Switch Metals plc (LSE: SWT), the tantalum-focused mining company with assets located in Côte d’Ivoire, announces the Company’s audited results for the 11 months ended 31 December 2024 (“FY 2024” or the “Period”). The FY 2024 results cover a period prior to the Company’s successful completion of the acquisition of Switch Metals Côte d’Ivoire Sarl (“Switch CDI”) on 3 April 2025. The Company was known as Oneiro Energy plc during the Period.
Highlights
· During the Period, the Company remained non-trading ahead of a potential acquisition which was expected to constitute a reverse takeover transaction.
· In June 2024 heads of terms were agreed for the Company to acquire Switch CDI. Included in the heads of terms was the provision, under an agreed workplan, of a US$0.5m working capital loan facility by the Company to Switch CDI to enable it to progress its development activities ahead of completion of the acquisition.
Post Period Highlights
· On 3 April 2025 the Company successfully completed the acquisition of Switch CDI, was admitted to trading on AIM and was renamed Switch Metals plc, having raised c. £2 million at a post-money value of approximately £9m.
· Switch CDI is a mining exploration company focused on technology and battery minerals in Côte d’Ivoire, one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions in Africa. The Company is the largest holder by area (including applications and options) covering tantalum, lithium and other critical metal prospects in the country (and potentially in West Africa) today.
· The Company’s strategy involves developing ethical and conflict free industrial tantalum production from shallow coltan placer deposits at the Issia Project in order to provide initial cashflow, thereby hedging exploration risk and reducing future fundraising requirements to develop the rest of its large exploration portfolio.
· At Issia, the plan is to define a resource and complete technical and economic studies on the shallow surface coltan placer deposits in the near-term, in parallel to demonstrating further upside potential in the deeper hard rock targets.
· In May 2025, the Company announced the launch of its exploration programme at the 100% owned Badinikro Permit of the Issia Project, which covers an area of 112 km2 of the 1,015 km2 district-scale Issia Project.
Karl Akueson, Chief Executive Officer of Switch Metals commented:
“These results cover a period for the Company prior to the acquisition of Switch CDI, admission to AIM and transformation of the Company to become Switch Metals in April 2025. As Switch Metals, we are focused on technology and battery minerals in Côte d’Ivoire. The Company’s strategy involves developing ethical and conflict free industrial tantalum production from shallow coltan placer deposits at our Issia Project in order to provide initial cashflow, thereby hedging exploration risk and reducing future fundraising requirements to develop the rest of our large exploration portfolio.
“In May, we announced the launch of our exploration programme at the 100% owned Badinikro Permit of the Issia Project and it is our intention to provide an operational update to shareholders at the AGM in July 2025 by which time the exploration programme will be well underway. These are exciting times for Switch Metals.”
Availability of Annual Report and Notice of AGM
The Company’s FY 2024 Annual Report, together with a notice of the Company’s 2025 Annual General Meeting (“AGM”), will shortly be posted to shareholders and available on the Company’s website, www.switchmetals.com. The AGM will be held at 11.00 a.m. on 29 July 2025 at the offices of Marriott Harrison LLP, 80 Cheapside, London EC2V 6EE.
It should be noted that the first set of results relating to Switch Metals post the acquisition of Switch CDI will be the Company’s interim results for the six-month period ending 30 June 2025.
For further information, please contact:
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Switch Metals plc Karl Akueson, CEO Andy Yeo, CFO |
About Switch Metals
Switch Metals plc, admitted to AIM in April 2025, is a mining company focused on technology and battery minerals in Côte d’Ivoire, one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions in Africa. The Company is the largest land holder covering tantalum, lithium and other critical metals prospects in the country (and potentially in West Africa) today.
Its core assets include Issia (Ta + Nb), Bouaké (Ta + Nb + REE) and Tiassalé (Li) projects. Issia is the current focus for the Company as it exhibits potential for early cash flow through ethical tantalum production from shallow coltan placer deposits with significant scale-up potential (from both placers and hard rock pegmatites).
The Company is led by an experienced team with an in-country presence.
Chairman’s statement
I am pleased to present the audited financial statements for Switch Metals plc (previously known as Oneiro Energy plc) for the 11-month period ended 31 December 2024.
As noted in the Company’s AIM Admission Document published on 6 March 2025, the Company chose to amend its financial year from 31 January to 31 December to align with that of its new operational subsidiary Switch Metals Côte d’Ivoire Sarl (acquired 3 April 2025).
Highlights:
· Loss for the Period of £831k (Loss for the 12 months ended 31 January 2024: £276k)
· Loss per Share for the Period of 1.87p (12 months ended 31 January 2024 loss per Share: 0.76p)
· Cash and cash equivalents of £70k at 31 December 2024 (£782k as at 31 January 2024)
During the Period, the Company remained non-trading ahead of a potential acquisition which was expected to constitute a reverse takeover transaction (“RTO”). As a result, these figures are historical in nature, and we would encourage readers to refer to the Admission Document on the Company’s website for more information. This can be found on the Company’s website (www.switchmetals.com/investors/aim-rule-26/).
During 2024, we widened our search area to assets outside the hydrocarbon sector to include upstream green energy sectors such as renewables and transition metals. As well as looking at specific commodities, we also considered the concept of Region or Country plays.
Fitting perfectly into our field of vision, Switch Metals Côte d’Ivoire Sarl (“Switch CDI”) is a mining exploration company focused on technology and battery minerals in Côte d’Ivoire, one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions in Africa. The Company is the largest holder by area (including applications and options) covering tantalum, lithium and other critical metal prospects in the country (and potentially in West Africa) today. Its core assets include the projects based in Issia (Ta + Nb), Bouaké (Ta + Nb + REE) and Tiassalé (Li).
