TIDMPXC

RNS Number : 7036E

Phoenix Copper Limited

08 July 2019

Phoenix Copper Limited / Ticker: AIM:PXC / Sector: Mining

8 July 2019

Phoenix Copper Limited ("Phoenix" or the "Company")

Appointment of Lead Financial Adviser for Empire Mine project financing

Phoenix Copper Limited (AIM: PXC: OTCQX: PGMLF), the North American focused base and precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Medea Natural Resources Ltd ("Medea"), a specialist mining finance advisory firm, as the lead financial adviser to arrange structured project financing of up to $70 million to construct the Empire Mine open pit project in Idaho, USA, including $10 million of advance mezzanine debt financing.

Medea is an FCA-regulated corporate advisory firm, located in London and Singapore, that provides global corporate and capital advisory services specialising in the mining and metals sector.

Dennis Thomas, CEO of Phoenix, commented:

"We are delighted to be working with Medea to finance the construction of our open pit, heap leach, SX-EW project at the Empire Mine. The open pit has a production target of 8,000 tonnes of copper and zinc per annum, commencing in 2021.

"We have already been approached by a number of mining finance and trading houses, and it is our intention to fund capital expenditure predominantly with debt and other forms of project and metal offtake finance, involving minimal issues of ordinary shares. Medea, with its global reach and significant expertise in this area, will assist us in coordinating the best possible structured finance for the project, thereby optimising our cost of capital for maximum benefit to our shareholders.

"The mezzanine debt financing will enable us to complete the feasibility study quickly and, at the same time carry out exploration on the newly discovered Red Star high grade lead / silver zone, as well as on the underground sulphides, and on the two Idaho Cobalt Belt properties."

Leonidas Howden, Partner at Medea, commented: "We are very excited to be working with the Phoenix executive team and Board to raise feasibility and construction funding for the Empire mine which we believe will attract significant interest from the mining finance community given its excellent economic potential, location in a highly supporting mining jurisdiction and the key role that copper will play in the upcoming transition to electric vehicles and energy storage."

Contacts

For further information please visit www.phoenixcopperlimited.com or contact:

 
 Phoenix Copper Limited     Dennis Thomas / Richard Wilkins        Tel: +44 7827 
                                                                  290 849 (Dennis) 
                                                                         / 
                                                                  +44 7590 216 657 
                                                                     (Richard) 
 SP Angel                   Lindsay Mair / Caroline Rowe          Tel: +44 20 3470 
  (Nominated Adviser                                                          0470 
  and Joint Broker) 
                           -----------------------------------  ------------------ 
 Brandon Hill Capital       Jonathan Evans / Oliver Stansfield    Tel: +44 20 3463 
  (Joint Broker)                                                              5000 
                           -----------------------------------  ------------------ 
 Medea Natural Resources    Leonidas Howden / Fred White          Tel: +44 20 7770 
  Ltd (Financial Advisor)                                                     6926 
                           -----------------------------------  ------------------ 
 Blytheweigh                Tim Blythe / Camilla Horsfall         Tel: +44 20 7138 
  (Financial PR)             / Megan Ray                                      3204 
                           -----------------------------------  ------------------ 
 

Notes

Phoenix Copper Limited is a North American focused, base and precious metal explorer and developer, which is fast-tracking the historically-producing Empire Mine in Idaho, USA, back into production, and exploring for cobalt in Idaho.

Phoenix's flagship project is a brownfield, past producing, copper, gold, silver, zinc and tungsten underground mine, the Empire Mine near Mackay in Idaho. Phoenix acquired an 80% interest in the property in 2015. Based on a total of 320 drill holes an oxide resource was completed in late 2017. A NI 43-101 compliant PEA (preliminary economic assessment) for an open pit heap leach solvent extraction and electrowinning ("SX-EW") mine was completed in April 2018. In June 2018 a drilling campaign consisting of 8,600 metres in 93 holes was started and completed in late 2018. This programme was designed to upgrade and increase the oxide resources, provide samples for ongoing metallurgical testwork, geotechnical and hydrological studies and condemnation drilling for the heap leach pad site, waste dump and plant site. An updated NI 43-101 compliant resource was completed in early May 2019 which resulted in an increase from the PEA resources of 37% contained copper and 108% contained zinc. This resource will now be used as the basis for the Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") scheduled for completion in mid 2020.

At Empire, it is estimated that only 1 to 2% of the potential ore system has been explored to date and, accordingly, there is significant opportunity to increase the resource through phased exploration; the current resources relate to the oxide resource only, with the exception of the Red Star discovery "Inferred" resource, which remains open along strike and does not include the deeper, higher grade sulphides. In addition, Phoenix has increased the claim area from 818 acres at the time of its acquisition to 5,717 acres, mainly to the northwest and west, and in so doing has increased the potential for additional oxide and sulphide resources by a total strike length of approximately 2,500 metres towards another brownfield mine, the Horseshoe Mine, which is now within the property boundary.

The Company also holds two prospective cobalt properties in Idaho, US, which are located north of the Empire Mine. These are situated close to the town of Cobalt and are close to projects being advanced by Canadian junior miners, including eCobalt Solutions and First Cobalt. Fieldwork, consisting of mapping and sampling and locating drill holes for the 2019 drilling programme, has been completed.

With a management team that has successfully constructed, commissioned and operated mines and low risk, mining-friendly jurisdictions with excellent infrastructure, Phoenix is looking to fulfil its ambitions to become a mid-tier base metal, precious metal and cobalt production company, offering exposure to high value and high demand metals with compelling demand/supply fundamentals.

More details on the Company, its assets and its objectives can be found on PXC's website at www.phoenixcopperlimited.com.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

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