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IronRidge Completes Acquisition of Tekton Minerals

5 Sep 2017 07:00

RNS Number : 7989P
IronRidge Resources Limited
05 September 2017
 

5 September 2017

 

IronRidge Completes Acquisition of Tekton Minerals

 

Issue of Equity

 

IronRidge Resources Limited (AIM: IRR, 'IronRidge' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that it has now completed its acquisition of 100% of Tekton Minerals Pte Ltd ("Tekton"), providing IronRidge with full ownership of a highly prospective gold exploration portfolio in Chad.

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Ø IronRidge has completed the acquisition of 100% of Tekton.

Ø As part of the acquisition, Tekton's highly skilled technical and logistics team will join the IronRidge team to advance the projects and future growth strategies.

Ø Tekton's major and minority shareholders endorse IronRidge's vision and strategy by electing full consideration in IronRidge shares.

Ø Tekton's major shareholders further endorse the IRR vision and strategy by voluntarily escrowing their IronRidge shares for 12 months.

Ø Cemented commodity and jurisdiction diversity.

Ø Focused executive and management teams.

Ø Streamlined operations with continuity and structure for future growth.

 

Commenting on the Company's latest progress, Vincent Mascolo, Chief Executive Officer of IronRidge, said:

 

"We are delighted to announce that we completed this significant acquisition ahead of schedule, which is part of the execution of our vision and growth strategy for Africa.

 

The Chad portfolio represents a highly prospective ground holding with high-grade gold targets within an underexplored yet highly prospective gold Province, potentially analogous to the world class Tintina Province in the Alaska and Yukon Territory.

 

The size and extent of artisanal gold workings and the occurrence of coarse, visible gold endorse our strategy.

 

The Tekton team offers extensive francophone exploration, logistics and government relations expertise gained throughout West and Central Africa, providing valuable synergies with the IronRidge team and its growth strategy.

 

We are very pleased with the work programs completed to date, and look forward to keeping shareholders and investors updated as more news becomes available."

 

Details of Acquisition

The Company announced on 21 September 2016 that it had acquired 6% of Tekton and entered into an investment arrangement with Tekton under which IronRidge had rights to invest US$3.5 million in Tekton over an 18-month period to acquire up to a 58% interest in Tekton.

 

On 12 June 2017, IronRidge announced its proposal to acquire 100% of Tekton in return for the issue of 10,000,000 shares in IronRidge. Completion of this acquisition has now occurred and the Company has issued the 10,000,000 shares to the 18 former shareholders of Tekton. This equates to a 3.8% interest in the enlarged share capital of IronRidge.

 

The acquisition of Tekton supersedes the previous investment arrangements with Tekton, which are now terminated.

 

Tekton's highly skilled technical and logistics team has been retained by IronRidge to continue to advance the Chad gold projects. Two Tekton directors will remain on the Board of Tekton, together with three IronRidge appointed directors and one Singapore resident director. There is no change to the Board of IronRidge arising from the transaction.

 

Ownership of Tekton provides IronRidge with access to exclusive rights to an extensive granted tenure package with first mover advantage and associated exciting gold exploration targets with large scale and high-grade potential (the 'Projects') in Chad, Central Africa.

 

Project Update

The Company in conjunction with the Tekton team is currently planning for the pending field season, with teams expected to mobilise to country during September 2017. Final results of the previous field season are due imminently and will be used to finalise the field programs. Field work is estimated to commence in October 2017 after the effects of wet season rains abate.

 

About Chad

With a population of 13.6 million (World Bank, 2016), Chad covers a surface area of 1.2 million km2. It is a stable Republic with a US$2,500 GDP per capita per annum (2013 estimate), is a member of the OHADA and EITI, and has a projected economic growth of 11.2% (African Economic Outlook, 2014). Major oil companies including Total, Exxon, Chevron and Glencore have been active in Chad for several decades and the region is a major oil producer and refiner for the domestic and international markets.

 

Chad has an attractive Mining Code and investment framework. Mineral exploration licenses are granted for 5 years and are renewable twice for a total of 10 years. Mining licenses are granted for a 25 year term and are renewable. The licenses offer a tax holiday period up to a maximum of 10 years and a corporate tax rate of 35% (negotiable). The State has the right for a 10% free carry and 2% royalty.

 

Issue of Equity

As outlined above, and as a result of the finalisation of the acquisition of Tekton, IronRidge has today allotted and issued 10,000,000 fully paid ordinary shares to Tekton's 18 former shareholders.

 

An application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings in the shares are expected to commence at 8:00am on or about Monday 11 September 2017.

 

Following the issue of these shares, the Company has 272,466,158 fully paid ordinary shares on issue.

 

Furthermore, under the terms of employment of the Tekton management team, IronRidge has today issued or granted to the Tekton management team, a total of:

 

· 4,500,000 IronRidge options having an exercise price of £0.40 and an expiry date of 2 years from the date of issue;

· 4,500,000 IronRidge options having an exercise price of £0.60 and an expiry date of 3 years from the date of issue;

· 450,000 performance rights which vest in September 2017, entitling the recipient to the equivalent number of shares in IronRidge; and

· 450,000 performance rights which vest in September 2018, entitling the recipient to the equivalent number of shares in IronRidge.

