Metals Exploration Regulatory News (MTL)

18 Oct 2006 07:01

Metals Exploration PLC18 October 2006 18 October 2006 Metals Exploration plc ("Metals Ex" or "the Company") Issue of Equity Placing to raise £5 million HIGHLIGHTS £5 million raised (before expenses) through an institutional placing. Funds will be used primarily to advance the Company's Runruno gold-molybdenumproject in the Philippines, which, as previously announced, has a preliminaryJORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource totalling an estimated 23 milliontonnes at an average grade of 2.3 g/t gold and 0.07% molybdenum for a totalcontained 1.7 million ounces of gold and 34 million pounds (15.4kt) ofmolybdenum. Company strategy to move into development of a 150,000-200,000 oz/yr gold miningoperation at Runruno. Recent appointment of Jonathan Beardsworth as CEO complements management teamwith extensive corporate experience and proven track record in mineralexploration, project development, feasibility studies and mining finance. Metals Ex is an AIM-quoted gold and copper exploration company with a focus onthe Philippines. The Company is pleased to announce that it has raised £5 million (beforeexpenses) through a placing (the "Placing") of new ordinary shares of 1 penceeach at 25 pence per ordinary share (the "Placing Shares") through its brokerCollins Stewart. The Placing Shares have been issued at a discount of 22.5% tothe closing price of the shares at 32.25p on 16 October 2006. Application will be made for the Placing Shares to trade on AIM and it isexpected that dealings in the Placing Shares will commence on 24 October 2006. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing sharesin issue. The number of shares in issue following the Placing will be75,862,167. The majority of the funds will be used to conduct further drilling operations atRunruno with a view to increasing the size of the resource to the Company'smedium term target of 2.5m oz Au by mid 2007. Funds will also be used toimprove the definition of the resource, to conduct metallurgical testing andpreliminary environmental studies, and to prepare for the commencement of abankable feasibility study starting around mid 2007. Jonathan Beardsworth, CEO, said: "We are delighted with the support shown byexisting major shareholders, and pleased to welcome important new institutionalshareholders to the Company. Runruno is an exciting gold / moly project whichalready has a resource capable of sustaining a 150,000-200,000 ounce per yeargold mining operation. The Placing gives us the opportunity to increase theresource and move towards development." Qualified/competent persons Gary Powell (a Director of the Company) has been involved in the mining andexploration industry for more than 20 years. He has a Bachelor of AppliedScience degree in geology and is a member of the Australasian Institute ofMining and Metallurgy and the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists. GaryPowell is the Qualified Person for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note onMining, Oil and Gas Companies dated March 2006. He has compiled, read andapproved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement. Enquiries: Jonathan Beardsworth, Chief Executive +44 (0) 7747 101 552Jonathan Anderson - Investor Relations +44 (0) 7950 410 680 + 63 (0) 917 560 6654Adrian Hadden, Collins Stewart +44 (0) 20 7523 8000 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange