ECR Minerals Regulatory News (ECR)

5 May 2006 07:01

Mercator Gold PLC05 May 2006 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES,CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND ORJAPAN Mercator Gold plc ("Mercator" or the "Company") Placing of up to 14,285,715 ordinary shares at 70p per ordinary share Mercator announces a placing (the "Placing") of up to 14,285,715 new ordinaryshares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 70 pence per share to raiseup to £10 million before expenses. Cenkos Securities Limited and Ocean Equities Limited have agreed to usereasonable endeavours to place the new Ordinary Shares with institutionalinvestors conditional upon, inter alia, admission of the new Ordinary Shares totrading on AIM. Application has been made for the admission of the new OrdinaryShares to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will occur anddealings will commence in the new Ordinary Shares on 8 May 2006. The newOrdinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing OrdinaryShares which are currently traded on AIM. Following admission there will be upto 53,523,009 Ordinary Shares in issue. Mercator has secured control of most of the mineral field within the MeekatharraDistrict in Western Australia, comprising approximately 2,000 square kilometresof tenement holdings which host numerous gold prospects including four highlyproductive, historically significant mining centres. Its assets include acentrally-located mill capable, once re-commissioned, of processing 3 Mt of oreper annum. Mercator's exploration focus for 2006 is to re-establish the integrity of thesubstantial database it has acquired by continued drilling and through there-interpretation of the data using the SpaDis system with the intention ofexpanding the total resource base from 1.9 Moz to more than 5 Moz and themineable resource base to more than 600,000 oz. In this context the Company'sdirectors view the preliminary drill results, announced on 20 April 2006, asrepresenting significant progress. Mercator also intend to work towards there-commissioning of the mill and recommencement of production early in 2007.The proceeds of the Placing will be used to fund these plans. Patrick Harford, Managing Director of Mercator Gold, commented: "We are very pleased with the level of support from existing and new investors.This Placing will provide us with funding to exploit the exciting opportunitiesavailable to us in the Meekatharra District." For further information contact: Mercator Gold 020 7929 1010Patrick HarfordMichael de Villiers www.mercatorgold.com Parkgreen Communications 020 7493 3713Ana RibeiroJustine Howarth Cenkos Securities Limited ("Cenkos"), which is authorised and regulated in theUnited Kingdom by The Financial Services Authority, is acting exclusively forthe Company as nominated adviser, joint broker and placing agent in connectionwith the Placing. Cenkos is not acting for any other person and will not beresponsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protectionsafforded to clients of Cenkos or for advising any other person in relation tothe Placing. Ocean Equities Limited ("Ocean"), which is authorised and regulatedin the United Kingdom by The Financial Services Authority, is acting exclusivelyfor the Company as joint broker and placing agent in connection with thePlacing. Ocean is not acting for any other person and will not be responsible toanyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clientsof Ocean or for advising any other person in relation to the Placing. The newOrdinary Shares have not been, nor will be, registered under the United StatesSecurities Act of 1933 (as amended) or under the securities legislation of anystate of the United States of America or of any province or territory of Canada,Australia, Japan, the Republic of Ireland or the Republic of South Africa. Therewill be no public offering of the new Ordinary Shares in the United States.Subject to certain exceptions, the new Ordinary Shares may not be directly orindirectly offered, sold, transferred, taken up or delivered in, into or fromthe United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Ireland or theRepublic of South Africa or their respective territories or possessions. Thisannouncement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitationof an offer to buy new Ordinary Shares in any jurisdiction in which such offeror solicitation is unlawful. Accordingly, copies of this announcement are notbeing and must not be mailed or otherwise distributed or sent in or into or fromthe United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Ireland or theRepublic of South Africa and any person receiving this announcement (includingcustodians, nominees and trustees) must not distribute or send it in or into orfrom the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Ireland or theRepublic of South Africa. This announcement has not been approved by Cenkos orOcean for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act2000. This announcement has not been examined or approved by The FinancialServices Authority or the London Stock Exchange or any other regulatoryauthority. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange