REG - Kodal Minerals PLC - Kodal Minerals completion of Funding Transaction

Kodal MineralsAnnouncement

15/11/2023 08:00

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RNS Number : 5283T  Kodal Minerals PLC  15 November 2023

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute

 inside information as stipulated under the UK Market Abuse Regulation

 

Kodal Minerals Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: KOD / Sector: Mining

15 November 2023

Kodal Minerals plc

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

 

Completion of US$117.75 million Bougouni Lithium Project funding transaction

and

Investor Presentation

 

Kodal Minerals, the mineral exploration and development company focused on
lithium and gold assets in West Africa, is pleased to announce the completion
of the funding transaction for US$117.75 million originally announced on 19
January 2023 (the "Funding Transaction"), paving the way for the opportunity
for Kodal to be the first London-quoted lithium producer.

 

The Funding Transaction was agreed with Hainan Mining Co. Limited ("Hainan" or
"Hainan Mining") and its wholly owned UK-incorporated subsidiary Xinmao
Investment Co. Limited ("Xinmao" and together the "Hainan Group"), and
provides full funding for the development and commencement of production at
the Bougouni Lithium Project in Mali ("Bougouni" or the "Project"), as well as
 supporting ongoing exploration and development programmes designed to
continue the expansion of the Project.

 

Bougouni is an advanced lithium project which has a mining permit for an
initial twelve-year period, renewable in ten-year blocks until all resources
are mined, covering 97 km² of highly prospective lithium deposits, which to
date has a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate of 31.9Mt of Li(2)O at 1.06%.
Bougouni will be developed through a two-stage development strategy: Stage 1
through processing ore from the Ngoualana deposit through a Dense Media
Separation ("DMS") process plant (currently under construction); and Stage 2
through processing ore from the Boumou and Sogola-Baoulé deposits through a
flotation plant.

 

The Funding Transaction consists of a US$17.75 million equity subscription by
the Hainan Group into Kodal, with these new ordinary shares having been
admitted to trading on AIM today.  As a result, the Hainan Group now holds
14.72% of the issued share capital of the Company. The Funding Transaction
also includes a US$100 million investment into Kodal's UK subsidiary company,
Kodal Mining UK Limited ("KMUK"), by the Hainan Group, primarily to provide
the financing to construct the Bougouni lithium production operation.  KMUK
is 49% owned by Kodal and 51% by the Hainan Group.

 

 

Investor presentation

 

The management of Kodal will hold an online presentation today, Wednesday, 15
November 2023 at 9:00am GMT. The presentation will be hosted on the Investor
Meet Company platform. Those interested in joining the online presentation can
do so using the following link:

 

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/kodal-minerals-plc/register-investor
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flinks.uk.defend.egress.com%2FWarning%3FcrId%3D6553c163ec4d8c8a82912d3a%26Domain%3Dallenbycapital.com%26Lang%3Den%26Base64Url%3DeNo1y11vgjAYQOHfQuJtLX7Mj-1KYQhBJZqZyFUD9UUbSlvaUtBfv2XZrp9zHtYq845xp_kNKhAGxlQ22M0wIX_W9_2YCQfGSt0A2B9XhXj-drW8FRw1TIAuuEGKU6zhzowFjf4fQj48LyYtkpNkXkfSY9wFvMyXbXfUr_Xy0VXXYb2pLvU-bU-VowEsfCcMSfxgGzdv2eF8OtNVHmdRPn_SFZoewr6lkyAtfVWmWThjyUYBlXURfn51uyGPuJDDZfQN8etOXw%253D%253D&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cbcc97dfb5c5d45184e4208dbe5428853%7Cfc69750aedcc43bebd5b2cbe6f8d8c37%7C0%7C0%7C638355846137205924%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=TaVx3sTON3T3JwKXyzWgAoQ9hUcffFwF7OMwaY6cVoo%3D&reserved=0)

 

Commenting on the completion of the Funding Transaction, Bernard Aylward, CEO
of Kodal Minerals, stated:

 

"This is a major milestone in our progress towards the construction of
Bougouni and becoming a producer of high-grade lithium spodumene concentrates.
Throughout the process of completing the Funding Transaction, Kodal and the
Hainan Group worked closely together to advance key project development
activities whilst completing all necessary conditions precedent to finalise
the funding.  We have developed a strong relationship with the Hainan Group
and we will work together to achieve our shared goal of production within
twelve months from now.

 

"An active work programme has been planned for Bougouni, with Kodal's
Operations Director, Steve Zaninovich, and Hainan's technical representative,
Jerry Gao, currently finalising the design of the DMS operations at the
Johannesburg offices of our engineering consultant DRA Global, and commencing
the procurement of long lead items.  In Mali, our development team, led by
our General Manager, Yushen Caiy, is building our internal capacity for the
construction phase and future operations of Bougouni, whilst continuing with
the access road development and site preparations which commenced in October
2023.

 

"We are also looking to the future with an exploration programme proposed for
further drilling at the Boumou prospect as a priority, in addition to further
drilling and assessment of the many pegmatite bodies already identified within
our mining licence area".

 

Further Information

 

Kodal Subscription Agreement

To finalise the Kodal Subscription agreement, the Company received US$17.75
million (approximately £14.5 million) from the Hainan Group and the Hainan
Group has been issued with 2,937,801,971 new ordinary shares of 0.03125 pence
each in the capital of the Company (the "New Ordinary Shares") at a price of
0.4912 pence per New Ordinary Share in accordance with the terms of the
Funding Transaction. As stated in the Company's announcement on 14 November
2023, all funds for the Subscription have been received and the New Ordinary
Shares were admitted to trading on AIM today, 15 November 2023.  The Hainan
Group, and registered holder Xinmao have agreed to not dispose of any New
Ordinary Shares for a period of 12 months following Admission and, for a
further period of 12 months, to only dispose of the New Ordinary Shares
through the Company's broker(s) on an orderly market basis.

 

KMUK Funding

As announced on 14 November 2023, the funds for the Hainan Group investment
into KMUK have been received in KMUK's bank account.  The KMUK project team
has prepared a development plan and budget to be presented to the KMUK Board
for approval. This plan will allow the commencement of ordering major items
such as the proposed DMS modular units and crushing circuits.  These are
critical items to secure in order to achieve our fast-track development
timeline.

 

KMUK have commenced an update to the Ngoualana open pit optimisation plan
following expansion of the Mineral Resource estimate (refer to announcement of
14 November 2023) and associated mine design that will provide the project
team with the information necessary to procure a mining contractor for the
mining and site earthworks required for the construction works to commence.

 

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information, please visit www.kodalminerals
(http://www.kodalminerals) .com or contact the following:

 

 Kodal Minerals plc

 Bernard Aylward, CEO                                                  Tel: +61 418 943 345

 Allenby Capital Limited, Nominated Adviser

 Jeremy Porter/Vivek Bhardwaj/Nick Harriss                             Tel: 020 3328 5656

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP, Financial Adviser & Joint Broker

 John Mackay/Adam Cowl                                                 Tel: 020 3470 0470

 Canaccord Genuity Limited, Joint Broker

 James Asensio/Gordon Hamilton                                         Tel: 0207 523 4680

 Buchanan, Financial PR

 Bobby Morse/Oonagh Reidy                                              Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000

                                                                       kodal@buchanancomms.co.uk

 

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