REG - Cadence Minerals PLC - Amapá Iron Ore Project Update

Cadence MineralsAnnouncement

11/09/2023 09:45

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RNS Number : 0093M  Cadence Minerals PLC  11 September 2023

Cadence Minerals Plc

("Cadence Minerals", "Cadence", or "the Company")

 

Amapá Iron Ore Project Update

 

Cadence Minerals (AIM/AQX: KDNC; OTC: KDNCY) is pleased to provide a progress
update for its flagship Amapá Iron Ore Project ("Amapá Project"), including
an expedited operational licensing and re-rating of our tailings storage
facility.

 

Highlights:

·     The expected licensing timeline for the mine, railway and port at
the Amapá Project team has been shortened to12 to 16 months compared to a
typical timeline of up to 36 months.

·     The revised timeline is expected to result in the grant of mine
Installation Licenses ("LI") over the wholly owned port, railway,
beneficiation plant and mine  during the course of 2024, followed by an
operational license ("LO") after construction is completed.

·     The Amapá Tailing Project ("TSF") is approaching the lowest
operational risk rating to date as a result of maintenance, reporting,
drilling, and compliance work carried out since 2019

·     Following the management team's recent visit to Amapá, CEO Kiran
Morzaria will present the most recent developments at a Shares Magazine
investor evening on Wednesday, 13 September.

·     Executive Summary of Pre-Feasibility Study Released and available
here
(https://www.cadenceminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Executive-Summary-PFS-AMAPA-KDNCs.pdf)

 

CEO Kiran Morzaria commented: "We are delighted with the progress we saw
first-hand in our recent visit to Amapá. Agreeing a shortened route to the
operational licence is key to getting the Amapá Project back into production
in the shortest time possible."

 

"I look forward to presenting the latest developments at the upcoming Shares
Magazine investor evening and reporting to the markets with further progress
after that."

 

Licensing Update

While the Amapá Project was operating, it held all the necessary permissions
to mine, process, transport and ship some six million tonnes of iron ore
annually. However, many of these licenses lapsed after it ceased operations in
2014. Cadence has been working alongside the team at the Amapá Project to
obtain these licenses and permissions. To date, we have reinstated and
extended the railway concession to 2046 (completed in December 2019) and been
granted a change of control over the wholly owned port in November 2021, which
ensured the federal licenses could be maintained.

 

The Amapá Project owns the required Mining Concessions; however, it must
obtain a Mine Extraction and Processing Permit ("Mining Permit") to begin
operation. To obtain this permit, the Amapá Project must obtain an LI and,
when constructed, an Operational License LO from the Amapá State
Environmental Agency.

 

Before the suspension of mining, the Project had numerous LOs across the
mining, rail, and port operations. These LOs expired between 2013 and 2018. In
2022, the Amapá Project began regularising the expired environmental permits
and started consultation with the Amapá State Environmental Agency and the
relevant state authorities. The Amapá Project requested that the requirement
for a full environmental impact study be waived. This request for a waiver was
on the basis that the previous LOs were granted on an operation that is
substantially the same as is currently planned and remains applicable to
future operations.

 

As a result of the discussions between the various state authorities and the
Amapá Project, we are pleased to announce that Amapá Project will be able to
shorten the licensing timeline substantially. We have agreed with Amapá State
Environmental Agency that on the mine and railway, we will be able to submit
an Environmental Control Plan - "PCA" (Plano de Controle Ambiental) and an
Environmental Control Report - "RCA" (Relatório de Controle Ambiental).
However, on the port, we will need to complete a full environmental
assessment, but given that the Amapá Project has already begun some of the
background studies, we also anticipate that the timeline for the grant of the
port LI will be shortened.

 

The fieldwork for the LI's will begin as soon as possible with current
expectations that we will be able to submit the required reports for the mine
and rail in the second quarter of 2024 and the reports for the port in the
second quarter of 2024. The Amapá State Environmental Agency will then review
the application for the LI's, and we anticipate that these licenses will be
granted in 2024.

 

This timeline is substantially shorter than expected on a greenfield site,
where the impact study and associated approval can typically take between 24
and 36 months, while the Amapá Project could achieve this in 12 to 16 months.

 

Tailings Storage Facility

One of Cadence's initial investment criteria into the Amapá Project was the
safety and stability of the TSF. As such, before entering into the investment
agreement with our joint venture partners, we carried out a TSF review by an
internationally recognised consultant group and were satisfied with the
structure and stability of the TS. Nonetheless, given the lack of reporting
and maintenance from 2014 onwards, the TSF at the Amapá Project was
considered a high risk. The work carried out since 2019, including
maintenance, reporting, drilling and compliance, has meant that the Amapá
Project TSF is approaching the lowest risk rating for operating TSF. The
intent is that the TSF will continue to improve its risk rating. This will be
achieved by completing a dam break study, installing video monitoring on the
TSF, and ongoing inspection and remediation of various TSF-associated
infrastructure.

 

Shares Magazine Investor Evening

CEO Kiran Morzaria will present at the Shares and AJ Bell 'LIVE' investor
evening in London on 13 September 2023.

 

The presentation will contain information about the Company's flagship Amapa
Iron Ore Project in Brazil following a recent visit by the management team.

 

The Shares and AJ Bell Media, investor evening event is an opportunity for
senior board directors to make a presentation about their company and update
existing and potential investors on their business plans.

 

Investors will have the chance to discover investment opportunities and get to
know the companies better by asking questions 'live' in person after the
presentation over drinks and buffet food.

 

Shareholders and potential investors can register to join us LIVE at the
Novotel, Tower Hill, for free via this link:

 

https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/events/event/shares-investor-evening-london-live-event-130923
(https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/events/event/shares-investor-evening-london-live-event-130923)

 

Pre-Feasibility Executive Summary

As part of the ongoing engagement with potential investors, we have also
released an executive summary of the previously announced PFS, which is
available here
(https://www.cadenceminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Executive-Summary-PFS-AMAPA-KDNCs.pdf)
.

 

 For further information contact:

 Cadence Minerals plc                                           +44 (0) 20 3582 6636
 Andrew Suckling
 Kiran Morzaria

 WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Broker)                            +44 (0) 207 220 1666
 James Joyce
 Darshan Patel

 Brand Communications                                           +44 (0) 7976 431608
 Public & Investor Relations
 Alan Green

Qualified Person

Kiran Morzaria B.Eng. (ACSM), MBA, has reviewed and approved the information
contained in this announcement. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Engineering
(Industrial Geology) from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance)
from CASS Business School.

 

Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement are or may be deemed to be
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are identified by
their use of terms and phrases such as "believe", "could", "should",
"envisage", "estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will", or the negative of
those variations or comparable expressions including references to
assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical
facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions
regarding the company's future growth results of operations performance,
future capital, and other expenditures (including the amount, nature, and
sources of funding thereof) competitive advantages business prospects and
opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Directors' current
beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to
the Directors.  Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially
from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including risks
associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions,
competition, environmental and other regulatory changes actions by
governmental authorities, the availability of capital markets reliance on key
personnel uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors many of which
are beyond the control of the company. Although any forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be
reasonable assumptions. The company cannot assure investors that actual
results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements.

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the company to
constitute Inside Information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(E.U.) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of U.K. domestic law under the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended. Upon the publication of this
announcement via a regulatory information service, this information is
considered to be in the public domain.

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