TSI.L Regulatory News (TSI)

3 July 2017

 Blenheim Natural Resources Plc

("Blenheim" or "the Company")

Investment in Dieba and Nimissila lithium projects in Mali

Blenheim is pleased to announce that following its discussions with  Xantus Inc ("Xantus"), the Company has, by mutual agreement, terminated its option with Xantus to purchase a 30 per cent interest in the Dieba permit (the "Dieba Option") and has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement with Xantus ("Share Purchase Agreement") to acquire a 40 per cent interest in Mansa Lithium Inc ("Mansa") for a consideration of £400,000 in cash (the "Cash Consideration") and 100,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the capital of the Company (the "Consideration Shares"). The £25,000 option fee paid by Blenheim pursuant to the Dieba Option will be offset against the payment of the Cash Consideration, so the cash cost to Blenheim will be £375,000. Xantus has agreed to invest the entire Cash Consideration directly into Mansa to fund its prospecting and exploration costs with no dilution to Blenheim's 40 per cent interest. 

Mansa is a BVI incorporated mineral exploration company which, through its wholly owned subsidiary, owns a prospecting permit over the Dieba area in southern Mali. Mansa has made all the necessary filings with the Ministry of Mines and paid all applicable fees to obtain an exploration permit over the area (the "Dieba Exploration Permit"), which is expected to be granted on or before 30 August 2017.

On completion of the Share Purchase Agreement, Mansa will also have the right to acquire an initial 80% indirect interest in the Nimissila exploration permit ("Nimissila Permit") in southern Mali owned by La Societe Omnium Invest SA ("Omnium"). Omnium has granted Xantus an option to acquire an initial interest of 80% in the Nimissila Permit (which could increase to 100%) for US$150,000 until 16 December 2017 during which time Xantus has the exclusive right to explore and evaluate the permit area. The Share Purchase Agreement provides that Mansa shall control the exercise of the option by Xantus and that on such exercise, Xantus shall procure that, provided that Mansa pays the US$150,000 option exercise fee, its interest in the Nimissila Permit is granted to Mansa. In addition, Blenheim shall have the right to acquire Xantus's entire interest in the Nimissila Permit in the event that Mansa decides not to take Xantus's interest in the Nimissila Permit.

Completion of the acquisition of the Company's 40 per cent interest in Mansa is conditional, inter alia, upon the grant of the Dieba Exploration Permit and completion of the Company's due diligence on the Dieba Exploration Permit and Nimissila Permit by 30 August 2017.

Upon satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Share Purchase Agreement, Blenheim will allot and issue the Ordinary Shares to Xantus pursuant to the existing share issuance authorities granted by shareholders. The 100,000,000 Ordinary Shares issued to Xantus will be subject to a six-month lock-in period and a further six month orderly market arrangement.

Blenheim's Chairman Chris Ells commented: "We believe that Blenheim's 40% stake in Mansa can be a springboard to further investment in lithium projects in West Africa.  The Dieba and Nimissila projects, together with the two Nashwan permits conditionally acquired earlier this year, will give Blenheim a significant foothold for potential lithium opportunities in Mali. Blenheim continues to work with Xantus to assist in its ambition to be a dominant player in the exploration and development of lithium assets in West Africa. Mali and Niger are proven mining jurisdictions which contain high grade lithium occurrences and Blenheim looks to make further investments in the region."

About Dieba and Nimissila

The Dieba prospecting permit and the Nimissila Permit abut licences with known lithium pegmatites.

Dieba lies immediately north of the licence held by Birimian Limited ("Birminian") (ASX:BGS) and Nimissila lies immediately south of a licence held by Kodal Minerals plc ("Kodal") (AIM: KOD). Both the Birimian and the Kodal licences contain high-grade lithium discoveries.

The Dieba Exploration Permit will, on grant to Mansa, be contiguous to the north of Birimian's Bougouni lithium project (Goulamina), where Birimian announced on 22 June 2017 a JORC Mineral Resource of 32.9Mt at 1.37% Li2O for 451,000 tonnes of contained Li2O at 0.4% cut-off.

Lithium bearing pegmatites have been recorded within the Nimissila Permit, which is adjacent to the Kassokoro permit, where Kodal has reported wide, high-grade lithium pegmatite drill intersections. Kodal recently announced initial flotation test results on drill chips from its Kassokoro permit showing that high-grade lithium (spodumene) concentrate had been produced with recoveries of 80% to 87% from initial flotation testwork. The test concentrates were of suitable quality for producing lithium carbonate with low levels of impurities.

The Board of Blenheim believes that Southern Mali has emerged as a promising lithium province where the presence of the rapidly maturing Birimian and Kodal projects is creating a critical mass of lithium development projects.

Mansa was incorporated on 24 January 2017 and has incurred no costs to date.

Following completion of the acquisition, the Cash Consideration reinvested into Mansa will be used by Mansa to fund initial prospecting and exploration work at the Dieba permit and the Nimissila Permit.

Blenheim will continue to negotiate with Xantus and its shareholder about expanding its interest across the whole Xantus lithium portfolio in Mali and in Niger.

Xantus is a private BVI incorporated mineral exploration company focused on acquiring and developing large scale lithium assets in West Africa. Xantus has assembled a portfolio of prospective permits covering in excess of 1,500 sq km in Mali and Niger, countries recognised as having the potential to contain world class deposits. Further information on Xantus can be found on its website, http://www.xantus-inc.com/

Maps showing the location of the Dieba prospecting permit and Nimissila Permit will shortly be available on the Company's website: www.blenheimnaturalresources.com/reports-and-documents/other-documents

Ends

For any further information please contact: 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.