Oversubscribed Placement to Progress Finniss to Production
Adelaide, April 16, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Core Exploration Limited (Core or Company) (
ASX:CXO) is pleased to announce that it has received firm commitments to place approximately 95.3 million new shares at an issue price of A$0.053 per share to raise approximately $5 million, excluding costs (Placement).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Oversubscribed Placement raises $5 million
- Core will be fully funded to complete the PFS and FS for its Finniss Lithium Project, near Darwin in the Northern Territory
- In parallel with feasibility and other pre-development activities, Core will maintain aggressive multi-rig, exploration and resource drilling programs aimed at growing the mining inventory to support a long-life lithium mining project at the Finniss Project
- Share Purchase Plan to raise up to $2 million to follow, to allow current Core shareholders to participate at the same price as the Placement
- Strong news flow expected over coming weeks and months:
o Resource upgrade at Grants imminent
o Maiden Resource estimate for BP33 in mid Q2 2018
o PFS for development of Grants deposit in late Q2 2018
o Re-commencement of RC and Diamond drilling at several priority targets in late Q2 2018
The Placement was oversubscribed, with strong support received from professional Australian and international institutional investors, as well as a number of existing shareholders. Eligible existing shareholders will be provided an opportunity to participate in the capital raising via a share purchase plan (SPP), as described in this release.
Funds received from the Placement and SPP will be used to progress the Company's flagship Finniss Lithium Project towards development, including resource infill drilling at the Grants deposit and BP33 prospect (with an associated upgrade to the Grants Resource and a maiden Mineral Resource at BP33), completion of a preliminary feasibility study (PFS) and feasibility study (FS) for the development of a spodumene concentrate and DSO operation, initially focused on the development at the Grants deposit, as well as an aggressive exploration and resource expansion drilling programs on high grade prospects within the broader Finniss Lithium Project area, and for working capital purposes.
Hartleys Limited is Lead Broker to the Placement.
Core's Managing Director, Stephen Biggins, commented:
"We are delighted to have received such strong support for the placement and I would like to welcome the participants in the placement as Core shareholders at a very exciting phase as Core plans to rapidly transition into development mode in early 2019.
Core's Finniss Lithium Project is on a pathway to production, and the support for this capital raising is not only a strong validation for the project, but will allow us to continue to aggressively progress its development as well as maintain our strong commitment to growing our mining inventory through nearby discoveries. Core's exploration and drilling has proved highly successful to date as evidenced by the discovery of several additional prospects that we expect may lead to further Resources in time, including BP33, Sandras, Lees, Hang Gong and Carlton prospects. All of these new prospects host high grade spodumene mineralisation similar to Grants.
This is an exciting period for the company as we are nearing completion of the PFS for an initial development at Grants, are awaiting an imminent resource upgrade at Grants and a maiden Resource at BP33, and we eagerly await kicking off our 2018 regional exploration drilling campaign on a number of high grade prospects once the wet season comes to an end in the coming weeks."
Share Purchase Plan
In order to ensure retail shareholders are able to participate, the Company is pleased to announce a Share Purchase Plan to raise up to $2 million for all eligible shareholders at the same issue price as the Placement (SPP).
If total demand for the SPP exceeds $2 million, the Company reserves the right to close the SPP early and will scale back applications in its absolute and sole discretion. When determining the amount (if any) by which to scale back an application, the Company will take into account a number of factors, including the size of an applicant's shareholding, the extent to which eligible shareholders have sold or bought additional shares after the Record Date and the date an application was made.
The SPP is only available to Australian and New Zealand shareholders who were registered as Core shareholders at 7:00pm (AEST) on 13 April 2018 (Eligible Shareholders). Full details of the SPP Offer will be contained in a booklet which is anticipated to be dispatched to Eligible Shareholders on Friday 20 April 2018.
The approximately 95.3 million shares to be issued in connection with the Placement will be issued under Core's existing Listing Rule 7.1 (45,651,884 shares) and 7.1A (49,632,086 shares) capacities, and accordingly no shareholder approval is required.
In addition to the shares issued under the placement, Core will issue 58,104,000 unlisted broker options in the Company as remuneration for participation in the placement at an exercise price of $0.08 (8 cents) per share and expiring 12 months following issue. The issue of unlisted options is subject to shareholder approval and a shareholder meeting for this purpose will be announced in coming weeks.
About Core Lithium Ltd
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) is an emerging lithium producer focused on development of its Finniss Project near Darwin in the Northern Territory. Core owns 100% of Finniss, a major developing project that lies close to existing infrastructure such as the Darwin Port, grid power, gas and rail infrastructure.
The Finniss Project covers a 500km2 tenement holding and 25 historic pegmatite mines. The project area is about 80km from Darwin Port. Exploration work has generated a near term development timeline, with feasibility studies to be completed over the course of 2018 ahead of receipt of approvals in early 2019 and planned first production during 2019.
An aggressive exploration program is under way, which has confirmed the high quality prospectivity across much of the Finniss Project area. Core's stated ambition is to upgrade Finniss' resource base to fast-track commercialisation options.
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