shares, the Company's issued number of ordinary shares of 1p each and therefore its total number of voting rights will be 273,825,493.
Masoud Alikhani, Chairman of Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc, commented:
"These additional funds will allow us to move forward by advancing the processing planning and metallurgical testing of the contained material at the Kabwe dumps. World demand for lead and zinc continues to increase and we are in negotiations with potential off-take partners for the supply of concentrates."
10 November 2009
| Contacts: | |
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| Masoud Alikhani, Chairman, Berkeley Mineral Resources | 020 7408 1181 |
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| Jonathan Wright, Seymour Pierce | 020 7107 8000 |
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| Michael Padley / Ron Marshman, Lothbury Financial | 020 7011 9411 |
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Notes to editors
BMR is a minerals company with a primary strategy of investing in tailings processing. By accessing dump deposits with known grades and metallurgy, it avoids exploration or mining costs, has a secure licence and fixed environmental criteria, and can produce concentrates according to viability at current market prices.
The Kabwe deposits, located approximately 110km north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, were discovered in 1902. The series of high-grade replacement ore bodies were characterised by coarse sulphide mineralisation (sphalerite/galena) surrounded by an oxidation halo comprising a variety of secondary zinc-lead minerals.
From 1906, Kabwe was a significant mine. By the time it closed in 1994, due to depletion of the massive sulphide mineralisation and lowered metal prices, it had produced about 1.8m tonnes of zinc, 800,000t of lead, 7,800t of vanadium pentoxide and lesser quantities of cadmium, silver and copper. After closure, most of the mine complex was sold off on a piecemeal basis. Berkeley's project is part of an overall plan to re-assemble the Kabwe site into a single entity operating under a single Large Scale Mining Licence.
Today, the waste dumps at Kabwe cover an area of about 1km2 and contain approximately 8m tons of various waste residues with an estimated combined metal content of 455,000t zinc and 368,500t lead.
BMR benefits from the existing infrastructure at Kabwe, including processing plant, good roads, water supply, ample power, local labour and direct on-site connection to overseas markets via international railways to South Africa and to Indian Ocean ports.
For further information please see the Company's website at http://www.bmrplc.com
The directors of Berkeley Mineral Resources accept responsibility for this announcement.