This announcement replaces RNS No
0953C released at 7.00 a.m on 6 February
2024 which contained an
incorrect amount of shares in the Admission section being 7,487,000
ordinary shares. The correct number is
7,847,000 ordinary shares and Admission is now changed
to 8.00 a.m on Monday 12
February 2024. All other information remains accurate.
9 February 2024
Blencowe Resources Plc (the
"Company")
Subscription with new
investor to raise US$500,000 and additional conditional
subscription for US$3,150,000
&
Admission of new ordinary
shares
New
Investor
The Company is pleased to report it
has raised US$500,000 (£392,350) at 5 pence per share with a
specialist African-based investor ("African Investor") through the issue of
7,847,000 new ordinary shares. The investor has undertaken
extensive due diligence over the last four months and the current
investment is viewed as an initial entry into the project ahead of
anticipated further investment as required. The shares have been
issued to the African Investor under the Company's existing
headroom.
Additional Investor and the Issue of a
Prospectus
In addition, the Company has
conditionally raised a further £2,500,000 at 5 pence resulting in
the issue of 50,000,000 new ordinary shares to an additional
strategic investor ("Strategic
Investor"). The Company is required to publish a prospectus
on the basis that it will be issuing more than 20% of its issued
share capital in a 12-month period. The Company and its advisers
are in advanced stages of finalising the prospectus. The Company
anticipates publishing the prospectus this month and will update
shareholders prior to its publication.
Conditional Subscription
The Strategic Investor has received
investment committee approval and made a firm commitment to
subscribe. The subscription by the Strategic Investor is subject to
the Company issuing the prospectus, a general meeting by the
Company to approve certain resolutions relating to the issue of new
ordinary shares, settlement of the investment and the issue and
allotment of the new ordinary shares.
For the avoidance of doubt, the
subscription by the African Investor is firm and not contingent on
any investment by the Strategic Investor. The subscription funds
have been received from the African Investor and the Company shall
apply for the new ordinary shares to commence trading.
Admission
An application has been made for
7,847,000 new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on the
official list and the London Stock Exchange from 8.00 a.m. on
Monday 12 February 2024 ("Admission").
In accordance with the FCA's
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, the Company confirms
that following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued ordinary
share capital will comprise 217,226,950 Ordinary Shares. The
Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in Treasury. Therefore,
following Admission, the above figure may be used by shareholders
in the Company as the denominator for the calculations to determine
if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to
their interest in the Company, under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance
and Transparency Rules.
Mike Ralston, CEO of Blencowe
Resources, commented:
'I
am pleased to provide this positive update with respect to our
fundraising initiatives. As previously reported, we have already
received US$2,000,000 in grant funding from the US International
Development Finance Corporation ("DFC") out of their approved
US$5,000,000 grant. A further US$1,000,000 is expected from the DFC
in the near term as the next milestones have been
met.
We
now welcome a new specialist African investor to the register
following the fundraise of US$500,000 at 5 pence, which
represents a healthy premium to the current market price and
underlines their decision to invest for the long term after an
extensive due diligence exercise. We reasonably believe that they
will look to invest further as our relationship is
built.
Moreover, we are now in the closing stages of a further
subscription of £2.5m at 5 pence from another Strategic Investor
and we are busily working with our advisers to finalise and issue
the prospectus.
Both these investments at 5p underline the value proposition
offered by Blencowe and will provide us with a good runway to
complete the DFS this year. We are making rapid progress in
de-risking the Orom-Cross project, especially following the recent
letter of interest received from the DFC to provide a funding
solution for the build and development of Orom-Cross. We will
continue to work closely with the DFC as we complete the DFS to
ensure construction can commence at Orom-Cross in a timely
fashion.
I
believe it is testament of the quality of the Orom-Cross project
that we have been able secure funding partners like this at a time
when the junior mining sector continues to face significant
difficulties with respect to sourcing capital. We are hoping to
deliver an NPV in the DFS significantly higher than the post-tax
NPV of US$482M achieved in the Pre-Feasibility Study and will keep
shareholders updated on our progress.'
For further information please
contact:
Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
Background
Orom-Cross Graphite
Project
Orom-Cross is a potential world
class graphite project both by size and end-product quality, with a
high component of more valuable larger coarse flakes within the
deposit.
A 21-year Mining Licence for the
project was issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following
extensive historical work on the deposit. Blencowe completed
a successful Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in July 2022 and
is now within the Definitive Feasibility Study phase as it drives
towards first production.
Orom-Cross presents as a large,
shallow open-pitable deposit, with an initial JORC Indicated &
Inferred Mineral Resource of 24.5Mt @ 6.0% TGC (Total Graphite
Content). This Resource has been defined from only ~2% of the total
tenement area which presents considerable upside potential
ahead. Development of the resource is expected to benefit
from a low strip ratio and free dig operations together with
abundant inexpensive hydro-electric power off the national grid,
thereby ensuring low operating costs. With all major
infrastructure available at or near to site the capital costs will
also be relatively low in comparison to most graphite
peers.
