17 Jul 2013 07:00
MINCO COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF BUCHANS MINERALS CORPORATION
Dublin, July 17, 2013 Minco Plc (AIM - "MIO") (the "Company" or "Minco") is pleased to announce the closing of the scheme of arrangement (the "Arrangement") for the acquisition of Buchans Minerals Corporation ("Buchans") by Minco.
Pursuant to the Arrangement, Minco acquired 150,898,545 Buchans Shares, or 90.7% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Buchans in exchange for ordinary shares of Minco on the basis of 0.826 of a Minco Share for each Buchans Share resulting in Minco holding 166,283,160 Buchans Shares (or 100%).
An aggregate of 124,642,196 Minco Shares were issued under the Arrangement.
As a result of the Arrangement, trading of the Buchans Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange was halted on July 16th 2013. Buchans Shares are expected to be delisted from the Exchange at the close of trading on July 18th, 2013.
The Minco Shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "MIO" and the new Minco Shares were admitted to trading on July 17, 2013.
Minco believes that the completion of this acquisition creates a premier base metals exploration and development company with advanced projects in established mining jurisdictions in eastern Canada.
The acquisition of Buchans consolidates Minco's ownership of Buchans' advanced exploration assets, being the Lundberg Project in central Newfoundland and the Woodstock Manganese Project in New Brunswick, and is a major step towards achieving Minco's a strategy of creating a strong base metals exploration and development company with advanced projects in established mining jurisdictions in eastern Canada. Minco now owns 100% of the Lundberg base metal project and the Woodstock manganese project, in addition to Minco's existing exploration projects in the UK and Ireland.
ABOUT MINCO
Minco Plc, registered in the Republic of Ireland and listed on the AIM Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ("MIO"), is an exploration and development company currently engaged in zinc-lead exploration in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada and in evaluating manganese project in New Brunswick, Canada. Minco holds investments in zinc‐silver projects in Mexico through a holding of 30 million shares (approximately 29%) in Xtierra Inc. listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX.V-"XAG").
Minco also holds a 2% NSR royalty on the Curraghinalt gold property in Northern Ireland, which is being explored by Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX-"DNA").
Minco currently holds approximately US$13 million in cash and is also evaluating a number of other investment opportunities in the minerals industry in North America and Europe.
For further information of Minco refer to Minco's website at www.minco.ie.
For further information, www.minco.ie or contact:
John Kearney: Chairman and Chief Executive +1 416 362 6686
Danesh Varma: CFO & Company Secretary +44 (0) 8452 606 034
Peter McParland: Director - Ireland +353 (0)46 907-3709
John Frain/Fergal Meegan: (NOMAD) Davy +353 (0)1 6796363
Chris Rourke/ Guy Wheatley: (Corporate Advisor| Broker)
Beaufort Securities, London +44 (0)20 7382 8387