The Board of Premier African Minerals Limited (“Premier” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce a subscription today to raise £2,475,000 on before expenses at an issue price of 0.275 pence per new ordinary share for the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project (“Zulu”).
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Highlights:
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Premier now funded until first production at Zulu. |
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Ball Mill Power on and test run in situ. |
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Commencement of Commercial Production in late February with first shipments expected in March 2024. |
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Thickener Plant completion date 19 February 2024. |
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Ongoing negotiations with Zimbabwe based lenders for working capital facilities at Zulu once in production are progressing.
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George Roach, CEO, commented, “This placement assures Zulu of plant startup, subject only to suppliers meeting their obligations and undertakings. This has and remains Premier single most important objective at this stage. That is targeted for next week and remains on target at this time. Early indications are that subsequent working capital finance will be available from commercial lenders at Zulu when production is underway as Zulu must begin to fund its operations without the assistance of Premier once commercial production has commenced.
Funds now raised will be used specifically for direct operating expenses at Zulu that includes.
· Final payments related to the thickener purchase and installation,
· Final payments related to the ball mill and associated hydrosizers, transport and installation thereof,
· Plant operating spares and reagents,
· Mining costs, and
· Day to day operating expenses including diesel.”
Funding
As announced on 18 January 2024, Premier elected to make a significant expansion in the mining operations to facilitate delivery of ore with less country waste to ensure against any residual issues with the sorters (which continue to be optimised) when plant production recommences at Zulu.
And while the mill has now been delivered and installed at Zulu, there was a delay with the delivery which further constrained Premier’s cash resources.
Premier continues to engage with Zimbabwean based lenders for working capital facilities at Zulu – these potential lenders need to see production from Zulu and while Premier strongly believes that Zulu will be able to source a working capital facility, this is now largely dependent on Zulu being in production.
Based on the above, Premier believe that securing funding through the above Subscription is the best immediate solution to securing further project funding in order to see Zulu commence production in late February 2024. Once production has commenced, Premier believe that it should see one or more of the alternatives to equity-based funding materialise. On this basis, Premier’s current expectation is that it is now fully funded to first production at Zulu.
Subscription
Premier has today issued by way of a direct subscription (“Subscription”), conditional on admission, 900,000,000 new ordinary shares of nil par value (“Subscription Shares”) at a Subscription price of 0.275 pence per Subscription Share. The Subscription Shares will, when issued, rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares.
CMC Markets UK Plc trading as CMC CapX, acted as the Company’s placing agent in respect of the placing
Application will be made for the Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and admission is expected to take place on or around 21 February 2024.
The Subscription has been arranged within the Company’s existing share authorities. Premier intends to use the proceeds of the Subscription principally to assist with the ongoing mining operations at Zulu with first production in late February 2024 and general working capital.
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the Subscription Shares, the Company’s issued share capital consists of 27,816,581,705 Ordinary Shares, with voting rights.
This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculation 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 under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Market Abuse Regulations
The 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”).
The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was George Roach.
A copy of this announcement is available at the Company’s website, www.premierafricanminerals.com.
CMC CapX
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