The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

25 October 2021

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")

Equity Fundraising

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials, announces that the Company has raised £400,000 before expenses by way of a placing and subscription of 106,666,667 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") at a price of 0.375p per share (the "Placing").

Highlights

·    £400,000 raised to fund works to achieve unconditional Leigh Creek Copper Mine ("LCCM") Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation ("PEPR") and provide working capital for the Deep Digital Cornwall ("DDC") project

·    LCCM PEPR work nearing completion in parallel with advanced funding discussions

·    DDC continues to progress as planned although rebate cycle has proven longer than anticipated

The proceeds of the Placing will be used primarily to complete work required to satisfy conditions placed on the current PEPR associated with the Paltridge North deposit at the LCCM.  In addition, the funds raised will be used to assist in the working capital requirements associated with funding Cornwall Resources Limited's ("CRL") portion of the DDC project, where the funding rebate process is taking longer than expected.

Director Dealing

Peter Wale (Executive Director) and John Peters (Managing Director) have each agreed to subscribe for 4,000,000 Placing Shares pursuant to the Placing.  Details of Mr Wale and Mr Peters' subscriptions are shown in the table below.

Related Party Transaction

The participation in the Placing by Peter Wale and John Peters as described above, (together the "PDMR Transactions") constitute related party transactions pursuant to AIM Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies.  Jeffery Harrison and Alan Broome, the independent Directors for the purposes of the PDMR Transactions consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP, that the issue of the Placing Shares to these related parties is fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders of the Company are concerned.

John Peters, Managing Directors of Strategic Minerals, commented:

"The Directors are pleased to have undertaken this small raise with a limited number of placees to ensure the capacity of the Company to prudently fund critical work to complete PEPR requirements and to continue progress in Cornwall.

"The Company considers that it will have submitted the necessary additional PEPR information prior to the end of the year and expects to be in production in the first quarter of 2022, resulting in revenue flows around mid-2022, subject to funding.  At the same time, the Company has been progressing asset level funding discussions which are now at an advanced stage and the Directors consider these negotiations will be completed before the PEPR becomes unconditional.

"Activities at CRL's Redmoor Tin and Tungsten project continue progressing and the company considers that 2022 shows excellent potential for this asset to achieve meaningful value recognition."

Application for Admission

Application has been made for 106,666,667 New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take place and that trading will commence on AIM at 8.00 a.m. on 28 October 2021.  Once issued, the New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing ordinary shares. 

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will comprise 2,015,964,616 Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each.  The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. Consequently, 2,015,964,616 is the figure which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted, profitable operating minerals company actively developing projects tailored to materials expected to benefit from strong demand in the future. It has an operation in the United States of America along with development projects in the UK and Australia. The Company is focused on utilising its operating cash flows, along with capital raisings, to develop high quality projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals likely to be highly demanded in the future.

In September 2011, Strategic Minerals acquired the distribution rights to the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA, a cash-generating asset, which it brought into production in 2012 and which continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. This operating revenue stream is utilised to cover company overheads and invest in development projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals likely to be highly demanded in the future.

In May 2016, the Company entered into an agreement with New Age Exploration Limited and, in February 2017, acquired 50% of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project in Cornwall, UK. The bulk of the funds from the Company's investment were utilised to complete a drilling programme that year. The drilling programme resulted in a significant upgrade of the resource. This was followed in 2018 with a 12-hole 2018 drilling programme has now been completed and the resource update that resulted was announced in February 2019. In March 2019, the Company entered into arrangements to acquire the balance of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project which was settled on 24 July 2019 by way of a vendor loan which was fully repaid on 26 June 2020.

In March 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of the Leigh Creek Copper Mine situated in the copper rich belt of South Australia and brought the project temporarily into production in April 2019. The project has been granted a conditional approval by the South Australian Government for a Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) in relation to mining of its Paltridge North deposit and processing at the Mountain of Light installation.