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Pin to quick picksVast Res Regulatory News (VAST)

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Placing and Subscription to raise £1,762,539.81 & Baita Plai Operational Update

10 Aug 2021 07:00

Placing and Subscription to raise £1,762,539.81 & Baita Plai Operational Update

Vast 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 Biddlewww.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 Geliherwww.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.

Date   Source Headline
7th Oct 20247:00 amGNWFunding Update
27th Sep 20247:00 amGNWHolding(s) in Company
24th Sep 20247:00 amGNWFinancing Update – Important clarification
23rd Sep 20247:00 amGNWFinancing Update
11th Sep 20247:00 amGNWEcologic Processing Association Agreement signed in connection with former Hanes Gold Mine, Romania & Operational Updates
10th Sep 20242:30 pmGNWHolding(s) in Company
3rd Sep 20242:45 pmGNWHolding(s) in Company
13th Aug 202412:00 pmGNWBaita Plai Association Licence Update
17th Jul 202410:04 amRNSHolding(s) in Company
15th Jul 20247:00 amRNSPlacing to Raise £600,000, Issue of Equity & TVR
27th Jun 20248:00 amGNWUpdate regarding Debt Funding from A & T Investments SARL
11th Jun 20247:00 amGNWTajikistan – Aprelevka Update
10th Jun 20241:36 pmGNWBaita Plai Update
4th Jun 20247:00 amGNWBaita Plai Q1 2024 Production Report and Aprelevka production update
22nd May 202412:00 pmRNSHolding(s) in Company
20th May 20247:00 amGNWHolding(s) in Company
15th May 20247:07 amRNSPlacing & Update on Refinancing
8th May 20241:12 pmGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
29th Apr 20247:00 amGNWUpdate on Funding and on Repayment of Asset Based Debt Facility & General Corporate Update
2nd Apr 202412:23 pmRNSHolding(s) in Company
13th Mar 20247:00 amGNWNew Copper Offtake Secured with Trafigura for Baita Plai
29th Feb 202412:32 pmGNWMiscellaneous
20th Feb 20247:00 amGNWHoldings in Company
14th Feb 20247:00 amRNSNotice of GM
7th Feb 20247:00 amRNSBaita Plai Q4 2023 Production Report
31st Jan 20247:00 amGNWInterim Results: 1 May 2023 – 31 October 2023
26th Jan 20242:30 pmGNWHolding(s) in Company
25th Jan 20242:00 pmGNWHolding(s) in Company
23rd Jan 20247:00 amGNWPlacing to raise £1,255,625
22nd Jan 20247:00 amGNWPlatinum Group Metals (PGM) Agreement
16th Jan 202410:05 amRNSCompletion of transaction regarding Aprelevka
15th Jan 20241:30 pmGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
7th Dec 202312:30 pmGNWMOU regarding Aprelevka Gold Mines
4th Dec 202312:00 pmGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
29th Nov 20233:30 pmGNWResults of AGM
28th Nov 20233:00 pmGNWDeath of Director
13th Nov 20238:00 amRNSHolding(s) in Company
6th Nov 202311:00 amGNWNotice of AGM
6th Nov 20237:00 amGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
31st Oct 20237:00 amGNWBaita Plai Q3 2023 Production Report
31st Oct 20237:00 amGNWFinal Results
23rd Oct 20233:47 pmRNSHolding(s) in Company
19th Oct 20237:00 amRNSTajikistan Update
6th Oct 20237:00 amGNWPlacing to raise £1,819,350 and Company Update
4th Oct 20237:00 amGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
3rd Oct 20236:05 pmGNWHolding(s) in Company
2nd Oct 20237:00 amGNWUpdate on Debt Funding
28th Sep 202312:37 pmGNWBaita Plai Update
22nd Sep 20237:00 amGNWBaita Plai Update
18th Sep 20237:00 amGNWCompany Update

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