Last checked at 10 Aug 2021 07:00
Placing and Subscription to raise £1,762,539.81 & Baita Plai Operational UpdateVast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
10 August 2021
Vast Resources plc(“Vast” or the “Company”)
Placing and Subscription to raise £1,762,539.81 before costsBaita Plai Operational Update
Vast Resources plc, the AIM-listed mining company, is pleased to announce it has raised £1,762,539.81 gross through a placing (the ‘Placing’) and a subscription (the ‘Subscription’) of 27,976,822 ordinary shares of 0.1p in the Company (‘Ordinary Shares’) at a price of 6.3p per Ordinary Share (the ‘Placing and Subscription Shares’). The Placing was for 24,395,870 Ordinary Shares and was undertaken by the Company’s joint broker, Axis Capital Markets Ltd (‘Axis’). The Subscription was for 3,580,952 Ordinary Shares. As consideration Axis will be issued with 481,000 warrants to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares in the Company at a price of 16p per Ordinary Share at any time prior to 9 August 2023.
The Company would also like to provide an operational update on progress at its Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine (‘Baita Plai’) in Romania and in particular that it is currently on schedule to meet accumulated net operational cashflow projections to April 2022 in accordance with the revised mechanised mine plan ‘mine plan’ announced on 30 March 2021.
PLACING AND SUBSCRIPTION TO RAISE £1,762,539.81 GROSS
Application of funds
The net cash raised from the Placing and Subscription will provide funds for the following:
Payment of the $1 million advance to Atlas under the Atlas Deed of Variation upon execution of documents amending the ICA between Atlas and Mercuria.To bridge mining and operational costs at Baita Plai to accommodate for shipping schedules forcing a combined shipment of concentrate produced across July and August 2021.Seed capital required for near term production pipeline projects in both Romania and in Southern Africa on which the Company will update the market at the appropriate time.Legal costs.UK corporate costs.Admission of and dealings in the Placing and Subscription Shares
Application has been made to AIM for the Placing and Subscription Shares, which will rank pari passu with existing Ordinary Shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM (‘Admission’) in two tranches. It is expected that Admission will become effective and dealing will commence in respect of the issue of 5,611,110 of the Placing and all 3,580,952 of the Subscription Shares on or around 13 August 2021 (the ‘First Admission’) and that Admission will become effective and dealing will commence in respect of the issue of 18,784,760 being the balance of the Placing Shares on or around 24 August 2021 (the ‘Second Admission’). The Placing and Subscription is conditional on Admission.
Total Voting Rights
Following the First Admission, the total issued share capital of the Company will be 222,196,957 and following the Second Admission this will be 240,981,717. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in Treasury and accordingly the above figures of 222,196,957 and 240,981,717 respectively may then be used by shareholders, following the respective dates at which the Shares are issued, as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in Vast under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rule.
BAITA PLAI OPERATIONAL UPDATE
General
The Company has scaled operations at Baita Plai from an initial mining workforce of 30 in September 2020 to a current total of 280 people across all levels including underground, engineering, technical, processing plant, administration, safety and human resources. Following the completion of the collective labour agreement for Baita Plai, as announced on 9 June 2021, the Company has further restructured the management team at Baita Plai in order to ensure effective management of the operation as Baita Plai moves into its full steady state production phase as access to three additional production faces is completed in August 2021. The Company will provide a production report in October 2021 as previously announced.
Management
The Company has installed Stancu Viorel who has replaced Marcus Brewster as General Manager of Baita Plai, reporting to Nicolae Turdean, the Romanian Country Manager. Stancu manages the underground as part of his remit and Edward Hollings continues to manage the processing plant.
Mining and Process
The Aramine drill rig, originally announced as part of the mine plan, is now expected to be delivered in Q4 2021 due to the delay in delivery to site caused by supplier supply chain issues. However, the first phase of the mine plan provided for mining and development to be conducted by conventional methods (ie without the use of the Aramine drill rig) and this delay in delivery to site has therefore had no impact on the current rate of mining. The implementation of the Aramine drill rig will however accelerate, compared to the mine plan, the necessary mine development into new areas.
