REG - Premier African Min. - Zulu Lithium Plant and General Update

Premier African MineralsAnnouncement

13/03/2024 11:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240313:nRSM7003Ga&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 7003G  Premier African Minerals Limited  13 March 2024

Premier African Minerals Limited / Ticker: PREM / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

For immediate release

 

13 March 2024

Premier African Minerals Limited

 

 Zulu Lithium Plant and General Update

 

Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier" or the "Company") is pleased to
provide an update on operations at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum ("Zulu").

 

 Highlights
 ·         Zulu engineering team has taken over as operator with responsibility to deal
           with outstanding plant issues.
 ·         Accordingly, Stark International Projects Limited has withdrawn all personnel
           from Zulu.
 ·         Premier has undertakings from all relevant OEM to provide such support as
           requested and may be required in the continuing optimisation, remedy and
           improvement of the plant.
 ·         Premier has engaged a major independent EPCM contractor to undertake a
           complete survey and review of the plant as installed.
 ·         Issues with pH measurement and automatic reagent dosing are resolved to the
           extent necessary to ensure plant operations.
 ·         Final integration of the thickener is underway and is expected complete during
           the week commencing 18 March 2024.
 ·         Contract miner is back at site after a delay caused by several factors, not
           the least availability of explosives.
 ·         The plant is operational, and Premier will focus on achieving the design
           throughput and standards with the assistance as needed of the various OEMs.
 ·         A complete cleanout of the float section of the plant is underway to ensure
           that material inadequately treated before remedy of the pH related problems is
           removed from the plant.
 ·         Recently produced concentrates are adversely affected by the pH issues,
           however spodumene concentrate floated in the main plant on 12 March is now at
           SC6 grade.
 ·         Mining is now closely supervised, and a team has been appointed to inspect ROM
           pad ore for any waste contamination.
 ·         Dorfner Anzaplan GmbH has been reengaged to reevaluate the sensor-based
           sorters currently installed and to advise on any recommended changes.
 ·         Certain additional upgrades are expected to the Ultraviolet sorters and direct
           communication and arrangements will be made with the OEM.

 

Stark International Projects Limited ("Stark")

 

As announced on 24 June 2022, Premier accepted a proposal and a quotation to
design, supply and deliver to Zulu and to assemble and commission a plant at
an additional charge, that was to meet certain specific design and through-put
specifications ("Zulu Plant Performance"). The plant was expected to produce
Spodumene concentrate at 6% Li20 from March 2023. The plant had not met the
specific design and through-put specifications a year after the original
target completion date. Material reasons have been set out in previous
announcements. Accordingly, Premier has requested that Stark demobilise and
leave Zulu immediately and Stark has agreed and done so.

 

Stark and Premier will continue to engage on the final terms and conditions of
any separation and on how best to move forward, however at this time there is
a dispute between Stark and Premier pertaining to the Zulu Plant Performance.
Premier fully reserves its rights in this regard.

 

At this time the Zulu plant is being run by the Zulu management team. Premier
is now the operator of Zulu.

 

George Roach, CEO commented, "As is apparent from the points above, this has
been a dramatic week, but a necessary one. On the one hand, Premier is
obviously disappointed with the further delays, but Premier is pleased with
the ability displayed by our engineering team to take on plant operations and
demonstrate the skills we have in our team.

 

Premier is encouraged by the response we have had from OEM suppliers and their
commitment to ensure their equipment is optimised to the maximum. As Premier
stated on 29 February, we are getting there. Not as quickly as Premier had
hoped and with more unnecessary issues than we had anticipated.

 

Premier does believe this is a major turning point and we look forward
providing further updates from Zulu."

 

Market Abuse Regulations

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").

The person who arranged the release of this announcement on behalf of the
Company was George Roach.

A copy of this announcement is available at the Company's website,
www.premierafricanminerals.com (http://www.premierafricanminerals.com)

Enquiries:

 

 George Roach                      Premier African Minerals Limited    Tel: +27 (0) 100 201 281
 Michael Cornish / Roland Cornish  Beaumont Cornish Limited            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

                                   (Nominated Adviser)
 Douglas Crippen                   CMC Markets UK Plc                  Tel: +44 (0) 20 3003 8632
 Toby Gibbs/Rachel Goldstein       Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited  Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090

 

Nominated Adviser Statement Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish"),
which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial
Conduct Authority, is acting as nominated adviser to the Company in connection
with this announcement and will not regard any other person as its client and
will not be responsible to anyone else for providing the protections afforded
to the clients of Beaumont Cornish or for providing advice in relation to such
proposals. Beaumont Cornish has not authorised the contents of, or any part
of, this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by Beaumont Cornish
for the accuracy of any information, or opinions contained in this document or
for the omission of any information. Beaumont Cornish as nominated adviser to
the Company owes certain responsibilities to the London Stock Exchange which
are not owed to the Company, the Directors, Shareholders, or any other person.

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. A number of
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.

 Glossary
 "EPCM"  Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management.
 "Li2O"  Lithium Oxide (Lithia) - an inorganic lithium compound used to assess lithium

       minerals.

 "OEM"   Original Equipment Suppliers.
 "pH"    Indicates the concentration of hydrogen ions in a liquid. While a low pH

       indicates a higher concentration of hydrogen, a high pH indicates a lower
         hydrogen concentration.
 "ROM"   Run-of-mine.
 "SC6"   spodumene concentrate.

 

Notes to Editors:

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and
natural resource development company focused on Southern Africa with its RHA
Tungsten and Zulu Lithium projects in Zimbabwe.

 

The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare
earth elements, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and lithium and gold in
Mozambique, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production
potential to grass-roots exploration. The Company has accepted a share offer
by Vortex Limited ("Vortex") for the exchange of Premier's entire 4.8%
interest in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil
Potash Project in Ethiopia, for a 13.1% interest in the enlarged share capital
of Vortex. Vortex has an interest of 36.7% in Circum.

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  UPDGPUQWWUPCGUW