 

The Board is delighted with the progress that the Company has made in 2017 and looks forward to keeping shareholders updated as further news becomes available.

 

********

 

For any further information please contact:

 

IronRidge Resources Limited

 

Vincent Mascolo (Chief Executive Officer)

Tel: +61 7 3303 0610

Nicholas Mather (Executive Chairman)

Tel: +61 7 3303 0610

 

 

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP

Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

Nominated Adviser and Broker

 

Jeff Keating

Caroline Rowe

 

Yellow Jersey PR Limited

Charles Goodwin

Harriet Jackson

Katie Goodwin

 

 

 Tel: +44 (0) 7544 275882

 

 

Competent Person Statement:

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Nicholas Mather (B.Sc. Hons Geol.), the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr Mather is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy who has in excess of 25 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Mather consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

Notes to Editors:

IronRidge Resources is an AIM listed mineral exploration company with frontier assets in both Australia and West Africa, with two province scale projects in Gabon, and promising and advanced titanium and bauxite projects in Queensland Australia. IronRidge's corporate strategy is to create and sustain shareholder value through the discovery of world-class and globally demanded commodities.

 

Australia

Monogorilby is prospective for province scale titanium and bauxite with an initial maiden resource of 54.9MT of premium DSO bauxite Monogorilby is located in central Queensland, within a short trucking distance of the rail system leading north to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

 

May Queen is located in Central Queensland within IRR's wholly owned Monogorilby license package and is highly prospective for gold. Historic drilling completed during the 1980s intersected multiple high-grade gold intervals including 2m @ 73.4 g/t Au (including 1m at 145g/t), 4m @ 38.8g/t Au (at end of hole) and 3m @ 18.9g/t Au, over an approximate 100m strike hosting numerous parallel vein systems, open to the north-west and south-east.

 

Wholly owned Quaggy contains highly anomalous platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt and copper exploration targets and is located in Central Queensland within a short trucking distance of the dormant rail system to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

 

Gabon

Tchibanga is located in south-western Gabon, in the Nyanga Province, within 10-60km of the Atlantic coastline. This project comprises two exploration licenses, Tchibanga and Tchibanga Nord, which cover a combined area of 3,396km2 and include over 90km of prospective lithologies and the historic Mont Pele iron occurrence.

 

Belinga Sud is Located in the north east of Gabon in the Ogooue-Ivindo Province, approximately 400km east of the capital city of Libreville. IRR's licence lies between the main Belinga Iron Ore Deposit, believed to be one of the world's largest untapped reserves of iron ore with an estimated 1bt of iron ore at a grade >60% Fe, and the route of the Trans Gabonese railway, which currently carries manganese ore and timber from Franceville to the Port of Owendo in Libreville.

 

Chad

In 2016 the Company entered into an agreement with Tekton Minerals Pte Ltd of Singapore concerning its portfolio covering 1,000km2 of highly prospective gold and other mineral projects in Chad, Central Africa. In September 2017, IronRidge acquired 100% of Tekton including its projects and team to advance the Dorothe, Echbara, Am Ouchar, Nabagay and Ade licenses, which host multiple, large scale gold projects. Initial trenching results at Dorothe, including 14.12g/t Au over 4m, 34.1g/t over 2m and 63.2g/t over 1m, have defined significant gold mineralised quartz veining over a confirmed 1km strike at an average of 2m and up to 5m true width across multiple stacked vein zones over a 250m wide zone with new hard-rock artisanal workings potentially extending strike to >3km.

 

Ghana

The Company entered into joint venture arrangements with Obotan Minerals Limited, Merlink Resources Limited and Barari Developments Limited of Ghana, West Africa, securing the first access rights to acquire the historical Egyasimanku Hill spodumene rich lithium resource, estimated to be in the order of 1.48Mt at 1.67% Li2O and surrounding tenements. The portfolio covers some 314km2 with a further identified 20km strike of pegmatite vein swarms, tenure package is also highly prospective for tin, tantalum, niobium and gold which occur as accessory minerals within the pegmatites and host formations.

 

Ivory Coast

The Company entered into conditional joint venture arrangements in Ivory Coast, West Africa; securing access rights to highly prospective gold mineralised structures and pegmatite occurrences covering a combined 3,110km2 and 400km2 area respectively. The projects are well located within access of an extensive bitumen road network and along strike from multi-million ounce gold projects and mines.

 

Corporate

IronRidge made its AIM debut in February 2015, successfully securing strategic alliances with three international companies; Assore Limited of South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and DGR Global Limited of Australia. Assore is a high- grade iron, chrome and manganese mining specialist. Sumitomo Corporation is a global resources, mining marketing and trading conglomerate. DGR Global is a project generation and exploration specialist.

 

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
END
 
 
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