THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE
INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION 2014/596/EU
WHICH IS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE MARKET ABUSE
(AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). UPON
THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION (AS
DEFINED IN UK MAR) IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN.
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR
DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN OR
INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF
SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD
CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH
JURISDICTION.
23 May 2024
Panther Metals
plc
("Panther" or the "Company")
Placing
Panther Metals plc (LSE:PALM) the
company focused on mineral exploration in Canada,
announces the completion of a placing raising
£375,000 (before expenses) by the issue of 8,333,334 new ordinary
shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 4.5 pence per Placing
Share (the "Placing Price") in a bookbuild (the "Placing"). The
Placing Shares being issued will represent approximately 8.2% of
the Company's enlarged Ordinary Share capital following the
Placing. Tavira Securities and SI Capital acted as bookrunners in
respect of the Placing.
The placing price of 4.5p per
Placing Share represents a discount of 12.6% to the mid-market
closing price of the Company's ordinary shares at close of business
on 21 May 2024. The Placing was conducted within existing
shareholder authorities.
Each Placing Share will be issued
with one warrant attached entitling the holder to subscribe for one
new ordinary share at a price of 7.5 pence (the "Warrants"). The
Warrants have a life of 36 months from the date of
Admission.
When issued, the Placing Shares will
be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the
existing Ordinary Shares in the share capital of the Company,
including the right to receive all dividends and other
distributions declared, made, or paid on or in respect of such
shares after the date of issue of the Placing Shares.
Application will be made to the
Financial Conduct Authority for admission of the Placing Shares to
the standard listing segment of the Official List and to the London
Stock Exchange (the "LSE") for admission to trading of the Placing
Shares on the LSE's Main Market for listed securities (together
"Admission"). It is expected that Admission will take place at 8.00
a.m. on 31 May 2024 and that dealings in the Placing Shares on the
LSE's Main Market for listed securities will commence at the same
time.
Total Voting Rights
Following Admission, the Company's
total issued share capital consists of 101,155,641 Ordinary Shares. The
Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury.
Therefore, following Admission, the
total number of voting rights in Panther Metals
plc is 101,155,641. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator
for the calculations by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest
in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules.
Use of proceeds
The net proceeds of the Placing will
be used to advance the Company's exploration programmes following
our graphite and VMS discoveries on the Obonga greenstone belt in
Ontario, Canada and for general working capital
purposes.
Darren Hazelwood, Chief
Executive Officer, commented:
"This raise supports our stated aim
of significantly accelerating the development of the business.
Unplanned, but triggered by an unsolicited approach, it's pleasing
to report our brokers, SI Capital and Tavira, both expressed a
wish, and had the ability, to place the entire amount
independently.
Our initial work programmes for 2024
are now in place, having been partly driven by external forces from
within the industry, and we'll expect further announcements in the
near term on those programmes, this injection of capital will
enable us to continue moving the assets forward maintaining
continuity in our development."
For further information please
contact:
Panther Metals PLC:
Darren Hazelwood, Chief Executive
Officer:
+44(0)
1462 429 743
+44(0) 7971 957 685
Brokers:
Tavira Financial
Limited
Christopher James Kipling
+44(0) 203 833 3743
SI Capital Limited
Nick Emerson
+44(0) 1438
416 500
Axis Capital Markets
Limited
Ben Tadd
Lewis Jones
+44 (0)20 3026 0449
Notes to Editors
Panther Metals PLC is an exploration
company listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
Panther is focussed on the discovery of commercially viable mineral
deposits. The Company's operational focus is on established mining
jurisdictions with the capacity for project scalability. Drill
targets are assessed rapidly utilising a combination of advanced
technologies and extensive geological data to decipher potential
commercial viability and act accordingly. Panther's current
geological portfolio comprises of three highly prospective
properties in Ontario, Canada while the developing investment wing
focuses on the targeting of nickel and gold in
Australia.
Obonga
Project
Panther Metals acquired the Obonga
Greenstone Belt in July 2021 and have already identified five
prospective primary targets: Wishbone, Awkward, Survey, Ottertooth
and Silver Rim. A successful Phase 1 drilling campaign at Wishbone
in Autumn 2021 revealed the presence of significant VMS-style
mineralised systems on the property - the first such discovery
across the entire greenstone belt. Intercepts include 27.3m of
massive sulphide in hole one, and 51m of sulphide-dominated
mineralisation in hole two. Both drill holes contained multiple
lenses. Anomalous high-grade copper in lake sediment close to the
target area has also been identified, increasing confidence in the
prospectivity of the location.
