eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Premier African Minerals issued additional shares to raise approximately £1 million to support its Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in the Matabeleland South Province.
This follows strong institutional interest after a previous funding announcement on April 11.
Premier issued 588,235,294 new ordinary shares at an issue price of 0.17 pence per share. CMC Markets UK Plc, trading as CMC CapX, acted as the placing agent for the subscription. The new shares will have the same rights as existing ordinary shares.
The funds raised will be primarily used for ongoing mining operations at the Zulu project.
Following this issuance, Premier’s issued share capital will consist of 29,616,938,211 ordinary shares with voting rights. This is the second time the company has issued additional shares to raise funding to support the Zulu lithium project.
In February this year, the company raised £2,5 million and the offering entailed issuance of 900 million new ordinary shares at a price of 0,275 pence per share. This comes after the contractors at the company stopped operations citing delayed payment.
Sources at Premier acknowledged the challenges the company had been facing to become self-sufficient.
But as a result of the continued support from the shareholders, the company remains “confident” that the Zulu lithium plant would realise self -sufficiency “in the near future.”
In February 2024, Premier’s chief executive George Roach, anticipated securing future funding for the Zulu project from commercial banks once production begins.
This was because Zulu needed to become self-sufficient and cover its own operational costs without relying on Premier’s financial support.
“Early indications are that subsequent working capital finance will be available from commercial lenders at Zulu when production is underway as Zulu must begin to fund its operations without the assistance of Premier once commercial production has commenced.”
Sources at the company said some main contractors are currently owed nearly US$1,7 million.
Premier is a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused on Southern Africa with its RHA Tungsten and Zulu Lithium projects in Zimbabwe.
The company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe and lithium and gold in Mozambique, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration.
Zulu project is situated 80 kilometers from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is considered to hold the largest undeveloped lithium deposit (pegmatite) in Zimbabwe. The project encompasses 14 mining claims spanning 3,5 square km, rich in lithium and tantalum.
Initial exploration of the Zulu Project began in 1955 and continued intensely until the early 1960s.
Records indicate minor petalite production during 1961 and 1962. Pegmatite bodies, ranging from 10 to 25 meters wide, intrude along specific rock formations over several kilometers.
Lithium-rich spodumene and lepidolite are more concentrated in the larger northern pegmatites, while petalite dominates the smaller southern ones.
These pegmatites generally strike in a north-northeast direction and dip steeply westward.
Notably, some areas within the pegmatite bodies exhibit high concentrations of tantalite-manganese.
As early as 1958, a detailed investigation by O.J. Arnett of Rhodesian Selection Trust aimed to determine the extent of lithium mineralization within the Zulu project’s pegmatites.
