Empire
Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources
30 September 2024
Empire Metals
Limited
('Empire' or the
'Company')
Oversubscribed Placing to Raise £2.5
million to Accelerate Work Focused on Zone of Recently
Discovered High-Purity Near-Surface Anatase
Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE),
the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is
pleased to announce that is has raised £2.5 million before expenses
by way of a placing of 35,714,286 new ordinary shares of no par
value in the capital of the Company at 7p (the 'Placing Shares') to
new and existing shareholders (the 'Placing').
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director,
said: "We have achieved exceptional
results from our exploration and process development efforts at
Pitfield to date, and this fundraising will ensure that we can
continue to push ahead, expand our metallurgical testwork and
research activities and continue to fast track the resource
drilling required to provide a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate. We
have received significant support from existing and new investors
in this placing, a sure sign that the market is beginning to see
the global significance of our discovery at
Pitfield.
"The recent discovery of a new
anatase enriched deposit (announced 22 August 2024), located within
the weathered "saprolite" cap covering the extent of the giant,
40km long mineral system, has shifted the focus of our development
studies to this weathered cap. The results of our preliminary
technical studies show that the anatase, a variant of rutile, is of
high purity and provides the Company with an excellent opportunity
to produce a strategic feedstock for the titanium chloride pigment
and titanium metal markets.
"With the addition of these new funds to
our already healthy cash balance (refer Interim Accounts RNS dated
18 September 2024), our cash at bank now stands at circa £4.8
million putting the Company in a very strong financial
position."
Use of
Funds
The net proceeds of the Placing will be
primarily used to allow the Company to expand on the existing work
programme including resource drilling, mineralogical and
metallurgical studies and environmental baseline studies. In
addition, and as a result of the recent high-purity anatase
discovery within the near-surface weathered cap, the Company will
scale up and accelerate the metallurgical and mineralogical studies
focussed on this anatase-rich zone which is has the potential to
respond well to straight forward beneficiation steps and produce a
high-quality TiO2 concentrate suitable for further
upgrading to a high-value commercial end product.
Application
for Admission and Total Voting Rights
The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all
respects with the existing ordinary shares of no par value in the
capital of the Company. Application has been made to the
London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to
trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission
will become effective on or around 4 October 2024. As a
result of the issue of the Placing Shares as described above, the
issued share capital of the Company now consists of
634,564,810 ordinary shares of no-par
value.
Warrants
The Company has agreed to issue
warrants over a total of 689,988 ordinary shares in the Company
exercisable at 10.50 pence per share for a period of two years from
date of grant to Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint
Broker).
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)
Disclosure
Certain information contained in
this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the
purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as
incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018, until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit
www.empiremetals.com
or contact:
Empire Metals
Ltd
Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel / Arabella
Burwell
|
Tel: 020 4583 1440
|
S. P. Angel
Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl
|
Tel: 020 3470 0470
|
Shard Capital
Partners LLP (Joint Broker)
Damon Heath
|
Tel: 020 7186 9950
|
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial
PR)
Susie Geliher / Charlotte
Page
|
Tel: 020
7236 1177
|
About Empire Metals
Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed
exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE) with a
primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium
project in Western Australia.
Exploration activity at Pitfield has
confirmed the discovery of a new giant mineralised system extending
over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drilling campaigns have confirmed
high-grade TiO₂ mineralised zones across thick bedded intervals to
a vertical depth of ~350m, confirming Pitfield as a world class,
district-scale titanium mineral system.
Empire is now accelerating the
economic development of Pitfield, with the objective of becoming a
leading producer of high value titanium dioxide
products.
The Company also has two further
exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the
Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious
metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing
region of Austria.