The Company has now decided to relocate the Tomra XRT processing machine above ground to an area adjacent to the processing plant. Ore will then be processed by the XRT machine after the crushing circuit and before the milling circuit. The Company will benefit from this revised location by reducing capital expenditure for the overall project in the installation of the Tomra and will benefit also by way of simplifying the maintenance and operating procedures.
The Company is also pleased that it has been able to upgrade the haulage capacity rating for the shaft infrastructure for both 1 and 3 shafts. It will now be able to install double deck cages which will have a hugely beneficial long term effect on production capacity as it will immediately double the hoisting capacity of the shafts. The upgrading process requirements are relatively simple to execute with a motor upgrade, braking and safety system upgrade, and construction of new cages.
Sales
The Company continues to make sales to its offtake partner, Mercuria. The offtaker requested that July’s concentrate production be offloaded together with August’s production to accommodate shipping schedules. Consequently, the next scheduled sale will take place at the end of August 2021 and will consist of concentrate stockpiled over the months of July and August 2021.
Underground Resource Development
A new underground drilling rig was commissioned and built for Baita Plai for the Company’s local drilling partners. The rig has arrived in country and exploration works will commence in the second week of August 2021. The work is focused on increasing the mineral resource on the Antonio Skarn from below 19 level to a 21 level as well as undertaking initial exploration of the Antonio North Skarn Exploration Target 200 metres to the north-east of the Antonio skarn. As announced on 18 June 2021, Wardell Armstrong has been appointed to work on the verification of the increased JORC Resource which will arise from the new drilling campaign. Wardell Armstrong will complete and sign-off a JORC compliant Resource estimate on the new area.
Refurbishment
Since mining and production commenced at Baita Plai there has been significant refurbishment undertaken both on the underground infrastructure, and on the processing plant. The Company has prepared a comprehensive summary of these works which is being published today separately in an RNS Reach announcement.
Andrew Prelea, Chief Executive Officer of Vast Resources Plc, commented:“The primary use of funds raised today is to support the restructuring of the Convertible Bond to a longer-term straight debt facility, an important step for us in the reorganisation of our financing arrangements as we advance our production ramp up at Baita Plai.
“With Baita Plai continuing to improve and achieving the financial forecasts published on 30 March 2021, the board and management remain confident in achieving our short- and long-term targets.
“We wish to thank the current Baita Plai management team on site for the work they are doing to continue progress to reach peak production. Much has been achieved in a short period from a ‘mining’ perspective and we are confident in their ability to continue this momentum.”
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK MAR”) until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information, visit www.vastplc.com or please contact:
| Vast Resources plcAndrew Prelea (CEO)Andrew Hall (CCO) | www.vastplc.com+44 (0) 20 7846 0974 |
| Beaumont Cornish – Financial & Nominated AdvisorRoland CornishJames Biddle | www.beaumontcornish.com+44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
| Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited – Joint Broker Jerry Keen (Corporate Broking)Toby Gibbs / James Thomas (Corporate Advisory) | www.shorecapmarkets.co.uk +44 (0) 20 7408 4050 |
| Axis Capital Markets Limited – Joint Broker Richard Hutchison | www.axcap247.com +44 (0) 20 3206 0320 |
| St Brides Partners LimitedSusie Geliher | www.stbridespartners.co.uk+44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
ABOUT VAST RESOURCES PLC
Vast Resources plc is a United Kingdom AIM listed mining company with mines and projects in Romania and Zimbabwe.
In Romania, the Company is focused on the rapid advancement of high-quality projects by recommencing production at previously producing mines.
The Company's Romanian portfolio includes 100% interest in the producing Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine, located in the Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania, an area which hosts Romania's largest polymetallic mines. The mine has a JORC compliant Reserve & Resource Report which underpins the initial mine production life of approximately 3-4 years with an in-situ total mineral resource of 15,695 tonnes copper equivalent with a further 1.8M-3M tonnes exploration target. The Company is now working on confirming an enlarged exploration target of up to 5.8M tonnes.
The Company also owns the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which was commissioned in 2015, currently on care and maintenance. The Company has been granted the Manaila Carlibaba Extended Exploitation Licence that will allow the Company to re-examine the exploitation of the mineral resources within the larger Manaila Carlibaba licence area.
In Zimbabwe, the Company is focused on the commencement of the joint venture mining agreement on the Community Diamond Concession, Chiadzwa, in the Marange Diamond Fields.