METAL TIGER PLC: Termination of Acquisition and Joint Venture Agreement, Thailand
12 Marzo 2020 - 8:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMMTR
Metal Tiger plc
("Metal Tiger" or the "Company")
Termination of Acquisition and Joint Venture Agreement,
Thailand
Metal Tiger plc (AIM: MTR), the London Stock Exchange AIM listed
investor in natural resource opportunities, announces that the
Company and its joint venture partner have both mutually agreed to
terminate the acquisition and joint venture agreement (the
"Agreement") entered into between Metal Tiger and certain group
companies, Kanchanaburi Exploration and Mining Company Limited, Boh
Yai Mining Company Limited ("BYMC") and the majority owner of both
companies, Mr. Pornnaret Klipbua. The Agreement was entered into in
August 2016.
As noted in the Strategic Report for the year ended 31 December
2018 and subsequently in the interim results for the six months
ended 30 June 2019, the Company has been in active discussions with
regard to renegotiating the terms of the Agreement, with a view to
farming into BYMC in order to facilitate the joint venture to run
an exploration drill campaign at Boh Yai lead-zinc-silver mine
("Boh Yai") . The Company's understanding from its joint venture
partner, was that Mr Klipbua and his team had found a viable option
that was compliant with the permitting framework under Thai law, in
order to allow for the implementation of exploration/resource
drilling at the mine site.
Metal Tiger's negotiating position was to farm-in for 49% of the
project for a commitment to undertake an aggressive 2-year drill
campaign without any payments to the joint venture partner. This
would have represented a significant capital commitment from Metal
Tiger over the next two years, with the potential to increase
significantly the viability of Boh Yai. Unfortunately,
notwithstanding a significant amount of cost-benefit and
sensitivity analysis, economic modelling, downstream processing
feasibility work, exploration planning, staffing planning, work
undertaken for permitting, and scoping of potential Asian buyers
for the project post completion of drilling, the Company was unable
to reach terms with Mr Klipbua to accept a deal without an upfront
payment. In light of this, as well as the prevailing macro-economic
environment, the risk-reward ratio was not acceptable to Metal
Tiger given a number of factors, including future allocation of
funds to support existing investments, potential future investments
and the desire to maintain a strong liquidity profile without the
potential need to seek equity financing.
The Board of Metal Tiger (the "Board") remains convinced of the
potential to increase significantly the resource estimates for Boh
Yai and all of the work undertaken in this regard remains the
intellectual property of Metal Tiger. The Company will be retaining
its intellectual property in respect of the project and is open to
approaches from, or discussions with, third parties, particularly
those that would be willing to explore a joint approach to help
capture the project's potential value. The Board believes the
relationship with Mr Klipbua remains a very positive one.
Michael McNeilly, Chief Executive Officer of Metal Tiger,
commented:
"Clearly we are disappointed that we were unable to agree
acceptable terms given the amount of work undertaken to demonstrate
the investment case. With that said, Metal Tiger must look towards
the future and take an optimised and moderated risk approach in the
balancing of its allocation of funding. The Board is excited by the
Company's portfolio of investments and their potential for
significant value accretion. Following Sandfire's takeover of MOD
Resources and the execution of the collar facility, Metal Tiger is
a very different company than it was when the Agreement was
executed, as is the current the macro-economic climate; it is
important that the Board's investment decisions reflect this
evolution. The Board believes that this difficult, but arguably
positive decision, will simplify the investment case for Metal
Tiger and improve its medium to longer term prospects."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of the market abuse regulation (EU No. 596/2014) ("MAR").
For further information on the Company, visit:
www.metaltigerplc.com
Enquiries:
Michael McNeilly (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44 (0)20 7099 0738
Mark Potter (Chief Investment Officer)
Richard Tulloch Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Tel +44 (0)20 7409 3494
James Dance Adviser)
Jack Botros
Paul Shackleton Arden Partners plc (Broker) Tel: +44 (0)20 7614 5900
Steve Douglas
Gordon Poole Camarco (Financial PR) Tel: +44 (0)20 3757 4980
James Crothers
Monique Perks
Notes to Editors:
Metal Tiger plc is admitted to the AIM market of the London
Stock Exchange AIM Market ("AIM") with the trading code MTR and
invests in high potential mineral projects with a base, precious
and strategic metals focus.
The Company's target is to deliver a high return for
shareholders by investing in significantly undervalued and/or high
potential opportunities in the mineral exploration and development
sector. Metal Tiger has two investment divisions: Direct Equities
and Direct Projects.
The Direct Equities Division invests in undervalued natural
resource companies. The majority of its investments are listed on
AIM, the TSX and the ASX, which includes its 3.5% interest in
Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR). The Company also considers
selective opportunities to invest in private natural resource
companies, typically where there is an identifiable path to IPO.
Through the trading of equities and warrants, Metal Tiger seeks to
generate cash for investment in the Direct Projects Division.
The Direct Projects Division is focused on the development of
its key project interests in Botswana, Kalahari copper/silver belt
through its interest in Kalahari Metals Limited. The Company
actively assesses new investment opportunities on an on-going basis
and has access to a diverse pipeline of new opportunities in the
natural resources and mining sectors. For pipeline opportunities
deemed sufficiently attractive, Metal Tiger may invest in the
project or entity by buying publicly listed shares, by financing
privately and/or by entering into a joint venture.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200312005236/en/
CONTACT:
Metal Tiger plc
SOURCE: Metal Tiger plc
Copyright Business Wire 2020
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 12, 2020 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Grafico Azioni Metal Tiger (LSE:MTR)
Storico
Da Mar 2024 a Apr 2024
Grafico Azioni Metal Tiger (LSE:MTR)
Storico
Da Apr 2023 a Apr 2024