16 May 2012 07:00
StratMin Global Resources plc
Placing of New Ordinary Shares
Work begins on maiden JORC resource estimate
StratMin Global Resources plc (AIM: STGR) ("StratMin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has raised £500,000 (before expenses) through a placing of 12,500,000 new ordinary shares of 0.4p each at a price of 4p. The placing was arranged by Optiva Securities Limited.
Application has been made for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to AIM. Admission is expected to occur on 21 May 2012. On admission, the new ordinary shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company.
Gobind Sahney, Chairman of Stratmin commented, "We are pleased to welcome our new shareholders to the StratMin register. The funds raised will primarily be used to give the Company the flexibility to evaluate and potentially take advantage of additional graphite investment opportunities."
Earlier this year, StratMin announced an initial 15% investment in Graphmada, an advanced stage graphite mining and production company with operations in Madagascar. Graphmada is nearing completion of its 12,000 tonne per year graphite beneficiation plant and anticipates beginning test production upon completion. Graphmada expects to produce a jumbo flake, premium quality graphite product that currently sells at over US$2,000 per tonne.
StratMin is also pleased to announce that Graphmada has begun work to delineate a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee ("JORC") compliant mineral resource estimate on their 100% owned graphite project in Madagascar. A recently completed scoping study placed the graphite mineral target at 6 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 12% carbon.
Graphite is increasingly becoming an industrial mineral in high demand. Underinvestment in new mines, curtailed exports out of China, and growing demand from high-tech sources have caused prices to increase dramatically over the past few years. StratMin believes the fundamentals are in place for continued strength and long term price appreciation in the flake graphite market.
StratMin is an investing company focussed on seeking out investment opportunities in the natural resource and extractive industries sector. The Group's objective is to take meaningful ownership positions of operating companies and assets that have potential for significant growth, whose value can be enhanced with our capital and expertise.
The total number of issued ordinary shares in the Company, including the new ordinary shares, will be 76,872,045. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Enquiries:
StratMin Global Resources Plc
Gobind Sahney +44 (0) 207 467 1700
Libertas Capital Corporate Finance Limited
Sandy Jamieson +44 (0) 207 569 9650
Optiva Securities Limited
Jeremy King +44(0) 203 137 1904
Rivington Street Corporate Finance Limited
Jon Levinson +44(0) 207 562 3357