REG - Anglo Asian Mining - Investment in Libero Copper & Gold Corporation

Anglo Asian MiningAnnouncement

23/12/2021 07:00

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RNS Number : 5550W  Anglo Asian Mining PLC  23 December 2021

Anglo Asian Mining plc / Ticker: AAZ / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

23 December 2021

 

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Strategic investment of 19.9 per cent. in Libero Copper & Gold Corporation

Subscription for 12.6 million new shares for CAN$6.3 million (US$4.9 million)

 

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM listed gold,
copper and silver producer primarily focused in Azerbaijan, is pleased to
announce that it has entered into a subscription agreement ("Subscription
Agreement") to acquire 19.9 per cent. of Libero Copper & Gold Corporation
("Libero"). Libero is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (ticker: LBC) in
Canada and owns, or has the option to acquire, several copper exploration
properties in North and South America including Mocoa in Colombia, one of the
world's largest undeveloped copper-molybdenum resources. The acquisition is in
line with the Company's strategy of increasing its interests in copper and
gold properties both in Azerbaijan and Internationally.

 

All references to "US$" are to United States dollars and all references to
"CAN$" are to Canadian dollars. An exchange rate of US$1 = CAN$1.29 has been
used throughout.

 

Highlights

·    Strategic interest of 19.9 per cent. to be acquired in Libero for
CAN$6.3 million (US$4.9 million)

o 9.9 per cent. acquired immediately upon the closing of the Subscription
Agreement at approximately 11 am (Pacific Standard Time) on 22 December 2021

o Acquisition of the remaining 10 per cent. is subject to the regulatory
approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") with completion expected in the
first quarter of 2022

·    Strategic partnership established with Libero

o Libero recognises Anglo Asian's strong technical experience and a technical
committee with representatives from both companies is being established to
determine Libero's future exploration strategies

o Funds invested by Anglo Asian in Libero will primarily be used for the
exploration of the Mocoa project

o  Anglo Asian will nominate one of its existing board members to be
appointed as a director to the board of Libero

·    Libero has an extremely attractive portfolio of exploration assets in
mining-friendly jurisdictions in North and South America

o Mocoa (https://www.liberocopper.com/projects/mocoa/overview/)  - a
porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit located in Putumayo, Colombia

o Big Bulk (https://www.liberocopper.com/projects/big-bulk/overview/)  - a
porphyry copper-gold target located 50 kilometres southeast of Stewart,
British Columbia, Canada

o Big Red (https://www.liberocopper.com/projects/big-red/overview/)  - a new
porphyry copper-gold discovery in the Golden Triangle, British Columbia,
Canada

o Esperanza (https://www.liberocopper.com/projects/esperanza/overview/)  - a
porphyry copper-gold and epithermal gold project located in the Huachi mining
district, San Juan province, Argentina

·    Libero has a highly experienced and competent management team

·  Libero has strong relationships with local communities across its
geographies and is committed to maintaining its social licence to operate

 

Transaction Overview

·    19.9 per cent. interest to be acquired in Libero

o  A total of 12,600,000 new shares to be subscribed for in Libero at CAN$ 50
cents per share (the "Shares"), a total investment of CAN$6.3 million (US$4.9
million) by way of a private placement

§ 5,600,000 Shares for an initial 9.9 per cent. interest in Libero acquired
immediately on the closing of the Subscription Agreement for CAN$2.8m
(US$2.2m)

§ 7,000,000 Shares for a total interest of 19.9 per cent. to be acquired for
CAN$3.5m (US$2.7m) following regulatory approval of the TSXV with completion
expected in the first quarter of 2022

o  Each Share has half a warrant attached giving a total of 6,300,000
million warrants to subscribe for new Shares of Libero at CAN$ 75 cents (the
"Warrants")

§ Warrants are exercisable for two years from the date of issue of each
tranche of the Shares

§ Libero has the right to demand exercise of the Warrants within 30 days if
the closing price of the Shares in Libero remain above CAN$1.00 for 10
consecutive trading days

·    The Shares issued are subject to a four month statutory hold period

·    Anglo Asian has been granted a comprehensive package of participation
rights over future share issues of Libero to avoid any dilution of its
shareholding

·    "Piggyback" rights (the "Rights") have been granted to Anglo Asian

o  Rights become effective on the fifth anniversary of the signing the
Subscription Agreement

o  Rights will enable Anglo Asian to sell its shares to the public as a
secondary offering should Libero sell future shares by way of a prospectus

·   Anglo Asian's right to nominate one director to the board of Libero,
its participation in the technical committee and its participation rights are
conditional upon it maintaining a 9.9 per cent. shareholding in Libero

·    Libero has committed to place before, and recommend, a resolution to
its next Annual General Meeting to approve Anglo Asian becoming a "Control
Person" within the TSXV rules,  permitting Anglo Asian to increase its
shareholding above 20 per cent. to enable the exercise of its Warrants

 

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"I am delighted to announce the agreement to acquire a 19.9 per cent.
shareholding in Libero, our first investment outside of Azerbaijan. This
strategic investment is aligned with our broader growth strategy to build upon
our deep technical knowledge of the mining industry and expand our involvement
in mining beyond our core focus in Azerbaijan. It continues to enhance our
exposure to significant  copper properties without weakening the Company's
balance sheet.

 

"I would also like to thank the staff of both Libero and Anglo Asian and their
professional advisors who worked tirelessly to close this investment before
the end of 2021. This was necessary to enable Libero to maintain the momentum
of its Mocoa drilling programme."

 

Anglo Asian Vice-President, Stephen Westhead commented:

"Libero has an extremely exciting portfolio of assets for exploration and
development, and in particular, we believe that the Mocoa project with its
promising copper resource has the potential to become a major copper mine. The
other assets in Libero's portfolio also have significant exploration and
development potential to be major contributors to Anglo Asians's growth.

 

"We are pleased to be launching technical collaboration between our companies.
We look forward to working closely with Libero on its future exploration and
development programmes to maximise the shareholder value of both companies."

 

Libero President & CEO, Ian Harris commented:

"Our focus has always been investing our exploration dollars into projects
that have the potential to become future copper mines and having a mine
builder mentality to advance and de-risk our projects as quickly as possible.
We are elated to now have Anglo Asian Mining as a partner. An experienced
partner that has built and is operating existing mines. I have personally
visited their mines and can attest to the efficiency of the operations, the
technical knowledge of their team and their ability to nimbly adapt. We look
forward to tapping into that know-how to incorporate it into our plans and
strategy as we continue to advance three significant projects, each with the
potential to become future copper mines."

 

Libero Copper & Gold Corporation

Libero is a holding company incorporated in British Columbia, Canada with its
head office in Vancouver, British Columbia. It has a very experienced and
seasoned board of directors and management team and its Executive Chairman is
Ian Slater, who has founded numerous companies and been involved in the Mining
industry for 25 years. The Company's management team is led by Ian Harris,
Chief Executive Officer and President, who is a mining engineer with over 20
years' experience leading mining projects worldwide including over 10 years
working and living in South America. Libero is listed on the Toronto Venture
 Exchange (ticker: LBC). For further information, visit:
https://www.liberocopper.com (https://www.liberocopper.com)

 

Libero holds a collection of porphyry copper deposits throughout the Americas
in prolific mineral regions in mining-friendly, stable jurisdictions. Its
mining properties include:

 

Mocoa

Mocoa is a porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit located in Putumayo, Colombia in
the Jurrasic porphyry belt which extends through Ecuador and Colombia and
includes the Mirador mine and Waritza deposit. A pit-constrained NI 43-101
compliant resource at Mocoa contains 636 million tonnes of 0.45 per cent.
copper equivalent* at a 0.25 per cent. cut-off grade containing 4.6 billion
pounds of copper and 511 million pounds of molybdenum. Mocoa is open in both
directions, along strike and at depth. Libero recently completed
high-resolution airborne magnetic-radiometric and LiDAR surveys over an 8,100
hectare area at the property and interpretation of these data is currently
focusing on identifying potential extensions to the north, south, east, and at
depth, of the deposit and targeting new potential porphyry centers. A drilling
campaign is currently being organised and Libero has recently signed access
and land use agreements with all landowners required to provide easier access
to the Mocoa porphyry copper-molybdenum project deposit area. It is expected
that drilling will commence in Q1 2022.

 

*Copper equivalent grades are for comparative purposes only. Calculations are
uncut and recovery is assumed to be 100 per cent. as insufficient
metallurgical data is available. Metal price used to calculate are in United
States dollars: Copper: $3.00/lb; Molybdenum: $10.00/lb.

 

Big Bulk

Big Bulk is a porphyry copper-gold target located 50 kilometres southeast of
Stewart, British Columbia, Canada. Big Bulk is fully permitted. In September
2021, the Company completed a 2,000 metre diamond drill programme at Big Bulk.

 

Big Red

Big Red is a new porphyry copper-gold discovery in the Golden Triangle,
British Columbia, Canada - a geological province famous for its prodigious
gold and copper mineralisation. The initial drill programme was completed
during the 2020 field season resulting in the Terry discovery. Four holes were
drilled at the end of the season and each of the holes was mineralised from
surface to end of hole. In October 2021 the Company completed an initial 5,000
metre diamond drill programme.

 

Esperanza

Esperanza is a porphyry copper-gold and epithermal gold project located in the
prolific precious and base metal endowed Huachi mining district, San Juan
province, Argentina.

 

Competent Person Statement

Thomas Mumford, Ph.D., P.Geo, a qualified person under National Instrument
43-101, is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this
announcement in connection with the Mocoa resource and has reviewed and
approved it accordingly. Thomas Mumford is the Chief Executive Officer of
Serac Exploration Limited, a technical services company, working for Libero
Copper & Gold Corporation. Thomas Mumford consents to the inclusion in the
announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context
in which it appears. Thomas Mumford has sufficient experience, relevant to the
style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the
activity that he is undertaking, to qualify as a "qualified person" as defined
by the AIM Rules.

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No
596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

 

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information please contact:

 Reza Vaziri       Anglo Asian Mining plc          Tel: +994 12 596 3350
 Bill Morgan       Anglo Asian Mining plc          Tel: +994 502 910 400
 Stephen Westhead  Anglo Asian Mining plc          Tel: +994 502 916 894
 Ewan Leggat       SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP  Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

                   Nominated Adviser and Broker
 Adam Cowl         SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP  Tel + 44 (0) 20 3470 0470

                   Nominated Adviser and Broker
 Charlie Jack      Hudson Sandler                  Tel: +44(0) 20 7796 4133

 Elfie Kent        Hudson Sandler                  Tel: +44(0) 20 7796 4133

 

Notes to editors:

 

Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer
in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets
in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 67,249 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs")
for the year ended 31 December 2020. The Company has a production target for
the year to 31 December 2021 of 48,000 ounces to 54,000 ounces of gold and
2,500 tonnes to 2,800 tonnes of copper. This total production target expressed
as gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") at budgeted prices is between 64,000 GEOs
and 72,000 GEOs.

 

The Company has recently announced a transaction with the Government of
Azerbaijan which grants it three additional concessions with a combined area
of 882 square kilometers which include the Garadagh porphyry copper deposit
with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes of copper. The
transaction is subject to ratification by the parliament of Azerbaijan.

https://www.angloasianmining.com/ (https://www.angloasianmining.com/)

 

 

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