IronRidge Resources Limited Subscription and Placing to Raise £2 million (6983S)

TIDMIRR

RNS Number : 6983S

IronRidge Resources Limited

07 November 2019

7 November 2019

IronRidge Resources Limited

(AIM: IRR)

IronRidge Raises GBP2 million

Appointment of New Broker

IronRidge Resources Limited ("IronRidge" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has raised approximately GBP2 million before expenses through a subscription for, and placing of, in aggregate, 20,000,000 new ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 10 pence per share (the "Issue Price"). The Company will primarily utilise these funds towards the development of its gold and lithium projects in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Chad in Africa.

The Placing was arranged through SI Capital in-conjunction with their (MFO) Multi-Family Office, existing Strategic Shareholders and Directors of the company. SI Capital has been appointed as sole Broker to the Company with immediate effect.

Binding commitments to subscribe (the "Subscription") for a total of 12,648,520 new ordinary shares (the "Subscription Shares") at the Issue Price have been received from Vincent Mascolo (the Company's Chief Executive Officer), DGR Global Limited (a Substantial Shareholder in the Company), Neil Herbert, (the Company's Non-Executive Chairman) and other subscribers. In addition to the Subscription, the Company has also placed (the "Placing") 7,351,480 new ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") at the Issue Price with a number of placees.

Vincent Mascolo, Chief Executive Officer of IronRidge, said:

"We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their continued support and would like to welcome our new shareholders to the register. In addition, the significant participation of the Board and DGR Global in the fundraise confirms our confidence in the future of the business as we advance our exploration portfolio and transition from explorer to developer in the near future.

"We would also like to welcome and thank our new Broker, SI Capital, for their solid contribution to this capital raise, particularly during a challenging time in the global market."

"We have made considerable progress over the course of 2019, having focused on enhancing the Company's asset base and we remain on track to deliver on multiple milestones. The capital raise, in which we have secured GBP2 million, will enable the Company to maintain momentum during 2020 and to execute its strategy to further develop the highly prospective gold and lithium assets in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Chad.

"Operating on all fronts, we remain on track to commence drilling of multiple targets across our suite of gold projects in Cote d'Ivoire in the near term, and the delivery of a maiden mineral resource estimate for our Cape Coast Lithium project in Ghana in Q1 2020.

"We look forward to continuing to develop our portfolio pipeline in these jurisdictions and look forward to providing updates on progress in the near future."

Details of the Subscription and Placing

The Subscription Shares and the Placing Shares have been allotted and issued conditional, inter alia, on their admission to trading on AIM.

An application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Subscription Shares and the Placing Shares, which will rank pari passu with the Company's existing issued ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings in the Placing Shares and Subscription Shares are expected to commence at 8:00 a.m. on or around 13 November 2019 ("Admission").

Following the issue of the Placing Shares the Company's total issued share capital will comprise 332,293,796 ordinary shares. In accordance with FCA Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ("DTRs"), the Company has 332,293,796 ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in Treasury.

Use of proceeds

It is intended that the proceeds of the Placing will primarily contribute to working capital and the ongoing development of the Company's pipeline of gold and lithium projects in Ghana, Chad and Côte d'Ivoire.

Related party transaction

The Subscription by each of Vincent Mascolo, DGR Global Limited and Neil Herbert constitute related party transactions under London Stock Exchange's AIM Rules for Companies. With the exception of Vincent Mascolo, Neil Herbert and Nicholas Mather, the Company's Directors consider, having consulted with its nominated adviser, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned.

Revised shareholdings following Admission

Following the issue of the Subscription and Placing Shares, the revised shareholdings of the following substantial shareholders and participating Directors will be:

 
                          Current      Subscription   Shareholding     Percentage 
                        Shareholding      Shares       on Admission    of enlarged 
                                                                       issued share 
                                                                         capital 
 DGR Global Limited     68,522,667      4,500,000      73,022,667        21.98% 
                      --------------  -------------  --------------  -------------- 
 Vincent Mascolo        13,500,000       500,000       14,000,000         4.21% 
                      --------------  -------------  --------------  -------------- 
 Cambrian Limited*        500,000        500,000        1,000,000         0.3% 
                      --------------  -------------  --------------  -------------- 
 

*The beneficial owners of which are Neil Herbert and his wife.

NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM:

 
 1.   Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person 
       closely associated 
 a)   Name:                                   1. Vincent Mascolo 
                                               2. Neil Herbert 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 2.   Reason for the notification 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 a)   Position/status:                        1. Chief Executive 
                                               Officer 
                                               2. Non-Executive Chairman 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 b)   Initial notification/Amendment:    Initial notification 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 3.   Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, 
       auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 a)   Name:                              IronRidge Resources 
                                          Limited 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 b)   LEI:                               213800H1JY3J7BB6BN06 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 4.   Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated 
       for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; 
       (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions 
       have been conducted. 
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 a)   Description of the financial       Depositary Interests 
       instrument, type of instrument:    of no par value 
       Identification code: 
                                          ISIN: AU0000XINEX3 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 b)   Nature of the transaction:         Issue of ordinary 
                                          shares for Subscription 
                                          in private placement 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 c)   Price(s) and volume(s):              Price(s)       Volume(s) 
                                                 1. 10p         1. 500,000 
                                                  2. 10p         2. 500,000 
                                                          ----------------- 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 d)   Aggregated information:            Single transaction 
       Aggregated volume:                 as in 4 c) above Price(s)       Volume(s) 
       Price:                                   1. 10p         1. 500,000 
                                                 2. 10p         2. 500,000 
                                                         ----------------- 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 e)   Date of the transaction:                1. 07 November 2019 
                                               2. 07 November 2019 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 f)   Place of the transaction:          Outside of a trading 
                                          venue 
     ---------------------------------  ------------------------------------------- 
 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION EU 596/2014 ("MAR"). IN ADDITION, MARKET SOUNDINGS (AS DEFINED IN MAR) WERE TAKEN IN RESPECT OF THE MATTERS CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, WITH THE RESULT THAT CERTAIN PERSONS BECAME AWARE OF SUCH INSIDE INFORMATION AS PERMITTED BY MAR. THAT INSIDE INFORMATION IS SET OUT IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND HAS BEEN DISCLOSED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 7 OF ARTICLE 17 OF MAR. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THE INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH PERSONS SHALL THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE INFORMATION IN RELATION TO THE COMPANY AND ITS SECURITIES.

