REG-Polymetal International plc Polymetal: Polymetal and Blackham Resources Strategic Alliance and Offtake Agreement

Polymetal International PKAnnouncement

31/03/2020 07:05

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   Polymetal International plc (POLY)
   Polymetal: Polymetal and Blackham Resources Strategic Alliance and Offtake
   Agreement

   31-March-2020 / 09:00 MSK
   Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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   Release time IMMEDIATE                        LSE, MOEX, AIX: POLY / ADR:
                AUCOY
   Date         31 March 2020

    

    

   Polymetal International plc

   Polymetal and Blackham Resources Strategic Alliance and Offtake Agreement

   Polymetal is pleased  to announce  a refractory  gold concentrate  offtake
   agreement and  Strategic  Alliance ("Alliance")  with  Blackham  Resources
   ("BLK"), an Australian gold mining company.

   Highlights

     • Polymetal and BLK entered into an offtake agreement for the greater of
       (i) 70% of refractory  sulphide gold concentrate ("Concentrate")  from
       BLK's Wiluna Stage 1 expansion project during its first three years of
       operation or (ii) 122.5 thousand  tonnes of Concentrate containing  at
       least 195 Koz of gold.
     • Upon expiration of the initial three-year period of Stage 1 and during
       Stage 2  of  the  Wiluna  expansion  project,  Polymetal  will  obtain
       exclusive  offtake  rights  for  up  to  100%  of  BLK's   Concentrate
       production.
     • The Alliance  will  establish  a process  of  two-way  technical  data
       sharing in respect  of the potential  expansion of Wiluna  Concentrate
       production and certain regional projects.
     • The Alliance aims  at reducing the  global environmental footprint  of
       refractory sulphide gold ores and  concentrates processing as its  key
       long-term goal.

   "Using POX technology to process  refractory gold concentrates results  in
   the smallest environmental footprint. Our collaboration with BLK addresses
   a crucial  challenge of  the  global gold  mining industry  and  leverages
   Polymetal's core technical capabilities", said Vitaly Nesis, Group CEO  of
   Polymetal.

   About BLK

   Blackham Resources  Limited  is a  Perth  based, ASX  listed  gold  mining
   company that owns 100% of the Wiluna gold operation located in Australia's
   biggest gold belt. The  operation has large  defined Mineral Resources  of
   6.4 Moz of gold at a grade of 2.1 g/t.

   The Wiluna deposit is located close  to the town of Wiluna,  approximately
   750 km  northeast  of Perth.  Wiluna  ores are  either  oxide,  refractory
   sulphide, or  quartz  reef free-milling  ores,  with most  gold  occurring
   within fine-grained sulphides. Currently the  only operating CIL plant  is
   treating oxide ores from both Wiluna and other nearby mining centres.  The
   company implements the expansion project to unlock the value of refractory
   ores which comprises of two stages. Stage 1 assumes 110 Koz average annual
   gold production from sulphide ores  during 2021-2027 following by Stage  2
   of expansion which will see an increase of annual production to 250 Koz of
   gold for more than 10 years.

   About Polymetal 

   Polymetal International plc (together with its subsidiaries - "Polymetal",
   the "Company", or  the "Group")  is a top-20  global gold  producer and  a
   top-5 global silver  producer with  assets in Russia  and Kazakhstan.  The
   Company combines strong growth with a robust dividend yield.

    

   Enquiries

       Media                          Investor Relations
                                  Polymetal
                                              1 ir@polymetalinternational.com
   FTI Consulting                 Evgeny
                          +44 20  Monakhov   +44 20 7887 1475 (UK)
   Leonid Fink            3727
                          1000    Timofey     
   Viktor Pomichal                Kulakov
                                             +7 812 334 3666 (Russia)
                                  Kirill
                                  Kuznetsov
       Joint Corporate Brokers         
                          +44 20
                          7425
   Morgan Stanley & Co.   8000
   International plc
                                  RBC Europe
   Andrew Foster                  Limited
                           
   Richard Brown                  Marcus     +44 20 7653 4000
                                  Jackson
   Panmure Gordon
                                  Jamil Miah
   James Stearns
                          +44 20
                          7886
                          2500

   Forward-looking statements

   This release may  include statements  that are, or  may be  deemed to  be,
   "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements speak  only
   as at the date  of this release. These  forward-looking statements can  be
   identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the  words
   "targets",  "believes",  "expects",  "aims",  "intends",  "will",   "may",
   "anticipates", "would", "could" or "should" or similar expressions or,  in
   each  case  their  negative  or  other  variations  or  by  discussion  of
   strategies, plans, objectives, goals,  future events or intentions.  These
   forward-looking statements  all include  matters that  are not  historical
   facts. By their nature, such forward-looking statements involve known  and
   unknown risks,  uncertainties  and  other  important  factors  beyond  the
   company's control  that could  cause the  actual results,  performance  or
   achievements of  the  company  to  be  materially  different  from  future
   results,  performance  or  achievements  expressed  or  implied  by   such
   forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking  statements are based  on
   numerous assumptions regarding the  company's present and future  business
   strategies and the environment  in which the company  will operate in  the
   future.  Forward-looking   statements  are   not  guarantees   of   future
   performance. There are many factors that could cause the company's  actual
   results, performance  or  achievements  to differ  materially  from  those
   expressed  in  such  forward-looking  statements.  The  company  expressly
   disclaims any  obligation or  undertaking to  disseminate any  updates  or
   revisions to any  forward-looking statements contained  herein to  reflect
   any change in the company's expectations with regard thereto or any change
   in events, conditions or  circumstances on which  any such statements  are
   based.

    

    

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   ISIN:          JE00B6T5S470
   Category Code: MSCM
   TIDM:          POLY
   Sequence No.:  55540
   EQS News ID:   1011133


    
   End of Announcement EQS News Service

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References

   Visible links
   1. mailto:ir@polymetalinternational.com


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