15th Mar 2006 08:01
Amur Minerals Corporation15 March 2006 15th March 2006 Amur Minerals Corporation (TIDM: AMC) Placing and Admission to AIM Amur Minerals Corporation ("Amur" or "the Company"), a nickel copper explorationcompany with assets in far east Russia, was admitted to AIM today (TIDM: AMC)following a Placing of 12.36 million new Ordinary Shares at a price of 33p perOrdinary Share ("the Placing") to raise approximately £4.1m gross, giving theCompany a market capitalisation of approximately £28.4m at the Placing price.Nabarro Wells & Co. Limited is acting as Nominated Adviser to the Company andFox-Davies Capital Limited is the Broker. Placing Statistics Placing Price 33p Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately prior to Admission 59,651,600 Number of Ordinary Shares being issued pursuant to the exercise or waiver of the existing Warrants 14,187,952 Number of Placing Shares 12,364,386 Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following Admission (including the Placing Shares) 86,203,938 Placing Shares as a percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital 14.3% Market capitalisation of the Company at the Placing Price on Admission £28.4m Estimated net proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company £3.2m Assets The Group's principal asset is the 100% owned Kun-Manie exploration licence, anickel-copper-PGM deposit located in the Amur Province in the far east of theRussian Federation. The Kun-Manie licence area is approximately 950 km(2) andis located 700 km northeast of the capital city of Blagoveshchensk and is 750kmnorth of the Chinese border. In April 2004 ZAO Kun-Manie, a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Amur, was granted a licence to explore for nickel and relatedmetals, including copper and platinum, in respect of the Kun-Manie licence. Work carried out to date on the Kun-Manie licence including diamond coredrilling, trenching and geological mapping has identified three mineralisedtargets, the Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe and Falcon zones each of which warrantfurther exploration. To date some 2% of the licence has been explored in detailfollowing which Indicated and Inferred resources have been identified in theVodorazdelny and Ikenskoe zones. These total some 46.1Mt at a mean grade of0.45% nickel, giving 209,000 tonnes of contained nickel; 0.13% copper, giving58,500 tonnes of contained copper; 0.1g/t platinum giving 6,400kg of containedplatinum and 0.2g/t palladium giving 7,200kg of contained palladium. Vodorazdelny, Ikenskoe and Falcon are contained near the middle of the 40 kmlong by 2 km wide Krumkon Trend, which runs east to west through the Kun-Manielicence area. The deposits are located in a six km long zone which has thehighest density of exploration information and work post listing will focus onin-fill diamond core drilling and undertaking other works necessary to apply tothe Russian State Committee for Reserves to classify a portion of the deposit asC2 according the Russian reserve classification system. The Krumkon Trend contains the primary exploration targets of Amur and thedensity of exploration within this trend varies significantly with furtherexploration targets having been identified: • Preliminary exploration has identified three additional targets: the Maly Krumkon, Chornie Ispelene and Kubuk. Geochemical sampling and trenching indicates the presence of anomalous nickel and copper values. • Further additional outcrops containing anomalous nickel and copper values as defined by geochemical and stream sediment sampling have been identified. Additional exploration is required to determine if the areas represent additional exploration targets. • Excluding the Krumkon Trend, approximately 60 to 70 per cent. of the licence area contains anomalous nickel values (>0.05% Ni) as defined by stream sediment sampling. Further exploration of this extensive area also remains to be undertaken. The proceeds of the Placing will be used to continue in-fill diamond drilling atVodorazdelny, Ikenskoe and Falcon. In addition, the Company intends to drill anumber of holes in the Maly Krumkon target to the west of Vodorazdelny. Thislevel of direct expenditure of Kun-Manie field work will be designed to leaveroom for investment into a pre-feasibility study for Kun-Manie as well asproviding the flexibility to pursue new projects. Management Team Amur benefits from a strong Board of Directors and key executives that haveestablished contacts within the community of geologists in the far east of theRussian Federation. Leading Amur is Chief Executive Robin Young, who hasextensive experience in developing exploration assets through to production inthe CIS and elsewhere, having worked in Russia since 1991. Chief FinancialOfficer David Wood has over 16 years of corporate finance advisory experiencewith over ten of those in the CIS. Non-executive Chairman Robert Schafer has 29years of experience in the minerals resources industry working principally inthe international sector, including the far east of Russia. Robin Young, CEO, commented: "This offering is a milestone for Amur Minerals. Itwill place us on the radar screen of AIM market investors who are familiar withhow mining companies set their strategies and do business. The funds investedwill support our development of the nickel, copper and platinum-group metalsresources in the Kun-Manie field, in Russia's Amur province. "With the combination of our strong Board and management team, the rightpartners, access to promising mineral resources and appropriate initialfinancing, we look forward to the future with both enthusiasm and confidence." Enquiries: Amur Minerals Corp. Nabarro Wells & Co. Limited Parkgreen CommunicationsRobin Young John Wilkes Justine Howarth / Victoria ThomasCEO Director+44 (0) 7981 126 818 +44 (0) 20 7710 7400 +44 (0) 20 7493 3713 Notes to Editors Exploration Overview To date, exploration of the licence area has been completed in three phases.These include: • Historical work undertaken post World War II by various Soviet State agencies including reconnaissance airborne geophysics, geological mapping and geochemical sampling. Results identified that the region contained significant areas of anomalous nickel and cobalt values warranting additional exploration. • From 1999 to 2002, Falconbridge (a TSX and NYSE listed company) conducted a review of available results and reconnaissance exploration work. It identified the Kun-Manie area as an area of merit and acquired an exploration licence in the area. Subsequently, it conducted additional exploration including geochemical sampling, trenching and diamond core drilling within a six kilometre length of the Krumkon Trend. In 2002, Falconbridge relinquished the licence. • In 2004, ZAO Kun-Manie was granted a new exploration licence for the area based on existing exploration information available from the Geology Fund of the Russian Federation. It