JSE-listed silica and anthracite producer Petmin Limited (Petmin) is scheduled to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Wednesday, 20 December.
The AIM listing will enable the company to access a wider range of opportunities and sources of capital, and is a further step towards it become an international multi-commodity minerals business.
Petmin intends to place 40 000 000 new ordinary shares – representing approximately 10% of the company’s issued share capital – of 9p (approximately R1.26) each to raise approximately ₤3.6m (approximately R50.4m) before expenses.
The issue has been conducted under the company’s general authority to issue up to 15% of the issued share capital at a maximum discount of 10% to the weighted average traded price of the issued shares over 30 days prior to the date on which the price was agreed.
The placing price of 9p (R1.26) is equivalent to a discount of 3.9% to the weighted average Petmin share price over the last 30 days prior to the date of finalisation of this announcement (being Thursday 13 December 2006), assuming an exchange rate of R14:00:₤1.
The proceeds are intended to fund future growth, more specifically:
Petmin also announced on Tuesday (19 December 2006) an agreement with GVM Metals Limited (GVM) in terms of which GVM will acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Petmin subsidiary Baobab Mining & Exploration (Pty) Limited (Baobab) for a consideration of ₤2.5m (approximately R35m).
Baobab has an effective 50% interest in the Baobab Joint Venture, which holds greenfields exploration tenements over soft coking and steam coal deposits near Musina in South Africa’s Limpopo Province.
Baobab was acquired as part of the acquisition by Petmin of Springlake Holdings in November 2005. Petmin attributed no value to Baobab at the time of the acquisition. The disposal of Baobab is in line with Petmin’s strategy to focus on cash- or near cash-producing assets.
SamQuarz, South Africa’s largest silica mine, has been in operation since 1955. Acquired by Petmin in September 2004, it currently produces 1.3 million run of mine (ROM) tonnes of silica a year, primarily for the domestic metallurgical and glass manufacturing sectors.
SamQuarz’s current life of mine is more than 10 years but – based on the Competent Person’s Report (CPR) – the directors estimate that there are a further 30 years of mineable reserves at an average ROM production level of 1.6 m tonnes a year (1.3 million tonnes a year of saleable product).
Springlake Colliery, South Africa’s largest producer of anthracite, has been in operation since 1977 and formed part of Petmin’s acquisition of Springlake Holdings in December 2005. Currently the mine produces 1.3 million tonnes a year – 500 000 tonnes from opencast operations and the balance from underground – for both domestic and export markets that include Brazil, Spain, India, Turkey, Ireland and Belgium.
The underground operations have a life of mine of eight years but, based on the CPR, the directors believe the mine has a further five years of mineable underground reserves. Springlake currently has an export allocation of 235 000 tonnes a year from RBCT.
Somkhele, acquired by Petmin in December 2007 as part of the Springlake Holdings transaction, is scheduled to start production in January 2007, with sales expected to begin in the second quarter of 2007. Estimated ROM production for the first full year is 500 000 tones, rising to 950 000 tonnes by 2010.
The current life of mine is 11 years based on the mine’s Areas 1 and 2 but the directors believe that, based on the CPR, there are a further 16 years of mineable resources in Area 1.
© 2009 Petmin Limited