MMS.L Regulatory News (MMS)

31 Jul 2006 07:02

Maghreb Minerals PLC31 July 2006 MAGHREB MINERALS PLC Placing raising £894,000 Maghreb Minerals Plc ("Maghreb" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted explorationcompany developing both base and precious metal deposits in North Africa, ispleased to announce that it has successfully raised £894,000 (before expenses)from institutional investors. Under the terms of the placing, the Company has issued 11,175,000 new ordinaryshares at 8p per share (the "Placing Shares") and 11,175,000 unlisted warrantsto subscribe for ordinary shares at an exercise price of 12p per share. The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to accelerate the explorationprogramme at the Company's existing properties, to make additional permitapplications in Algeria and Tunisia for lead, zinc and associated industrialminerals, gold, and copper and to provide additional working capital. Since admission to AIM on 23 December 2004, the Company has undertaken an activedrilling programme on its lead-zinc projects at Fej Lahdoum and Djebba inTunisia. The Company has also acquired an 85 per cent interest in the TanChaffao copper - gold project in Algeria and commenced an exploration programme. The drilling programmes have verified and extended the known lead-zinc resourcesat Djebba and Fej Lahdoum and confirmed the presence of mineralisation at TanChaffao. The Company plans to continue drilling, based on data modelling, at Fej Lahdoumand Djebba and to drill test the identified gravity anomalies at Djebba. Thenear term target is to establish a minimum combined lead and zinc resource of 10Mt. In addition the Company is evaluating the development of mining industrialminerals, barite and fluorite in Tunisia, in association with lead and zinc. In Algeria, the Company plans to make additional permit applications to extendits gold-copper-lead-zinc exploration project portfolio and to continueexploration on the Tan Chaffao gold-copper project. Details of the Placing The Company has raised £894,000 (before expenses) through an institutionalplacing of 11,175,000 new Ordinary Shares at 8p per share and 11,175,000unlisted warrants to subscribe for ordinary shares at an exercise price of 12pper share. The Placing Shares are not being offered generally to shareholders, whether on apre-emptive basis or otherwise. The Directors believe that the additional costand delay which a rights issue or an open offer would entail would not be in thebest interests of the Company. The Placing Shares will represent 22.0 per cent. of the issued share capital ofthe Company as enlarged by the Placing. Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading onAIM. It is expected that admission will occur at 8.00 a.m. on 3 August 2006. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existingOrdinary Shares which are currently traded on AIM. Following admission of theseshares there will be a total of 50,734,002 Ordinary Shares in issue. Warrants One warrant is being issued for every Placing Share subscribed for. Warrants tosubscribe for an aggregate of 11,175,000 Ordinary Shares will be issued toparticipants in the Placing. The warrants will entitle holders to subscribe incash at an exercise price of 12p per share each on the terms and conditions ofthe warrant instrument. The warrants may be exercised at any time up to andincluding the second anniversary of admission of the Placing Shares to AIM. Noapplication has been made for the warrants to be traded on AIM or any otherrecognised investment exchange. Gordon Riddler, Chairman, commented:"The response to our fundraising was excellent, with significant supportreceived from both existing and new institutional investors. The funds raisedwill increase our cash reserves and allow us to build on the significantprogress to date and continue to develop new opportunities. We have identified anumber of lead and zinc zones in Tunisia and Algeria and are steadily movingtowards our target of a 10 Mt base metal resource in Tunisia." ENQUIRIES: Maghreb Minerals PlcGordon Riddler, Executive Chairman Tel: +44 (0) 20 7556 7038 Westhouse Securities LLP Tel: +44 (0) 20 7601 6100Tim Metcalfe / Richard Morrison Bankside Consultants Tel: +44 (0) 207 367 8888Michael Padley / Michael Spriggs About Maghreb Minerals Plc Maghreb Minerals Plc is an AIM listed exploration company developing both baseand precious metal deposits in Tunisia and Algeria where it holds the rights toseveral licence areas. The Company is targeting base metals, mainly lead andzinc, but has also identified areas containing barite and fluorite in Tunisiaand gold and copper in Algeria. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange