REG - Blencowe Resources - Capital Raise of £1.5m

Blencowe ResourcesAnnouncement

06/11/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20241106:nRSF1477La&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 1477L  Blencowe Resources PLC  06 November 2024

Date: 06 November 2024
 

Blencowe Resources Plc

("Blencowe" or the "Company")

 

£1.5 Million Fundraise to Drive DFS Completion

 

Blencowe Resources Plc (LSE: BRES), is pleased to announce that it has
successfully raised a total of £1,500,000 through the issue of 37,500,000 new
ordinary shares at 4 pence per share ("Fundraise"). These funds will be
directed primarily towards completing the Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS")
to completion, including a 6,000m drilling programme to enhance the existing
JORC Resource of 24.5Mt @ 6.0% for the Orom-Cross Graphite Project in Uganda.

 

Fundraise Overview

The Fundraise comprises a £1 million placing of 25,000,000 new ordinary
shares ("Firm Placing") arranged through its broker Tavira Financial
("Tavira") and a conditional £500,000 subscription for 12,500,000 new
ordinary shares from senior management ("Conditional Subscription"). The
Conditional Subscription is subject to FCA approval of a Prospectus by the
Company.

Investor Warrants

Investors in the Fundraise will be issued 1 warrant per 1 Placing Share
("Investor Warrants"), exercisable at 6p for a 3-year period from Admission.
Therefore, the Company will issue an aggregate of 37,500,000 warrants, which
if fully exercised, would result in gross proceeds of £2.25 million in
additional funding.

Use of Funds

The net proceeds of the Fundraise will primarily fund a 6,000m drill programme
designed to significantly increase the existing 24.5Mt @ 6.0% JORC Resource,
one of the final major workstreams under the DFS, as well as general working
capital.

Related Party Participation

Major shareholder RAB Capital participated in the Firm Placing. As their
current shareholding is more than 5%, RAB Capital's participation in the Firm
Placing is deemed a related party transaction as defined under DTR 7.3.
Following advice from its financial adviser Tavira (given the Board does not
have an independent director) the Board considers RAB Capital's participation
in the Placing fair and reasonable for shareholders.

Senior Management and Consultant Participation

The Company's Chief Operating Officer, Iain Wearing, and its external Sales
and Marketing Advisor, Joel Chong, have each subscribed in the Conditional
Subscription for £250,000 each.

 

 

               Current Holding  Conditional Placing Shares  Holding following the issue of the Prospectus  % Holding following the issue of the Prospectus *
 Iain Wearing  408,333          6,250,000                   6,658,333                                      2.3
 Joel Chong    Nil              6,250,000                   6,250,000                                      2.1

*The enlarged share capital following the issue of the Prospectus will be
292,820,980 (including the enlarged share capital on Admission, the July 2024
Subscription and the Fee Shares as noted below).

DFC Grant Funding

A further US$500,000 is expected shortly from the Development Finance
Corporation ("DFC") as part of its ongoing phased $5 million grant funding.
This will bring total receipts received under the DFC grant to US$4,000,000,
with the final US$1,000,000 scheduled to be received in 2025.

Admission of Firm Placing Shares

An application has been made for 25,000,000 new ordinary shares relating to
the Firm Placing to be admitted to trading on the official list of the London
Stock Exchange from 8.00 a.m. on 12 November 2024 ("Admission").

Prospectus

As previously announced, the Company is in an advanced stage of seeking FCA
approval to publish a Prospectus for issuance of 12,500,000 new ordinary
shares for the Conditional Subscription, 3,181,260 new ordinary shares in
relation to the July 2024 Subscription to raise gross proceeds of £159,063
and 25,721,250 Fee Shares in relation to services provided by key DFS
contractors and other service providers to the value of £1,286,062.

The issue of the Fee Shares has materially reduced the capital required to
complete the DFS, and most particularly for drilling. The Company will be
seeking to publish the Prospectus imminently and will advise on the
publication date in due course.

Total Funding

With the Fundraise, Fee Shares, July Subscription, and DFC Grant, Blencowe has
access to approximately £4 million and is well-capitalised to target DFS
completion in H1 2025.

 

Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman commented;

"Blencowe is pleased to announce this Fundraise alongside other funding
initiatives to progress the DFS to completion.  This combined support from
shareholders, strategic service providers, and senior management enables a key
inflection point in the Company's history - completing the DFS and subsequent
project financing - which will position Orom-Cross for substantial de-risking
and value creation."

 

"The phased DFC grant further reinforces our working capital position to
finalise the DFS. Orom-Cross's exceptional low-cost, high-quality
characteristics combined with the key relationships we have formed, including
both DFC and the recent Minerals Security Partnership accreditation, plus our
in-country downstream processing strategy, continue to uniquely position
Blencowe within the graphite sector.  As the global energy transition
accelerates, Orom-Cross is set to play role in supplying essential materials
for the green economy."

 

Total Voting Rights

 

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 251,418,470 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.

 

 

For further information please contact:

   Blencowe Resources Plc    www.blencoweresourcesplc.com

 Sam Quinn                   Tel: +44 (0)1624 681 250

                             info@blencoweresourcesplc.com (mailto:info@blencoweresourcesplc.com)

 Investor Relations          Tel: +44 (0) 7891 677 441

 Sasha Sethi                 sasha@flowcomms.com (mailto:sasha@flowcomms.com)

 Tavira Financial            Tel: +44 (0)20 3192 1733

 Jonathan Evans              jonathan.evans@tavira.group (mailto:jonathan.evans@tavira.group)

Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes (https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes)

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
(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.

In 3Q 2024 Blencowe introduced a Joint Venture concept with experienced
downstream graphite processing partners to ultimately produce upgraded 99.95%
SPG in Uganda.  This strategy has several key advantages plus substantial
cost savings which will assist deliver a world class project once DFS is
completed.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCBFBFTMTJMMII