Bellzone Mining Regulatory News (BZM)

Monday 21 March 2011

Bellzone Mining plc

("Bellzone" or the "Company")

Results of the EGM

Further to the announcement of its fundraising on 2 March 2011, Bellzone Mining plc (AIM: BZM), today held its Extraordinary General Meeting ("EGM") and is pleased to confirm that all resolutions proposed to the shareholders were duly passed.

Furthermore, the Company confirms the receipt of funds and subsequent issue of 79,000,000 Ordinary Shares to a nominee of China International Fund Limited ("CIF"), China Sonangol International (S) Pte Ltd, for gross proceeds of £63.2 million.

Following the EGM, the Board also confirms the allotment of 102,000,000 Ordinary Shares on a non pre-emptive basis, pursuant to the Institutional Placing for gross proceeds of £81.6 million.  Following the issue of the Institutional Placing Shares, CIF's holding in Bellzone will be reduced from 12.8 per cent to 11.0 per cent. It is expected that admission to AIM of the Institutional Placing Shares will take place and that trading will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 22 March 2011.  

Following the admission to AIM of the Institutional Placing Shares, the total number of issued Ordinary Shares in Bellzone to which voting rights are attached on the basis of one vote per Ordinary Share held will be 721,324,485. Subject to the admission to AIM of the Institutional Placing Shares, the above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interests in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Definitions in the Company's announcement of 4.42 p.m. on 1 March 2011 shall have the same meaning in this announcement unless the context otherwise requires.

Nik Zuks, Chief Executive Officer commented "We are delighted by the support shown by both the CIF and the broader investment community. This funding will provide sufficient capital to fully fund Bellzone's Forecariah JV commitments, which will allow us to achieve production by the first quarter of 2012, and to accelerate key aspects of our Kalia Mine Project."

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Bellzone Mining plc

Bellzone Mining plc is an exploration and resource development company with iron ore and nickel / copper permits in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.

The Company's flagship project, the Kalia iron mine, has a JORC resource of 3.74 billion tonnes, located on the Kalia I prospect. Drilling results and internal estimates indicate that Kalia prospect has the potential to host more than 10 billion tonnes of magnetite and 2.55 billion tonnes of potential oxide at surface.

In addition to the Kalia iron mine, an exploration and development programme is currently underway at the China International Fund ('CIF') held Forécariah iron permits that lie between 40 and 80 kms from the Guinea coast. Bellzone and CIF are jointly developing these permits which are prospective for oxide and magnetite. The development plan is designed to support an initial production target rate of 3-4 mtpa of direct shipping ore ('DSO') in Q1 2012 ramping up to a target rate of 10 mtpa by 2013.

Bellzone is committed to the staged development of the Kalia iron project, which includes a 50mtpa iron ore facility, rail and port, with initial production scheduled in 2014. Stage one is planned to bring online 20mtpa direct shipping ore ('DSO') capacity in 2014 and a 10mtpa magnetite concentrator in 2015. Stage two increasing the DSO output to 30mtpa in 2017 and doubling the concentrate capacity to 20mtpa by 2018.

Bellzone signed an Infrastructure Accord with the Republic of Guinea giving the Company exclusive rights to the designated port and rail areas for purposes of conducting studies for the development of the infrastructure leading to the signing of a convention and concession. The infrastructure forms a key part of the Guinea Government's infrastructure strategy and will support the development of iron ore, bauxite and other minerals in Guinea through its availability for third party use.

On 2 August 2010, Bellzone announced signed definitive agreements with CIF. CIF will finance and develop the rail and port infrastructure and offer a finance package to Bellzone for the development of the Kalia mine in exchange for the first right to purchase 100% of the off-take of the Kalia mine at market price.