has, in two field seasons, completed an extensive amount of airborne geophysics, geological mapping, geochemical sampling, trenching and diamond core drilling. In addition preliminary metallurgical test work has been conducted and environmental base line studies have been initiated. Management Robert William Schafer, aged 52, Non-Executive Chairman Mr. Schafer has 29 years of experience in the mineral industry, working in theinternational sector with both major and junior mining companies. He iscurrently Vice President, Business Development with Hunter Dickinson Inc., aglobally-active private natural resources corporation. Prior to joining HunterDickinson Inc. in 2004, Mr. Schafer was the Chief Executive of two juniorexploration companies listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange. Between 1996 and2002 he was the Vice President of Exploration for Kinross Gold Corporation. Heheld senior exploration management positions with both BHP World Minerals andBilliton Exploration during the 1980's and early 1990's. Throughout his career Mr. Schafer has worked internationally, with notableexperience in the far east of Russia, Southern Africa, South America andAustralia. His work has included the structuring and implementation ofsuccessful exploration strategies, project reviews and valuations leading toacquisitions, and the management of local and expatriate exploration teamsoperating in a wide variety of geologic environments. Currently, Mr. Schafer is the President of the Mining and Metallurgical Societyof America, and sits on the boards of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy andExploration, as well as the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Heis a past-president of the Geological Society of Nevada and was a councilor forthe Society of Economic Geologists, a Trustee for the Northwest MiningAssociation. He also served on a committee of the National Research Council inits advisory role to the U.S. Congress on geologic data preservation. In 2002 the American Institute for Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineerspresented Robert Schafer with its William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal forcareer achievement. Robin Jay Young, aged 51, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Young has 29 years of experience in the mineral resources industry. He hasheld positions of increasing responsibility within the exploration, developmentand production sectors. Since 1980, he has been involved in the internationalsector and has been the Chief Executive Officer of two geological and miningconsultancy companies as well as CEO of the Company since October 2004. Projects have included the design and management of exploration programmes,surface and underground mine development, operations management and mineralsresource appraisals. Commodities have typically included precious and basemetals, industrial minerals and energy fuel commodities. He is a GeologicalEngineer (cum laude) and is a Qualified Professional Geologist as defined by theCanadian based exchanges. His work has been used to assist in the listing andfinancing of various companies in London and Canada. Since 1991, Mr. Young has worked extensively throughout the CIS and EasternEuropean countries. His work has included the identification of acquisitions,reviews of exploration programmes, prefeasibility to detailed engineeringstudies, mine management and operational reviews with the intent ofrestructuring management methods and approaches. Extensive work related toacquisitions, resource and reserve estimation, mine design, productionscheduling, compilation of economic evaluations, and validation of studiesintended for use in project financing have also been completed under his directsupervision. He has experience within Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan, Russia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and China. During his time within the CIS he has developed numerous contacts allowing forproject execution and completion. This includes contractor services, localcontacts and national level ministerial contacts as well as direct contacts withhighly placed politicians. David Fain Wood, aged 38, Chief Financial Officer Mr. Wood has been Chief Financial Officer of the Company since October 2004, andhas been a consultant to the Company since February 2004. Reflecting theCompany's present requirements, Mr. Wood has agreed to spend 50 per cent. of his time working for the Group. TheDirectors plan to review this agreement in 12 months time, or earlier ifnecessary. Mr. Wood has sixteen years of corporate finance advisory experience,two-thirds of which has been in the former Soviet Union. From 1996 to 2002, hewas a management consultant with Deloitte & Touche in the CIS and led theirmanagement consulting and corporate finance practices in Moscow and Almaty. Mr.Wood has a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from New York University and a Master ofBusiness Administration from Southern Methodist University. He speaks fluentRussian and resides in Moscow. George William O'Neale Eccles, aged 55, Non-Executive Director Mr. Eccles graduated with a law degree from the London School of Economics andthen trained as a chartered accountant. He became a partner in the London officeof Deloitte Haskins & Sells before moving to Moscow where he was a partner inCoopers & Lybrand and later in Deloitte & Touche. More recently, he has workedin Kazakhstan as Chief Operating Officer of the Central Asian-AmericanEnterprise Fund, a US government sponsored development fund. He is currently nonexecutive Chairman of Hambledon Mining PLC. Richard David Straker-Smith, aged 47, Non-Executive Director Mr. Straker-Smith joined Cross Border Capital in early 1999 having been in thefinancial markets since 1980. His previous positions include director at Gerrardand National plc, manager of proprietary equity book at Gerrard and National andHead of East Europe and Middle Eastern Equity sales at Baring Securities. He iscurrently a senior non-executive director of LTG Technologies Plc and directorof a number of limited companies. Key Executive Dr. Vladimir S. Prikhodko, aged 60, General Director of ZAO Kun-Manie Dr. Prikhodko has served as General Director of the Group's Russian subsidiarysince its founding. Prior to that, he served as a regional manager for Russiafor two Canadian exploration companies. His professional interests and expertiseinclude magmatic ore deposits (epithermal and mesothermal gold-silver deposits,magmatic sulphide deposits, Cu-Au porphyry deposits, etc.) and diamond depositsof various affinity and origin. He is credited with a discovery of the firstlamproite within Amur Craton in Far East Russia. He graduated from NovosibirskState University with a degree in Economic Geology and a doctorate fromKhabarovsk Institute of Tectonics and Geophysics. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange