Strategic Minerals Regulatory News (SML)

21 June 2016

 Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or the "Company")

Issue of equity

Strategic Minerals Plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), the minerals production and development company, announces that the Company has raised £429,000 before expenses through a placing (the "Placing") of new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares"). The Company has today issued 143,000,000 Ordinary Shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 0.3 pence per Ordinary Share to new and existing investors. The Placing has been undertaken within the Company's existing share authorities and is conditional only on admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). Application has been made for Admission, which is expected to occur on or around 23 June 2016. The Placing was arranged by Allenby Capital with assistance from Optiva Securities.

The net proceeds of the Placing will be used by the Company towards:

i) the exercise of the option to acquire an additional interest in NAE Resources (UK) Limited ("Redmoor"), further details of which were announced on 26 May 2016;

ii) the drilling being undertaken by Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd at the Hanns Camp project; and

iii) progressing the drilling programme at Redmoor.

Managing Director of Strategic Minerals, Mr John Peters, commented: "The Placing is an important step in executing the Company's strategy of investing into projects with metal assets which the Board considers will benefit from price rises over the next three to five years. As per the Company's strategy, the funds raised from the issue will be principally applied towards the acquisition of the assets at Redmoor, further exploration at Hanns Camp and finalisation of the proposed drilling programme at Redmoor, with the Company seeking to maintain its operating costs within the cash flow generated by its Cobre magnetite stockpile operations in New Mexico, USA.

While the funds raised in this issue are not sufficient to exercise the Redmoor option, they provide the Company the flexibility to investigate funding alternatives to complete the option prior to its 31 December 2016 expiry. These options include a possible further fund raise by Strategic Minerals, as well as discussions the Company is currently holding with parties who have expressed an interest in undertaking a position in the Redmoor project at an asset level."

Total voting rights

Following the issue of the Placing Shares and with effect from Admission, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 1,058,492,227 Ordinary Shares, with one voting right per share. Strategic Minerals does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. Therefore, the total number of Ordinary Shares and voting rights in the Company will be 1,058,492,227. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company.

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Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals Plc is an AIM-quoted, diversified mineral development and production company with projects in the United States of America and Australia. The Company is focused on acquiring and developing cash generative, high quality projects which meet local market demand for commodities and utilising this cash flow to undertake value added exploration. 

In September 2011, Strategic Minerals purchased its first cash generating asset; the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA which it brought into production in 2012 and which continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. The portfolio was expanded in January 2016 with the acquisition of shares in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd, which holds tenements in Western Australia and the Northern Territory that are prospective for nickel sulphides and rare earths. Strategic Minerals has commenced drill-testing of the highest priority nickel sulphide targets within the tenements and has successfully intersected nickel sulphide. In May 2016, the Company also entered arrangements to buy up to 50% of the Redmoor tin/tungsten exploration project in Cornwall, UK.