For any further information please contact:

 
IronRidge Resources Limited 
Vincent Mascolo (Chief Executive Officer)  Tel: [phone] 
Karl Schlobohm (Company Secretary) 
 
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP             Tel: [phone] 
Nominated Adviser 
Jeff Keating 
Charlie Bouverat 
 
  SI Capital Limited 
  Company Broker 
  Nick Emerson                               Tel: [phone] 
  Jon Levinson                               Tel: [phone] 
Yellow Jersey PR Limited                   Tel: [phone] 
Harriet Jackson 
Dominic Barretto 
Emma Becirovic 
 

Notes to Editors:

IronRidge Resources is an AIM-listed, Africa focussed minerals exploration company with a lithium pegmatite discovery in Ghana, extensive grassroots gold portfolio in Cote d'Ivoire and a potential new gold province discovery in Chad. The Company holds legacy iron ore assets in Gabon and a bauxite resource in Australia. IronRidge's strategy is to create and sustain shareholder value through the discovery and development of significant and globally demanded commodities.

Ghana

The Company entered into earn-in arrangements with Obotan Minerals Limited, Merlink Resources Limited, Barari Developments Limited and Joy Transporters Limited of Ghana, West Africa, securing the first access rights to acquire the historical Egyasimanku Hill spodumene rich lithium deposit, estimated to be in the order of 1.48Mt at 1.67% Li2O and surrounding tenements. The portfolio covers some 684km2 with the newly discovered Ewoyaa project including drill intersections of 128m @ 1.21% Li2O from 3m and 111m @ 1.35% Li2O from 37m, and a further identified 20km strike of pegmatite vein swarms. The tenure package is also highly prospective for tin, tantalum, niobium, caesium and gold, which occur as accessory minerals within the pegmatites and host formations.

Chad

The Company entered into an agreement with Tekton Minerals Pte Ltd of Singapore concerning its portfolio covering 900km(2) of highly prospective gold and other mineral projects in Chad, Central Africa. IronRidge acquired 100% of Tekton including its projects and team to advance the Dorothe, Echbara, Am Ouchar, Nabagay and Kalaka licenses, which host multiple, large scale gold projects. Trenching results at Dorothe, including 84m @ 1.66g/t Au (including 6m @ 5.49g/t & 8m @ 6.23g/t), 4m @ 18.77g/t Au (including 2m @ 36.2g/t), 32m @ 2.02g/t Au (including 18m @ 3.22g/t), 24m @ 2.53g/t Au (including 6m @ 4.1g/t (including 2m @ 6.2g/t) and 2m @ 6.14g/t), 14.12g/t Au over 4m, 34.1g/t over 2m and 63.2g/t over 1m, have defined significant gold mineralised quartz veining zones over a 3km by 1km area including the steep dipping 'Main Vein' and shallow dipping 'Sheeted Vein' zones.

Côte d'Ivoire

The Company entered into conditional earn-in arrangements in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa; securing access rights to highly prospective gold mineralised structures and pegmatite occurrences covering a combined 3,584km(2) and 1,172km(2) area respectively. The projects are well located within access of an extensive bitumen road network and along strike from multi-million-ounce gold projects and mines.

Australia

Monogorilby is prospective for province scale titanium and bauxite, with an initial maiden resource of 54.9MT of premium DSO bauxite. Monogorilby is located in central Queensland, within a short trucking distance of the rail system leading north to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

May Queen is located in Central Queensland within IRR's wholly owned Monogorilby license package and is highly prospective for gold. Historic drilling completed during the 1980s intersected multiple high-grade gold intervals, including 2m @ 73.4 g/t Au (including 1m at 145g/t), 4m @ 38.8g/t Au (at end of hole) and 3m @ 18.9g/t Au, over an approximate 100m strike hosting numerous parallel vein systems, open to the north-west and south-east.

Gabon

Tchibanga is located in south-western Gabon, in the Nyanga Province, within 10-60km of the Atlantic coastline. This project comprises two exploration licenses, Tchibanga and Tchibanga Nord, which cover a combined area of 3,396km(2) and include over 90km of prospective lithologies and the historic Mont Pele iron occurrence.

Belinga Sud is Located in the north east of Gabon in the Ogooue-Ivindo Province, approximately 400km east of the capital city of Libreville. IRR's licence lies between the main Belinga Iron Ore Deposit, believed to be one of the world's largest untapped reserves of iron ore with an estimated 1bt of iron ore at a grade >60% Fe, and the route of the Trans Gabonese railway, which currently carries manganese ore and timber from Franceville to the Port of Owendo in Libreville.

Corporate

IronRidge made its AIM debut in February 2015, successfully securing strategic alliances with three international companies: Assore Limited of South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and DGR Global Limited of Australia. Assore is a high-grade iron, chrome and manganese mining specialist. Sumitomo Corporation is a global resources, mining marketing and trading conglomerate. DGR Global is a project generation and exploration specialist.

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 [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

END

MSCFSLFIWFUSESF

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2019 10:06 ET (15:06 GMT)