Rare Earth Minerals PLC Macarthur Minerals Update (8850W)

TIDMREM

RNS Number : 8850W

Rare Earth Minerals PLC

14 February 2017

Rare Earth Minerals Plc

("Rare Earth Minerals" or "REM")

Macarthur Minerals Update

Rare Earth Minerals Plc (AIM/ISDX: REM; OTC: REMMY)) is pleased to report that Macarthur Minerals ("Macarthur") in which REM currently owns a 16.56% shareholding, has announced that it has entered into a non exclusive mandate with the Tulshyan Group to raise up to A$200 million with an initial tranche of A$50 million to develop the Company's Ularring hematite iron ore project located in Western Australia.

The Tulshyan Group made a strategic investment in the Company in January this year. The Tulshyan Group, based in Singapore, is one of the largest recyclers of scrap steel in the world, has a significant shipping business with a fleet of over 30 ships and is expanding its commercial aircraft leasing business. The Tulshyan Group has significant experience in sales, marketing of steel and iron ore and access to capital for potential development of the Company's Western Australian iron ore projects.

The full Macarthur announcement can be found at:

http://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=6726549416375718&qm_symbol=MMS .

Australian Iron Ore Projects

Macarthur Minerals' iron ore projects are located on mining tenements covering approximately 62km(2) located 175 km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Within the tenements, at least 35 km strike extent of outcropping banded iron formation ("BIF") occurs as low ridges, surrounded by intensely weathered and mostly unexposed granites, basalts and ultramafic rocks.

The Iron Ore Projects consist of two distinct mineral projects:

1. The Ularring hematite project: encompassing hematite iron ore ("hematite"), to be marketed as potential direct shipping and/or beneficiated iron ore; and

2. The Moonshine magnetite project: encompassing magnetite iron ore ("magnetite"), to be marketed as a beneficiated magnetite concentrate.

The Company has been maintaining the core iron ore projects' assets and they remain valuable assets having previously spent over $60 million to develop them. There is real potential for the iron ore projects to add significant value with the recovery of global iron ore markets.

Since July 2006 Macarthur Minerals has drilled 1,841 reverse circulation percussion drill holes (142,443 metres) and 49 diamond holes (4,170 metres) targeting iron mineralisation associated with BIF units. Exploration at both Ularring hematite and Moonshine magnetite projects has been sufficient to allow the estimation of Mineral Resources for both projects.

The Ularring hematite project's Mineral Resource consists of Indicated 54.46 Mt @ 47.2% Fe and Inferred 25.99Mt @ 45.4% Fe(1) . Macarthur Minerals published a Pre-Feasibility Study in 2012, reporting Mineral Reserves(2) .

The Company has received approval to develop an iron ore mine for the Ularring hematite project and associated infrastructure at the project location under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and the Environmental and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Moonshine Magnetite Project was initially prepared by CSA Global Pty Ltd(3) and was updated by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, with an Inferred Mineral Resource consisting of 1,316 Mt @ 30.1% Fe(4) .

A Preliminary Assessment Report was prepared on the Moonshine magnetite project by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants in 2011(5) .

Terms of Mandate

The Company, through its 100% owned subsidiary, Macarthur Australia Limited (MAL), has entered into a mandate with Jewel Bright Limited, part of the Tulshyan Group. Jewel Bright Limited will raise up to A$200 million via various tranches to fund the Ularring hematite project, for a 10% fee on monies raised, a specified amount of options in MAL and other conditions.

About Tulshyan Group

The Tulshyan Group (Singapore), which has been in business for 33 years, is established in four main businesses; ship owning, ship recycling, aircraft leasing and diversified real estate. The Tulshyan Group operates a fleet of over 30 ships, which consists of tankers and specialised vessels. Tulshyan is one of the largest recyclers of ships in the world. The Tulshyan Group has expanded to commercial aircraft leasing, recently having purchased a new A320-200 and a new Boeing 737-800. The aircraft are leased on long term leases to first class airlines. Tulshyan is also in the process of negotiating the purchase of another 5 young aircrafts.

Admission of Shares

On 23 August 2013 a placing was announced to issue 150,000,000 new ordinary shares and on 29 August 165,000,000 an exercise of warrants to subscribe for 165,000,000 new ordinary shares was announced. REM notified the issue of these shares and their application for admission to trading on AIM via RNS. Nonetheless these 315,000,000 ordinary shares were never admitted to trading on AIM.

Furthermore, on 21 May 2014 an RNS incorrectly stated that 6,000,001 new ordinary shares were expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on 27 May 2014. The correct number of new ordinary shares admitted was 26,000,001.

As such Rare Earth Minerals announces that it has made an application for admission for 335,000,000 new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission of the new ordinary shares is expected to occur on or around 20 February 2017.

For the avoidance of doubt these shares were issued to the respective parties in August 2013 and May 2014 respectively and the Company's previously stated issued share capital is correct, at 7,777,690,338 ordinary shares with no Ordinary Shares held in treasury.

Therefore for the purpose of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the above figure of 7,777,690,338 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in Rare Earth Minerals under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Rare Earth Minerals plc [phone]

Andrew Suckling

Kiran Morzaria

   WH Ireland Limited (Nomad & Broker)                                           [phone] 

James Joyce

James Bavister

Square1 Consulting [phone]

David Bick

Brian Alexander

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.

(1) Previously announced on August 16, 2012 NI 43-101 Technical Report filed October 1, 2012, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Macarthur Minerals Limited, Pre-Feasibility Study, Ularring Hematite Project, Western Australia

(2) Previously announced on August 16, 2012 NI 43-101 Technical Report filed October 1, 2012, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Macarthur Minerals Limited, Pre-Feasibility Study, Ularring Hematite Project, Western Australia

(3) NI43-101 Technical Report filed December 17, 2009, titled "NI43-101 Technical Report on Lake Giles Iron Ore Project: Western Australia

(4) NI43-101 Technical Report filed March 25, 2011, titled "Macarthur Minerals Limited: Moonshine and Moonshine North Prospects, Lake Giles Iron Project, Western Australia, NI43-101 Technical Report - Preliminary Assessment

(5) NI43-101 Technical Report filed March 25, 2011, titled "Macarthur Minerals Limited: Moonshine and Moonshine North Prospects, Lake Giles Iron Project, Western Australia, NI43-101 Technical Report - Preliminary Assessment

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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February 14, 2017 11:49 ET (16:49 GMT)