Aura Energy Limited Completion of A$3.7 Million Capital Raising (3666J)

TIDMAURA

RNS Number : 3666J

Aura Energy Limited

29 March 2018

AURA ENERGY LIMITED

("Aura" or the "Company")

AURA COMPLETES (heavily over-subscribed) a$3.7 MILLION CAPITAL RAISING TO FAST-TRACK VANADIUM PROJECT

VANADIUM PROGRAM TO utilise MAJORITY OF PROCEEDS

NEW DEVELOPMENT FOCUS ON BATTERY METAL PORTFOLIO

Aura (ASX: AEE/AIM: AURA) is pleased to advise that it has closed a private placement to sophisticated investors in Australia and the United Kingdom and raised A$3.7 million before costs. The capital raising, more than twice over-subscribed, was led by Melbourne boutique, Peak Asset Management Pty Ltd.

The placement was made to existing shareholders, including Aura's long-term strategic shareholders in London, small-cap funds, institutions and clients of Peak Asset Management.

Aura's Häggån project in Sweden contains globally significant quantities of vanadium and has the potential to be one of the world's largest sources of vanadium production.

Commenting on the equity raising, Peter Reeve, Aura Energy's Executive Chairman, said "Aura has an excellent portfolio of projects and metals and vanadium's recent dramatic price rise has presented an extraordinary opportunity for Aura to recommence the push to develop the Häggån Battery Metal Project in Sweden".

"The capital from this raising will be carefully deployed to advance Aura's current technical programs with particular emphasis on test work and flowsheet development for the vanadium element of the Häggån Battery Metal Project and the Häggån IPO. Once again Aura's key shareholders have remained very supportive of the company's long-term plans and, along with clients of Peak Asset Management, contributed strongly to this raising. We thank them for their effort," Mr Reeve continued.

Aura Energy will now recommence technical and study work on the Häggån Battery Metal Project and undertake a Vanadium Concept Study into the production of high purity Vanadium Pentoxide (V2O5) at the Häggån Battery Metal Project.

It will also progress, with urgency, its separate listing of the Häggån Project as an international IPO. Peak Asset Management will continue to assist Aura with that IPO.

The terms of the placement are:

   --        1 fully paid ordinary share at 1.9 Australian cents per share 
   --        1 option for every 2 shares subscribed under the private placement 
   --        Options are unlisted and exercisable at 3.3 cents, expiring September 2019 

The Company will issue 194,736,842 fully paid ordinary shares and will grant 97,368,421 options granted over ordinary shares under the private placement.

The total number of ordinary shares on issue following the issue of the above shares will be 1,057,101,321 ordinary shares may be used by Shareholders, from the appropriate time, as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. As disclosed above, the Company holds no Ordinary Shares in treasury

There are no shares held in treasury.

The Company has capacity to issue without shareholder approval approximately 60% of shares (A$2.14 million) as Tranche 1 under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 (the Company has capacity of 34,523,929 shares under this rule) and 7.1A (the Company has capacity of 79,973,589 shares under this rule). These will be issued immediately and the residual, approximately A$1.5 million and the options over ordinary shares will be subject to shareholder approval and issued at a later date as Tranche 2.

Application will made to admit the shares issued from the private placement on both the ASX and AIM. The shares will be allotted on 5 April 2018 and the shares will rate pari passu in all respects with the company's existing shares on issue.

Admission of the new shares on AIM is expected to commence on or around 12 April 2018.

For more information please visit www.auraenergy.com.au or contact the following:

 
Aura Energy Limited       Telephone: [phone] 
 Peter Reeve (Executive    6500 
 Chairman)                 [e-mail] 
WH Ireland Limited        Telephone: +44 (0) 207 
 Adrian Hadden             220 1666 
 James Sinclair-Ford 
Yellow Jersey PR Limited  Telephone: 
 Charles Goodwin           [phone] 
 Joe Burgess               [phone] 
 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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March 29, 2018 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)