Awkward is a highly anomalous
magnetic target, interpreted to be a layered mafic intrusion and
magmatic conduit based on mapped geology and airborne geophysics.
Historic sampling in the area returned anomalous platinum and
palladium (Pt, Pd) values, while historic drilling on the periphery
of the target intersected non-assayed massive sulphide and copper
(assumed to be chalcopyrite), non-assayed disseminated pyrite and
chalcopyrite in coarse gabbro, and non-assayed 'marble cake' gabbro
(matching the description of the Lac des Iles Mine varitexture
gabbro ore zone).
Two additional named targets, Survey
and Ottertooth, both displays further coincident magnetic and
electromagnetic anomalies and are adjacent to the contact between
intrusive and extrusive mafic rocks. Historic drilling at Survey
intersected several meters of massive sulphides in multiple
intersections (main parts of the anomaly remain untested) while
Ottertooth remains untested in its entirety.
Dotted Lake
Project
Panther Metals acquired the Dotted
Lake Project in July 2020, it is situated approximately 16km from
Barrick Gold's renowned Hemlo Gold Mine. An extensive soil
programme conducted in 2021 identified numerous gold and base metal
targets, all within the same geological footprint. Following the
installation of a new trail providing direct access to the target
location, an initial drilling programme in Autumn 2021 confirmed
the presence of gold mineralisation within this system with
anomalous gold continuing along strike and present within the
surrounding area.
Manitou Lakes
Project
The Manitou Lakes gold project is
located approximately 300km's east of Thunder Bay, Ontario and
covers a total area of around 98sq km's.
There are over 200 known gold
occurrences on the Manitou Lakes project area with the wider
Eagle/Manitou Lakes greenstone belt hosting numerous historic gold
producers and is prospective for Archean age orogenic gold and
associated base metal deposits.
Exploration work conducted by Shear
Gold on the Project to date has identified numerous gold bearing
structures and favourable geological host rocks through early-stage
mapping and surface sampling. The work has focussed on two target
areas, being the West Limb Gold Property and the Glass Reef Gold
Property, both of which host historic gold mines which have never
been systematically explored using modern techniques or drill
tested.
Fulcrum Metals
Plc
Fulcrum Metals PLC (LON: FMET) is an
AIM listed exploration company which finances and manages
exploration projects focused on Canada, widely recognised as a top
mining jurisdiction.
FMET currently holds a beneficial
100% interest in highly prospective gold and base metals projects
in Ontario and Uranium projects in Saskatchewan.
Fulcrum's strategy is to focus on
discovery and commercialisation of its Projects through targeted
exploration programmes. The primary focus is to make an economic
discovery on the flagship Schreiber-Hemlo Properties and
establishing the prospectivity of its wider Ontario and
Saskatchewan portfolio with a view to securing potential joint
venture and/or acquisition interest.
Panther Metals Plc own 15% of the
issued share capital of Fulcrum Metals Plc and a 2% NSR on the Big
Bear project.
Panther Metals
Australia
Following the listing of Panther
Metals' Australian assets on the Australian Securities Exchange
("ASX") in December 2021. The ASX listing has provided the
Australian projects with the necessary capital to advance
drill-ready targets focused on nickel and gold (within the Tier 1
Mining Districts of Laverton WA and in the NT). Through this
spin-out Panther holds an attractive investment prospect, without
any disruption to the Company's capital structure and without any
financial obligations.
Conclusion
Panther Metals understand that the
commercial realities of building an exploration company requires
expertise in geology, finance, and the markets within which they
operate. The Company's extensive network of industry leaders allows
it to meet these objectives. Ultimately however, drilling success
is the only route to discovery: the fundamental objective of any
exploration company. Once Panther's world-class geological team
identify the anomalies, they work hard to get drilling. The drill
hole is the only place where substantial and sustained capital
growth originates and it's with that operational focus Panther
Metals will continue to advance.
The person who arranged for the
release of this announcement was Darren Hazelwood, CEO of the
Company.