Despite a challenging market, we were delighted that on 3 April 2025 the Company acquired Switch CDI, having raised c.£2 million at a post-money value of approximately £9m. It is worth noting that, perhaps, unusually for an RTO, the raise was supported by both existing Oneiro Energy and Switch CDI shareholders.
2024 Highlights
June – Proposed Acquisition and Suspension of Share Listing
In June, we agreed heads of terms for Oneiro Energy plc to acquire Switch CDI, which was a subsidiary of the Mauritius incorporated investment company Switch Metals (“Switch Mauritius”), as well as the transfer of binding options held by Switch Mauritius to acquire further licences (the “Assets”) (together the “Acquisition”).
The portfolio itself is spread over some 4,000 sq km (including applications) and is made up of six licences and eight adjacent applications, each offering district scale discovery potential. Switch CDI has the option to control 100% of all its projects except for its manganese earn-in joint venture.
Under the Heads of Terms, as the Company proposed to acquire the Assets by way of the issue of new ordinary shares the Acquisition was considered to constitute a reverse takeover under the FCA’s UK Listing Rules, and the shares were suspended.
August – Loan Agreement
Included in the heads of terms was the provision, under an agreed workplan, for the provision of a US$0.5m working capital loan facility by Oneiro Energy to Switch CDI to enable it to progress its development activities ahead of completion of the Acquisition (the “Loan Facility”). As anticipated, this loan was fully drawn down and has now been converted into an intra-group loan. This arrangement has been of significant benefit to the combined group as it has allowed Switch CDI to keep the in-country team in place and accelerated the timeline to a first Minerals Resources Estimate (“MRE”) at Issia, which is the enlarged group’s next objective.
September – Interim Results & Corporate Update
In September, we reported our unaudited interim results for the six months to 31 July 2024 and updated shareholders on progress.
Around half of the Loan Facility had been drawn down and a summary of the work undertaken by Switch CDI utilising the funds was provided.
In particular, results and interpretations from the ongoing programme were integrated in the Competent Person’s Report (“CPR”) which formed a critical part of the Acquisition, associated RTO and concurrent fundraising efforts.
With the transaction continuing to make progress and all advisors in place, Rod Murray and Rob Jones, founders of Oneiro, stepped away from the board to focus on their other oil & gas business interests. We remain grateful to them for the opportunity to move Oneiro forward as a mining company.
December – Loan Funding
In December, we announced that the Company had entered into agreements to raise, in total, £275,000 through Loan Funds to support the Company’s working capital requirements as it worked towards the completion of its proposed Acquisition of Switch CDI (the “CLN Loan Funds”).
£50k of the CLN Loan Funds were drawn down immediately, with the balance of funds arriving after the reporting date of 31 December 2024. As a result, only £50k of the CLN Loan Funds were recognised in the balance sheet of these accounts, and following completion of the Acquisition these have been converted in full by way of the issue of new ordinary shares in the Company at the issue price on Admission.
Post Period end highlights
April 2025 – Completion of Acquisition and Admission to AIM
In April 2025, Oneiro Energy plc was renamed Switch Metals plc (LSE:SWT) and announced the completion of the Acquisition of Switch CDI with a focus on developing battery and technology metals mines in Côte d’Ivoire which is the principal place of operations.
Our current strategy involves developing ethical and conflict free industrial tantalum production from shallow coltan placer deposits at the Issia Project in order to provide initial cashflow, thereby hedging exploration risk and reducing future fundraising requirements to develop the rest of its large exploration portfolio.
At Issia, the plan is to define a resource and complete technical and economic studies on the shallow surface coltan placer deposits in the near-term, in parallel to demonstrating further upside potential in the deeper hard rock targets.
The new board is comprised of five Directors – Didier Murcia (Independent Non-Executive Chairman); Karl Akueson (Chief Executive Officer); Andy Yeo (Chief Financial Officer); Mamadou Doumbia (Non-Executive); and John Treacy (Independent Non-Executive). Both Karl and Mamadou are based in Côte d’Ivoire.
May 2025 – Launch of the exploration programme at the Issia Tantalum Project
In May, the Company announced the launch of its exploration programme at the 100% owned Badinikro Permit of the Issia Project, which covers an area of 112 km2 of the 1,015 km2 district-scale Issia Project.
The start of pitting for Resource generation on the first MRE target zone is an exciting step for the Company. This zone meets all our exploration criteria with surface occurrences of coarse coltan minerals, a strong heavy minerals footprint combined with robust tantalum and niobium geochemical fingerprint down to saprolite level at the bottom of the pits, which is typical of eluvial placer deposits.
The pitting exploration programme at 100m by 100m line spacing covering an area of 2.5 km² on the first target zone is being undertaken in anticipation of being in a position to announce a maiden MRE before the end of this year.
Importantly, this target overlies hard rock pegmatite discoveries previously made by Switch Metals, which we believe to be the source of these shallow sedimentary deposits.
In parallel to the pitting programme, regional target generation will continue to identify additional near-surface targets for resource growth. In this tropical environment, any mineralised overburden within these areas may uncover more weathered pegmatites and expose deeper hard rock targets, which we would test in future drill programmes.
As we refine these deeper targets, we expect to successfully define shallow resources that can be extracted and processed through conventional screening and gravity separation plants to generate early cash flow for a relatively low capital expenditure.
It is our intention to provide an operational update to shareholders at the AGM in July 2025 by which time the exploration programme will be well underway.
Didier Murcia
Non-Executive Chairman
26 June 2025
