Premier African Minerals is issuing about 781.25 million shares for 0.16p each to raise £1.25 million ($1.59 million) for working capital reasons and to continue mining operations at its Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe.
"We are encouraged with mining operations and the run-of-mine ore grades that consistently exceed our resource estimate and this is mitigating, for the moment, the ore sorter deficiencies,” said company chief executive George Roach.
"This also supports a review of overall operations and production costs and the likely reduction in production costs."
Premier replaced the initial contractor at the Zulu plant in March.
The company stated that the flotation circuit is now capable of operating consistently and stably; however, it will require time to fully address the original design deficiencies in the entire plant and transition from what are often interim fixes to the final operating plant.
The commencement of extensive ore sorting test work is imminent, and replacement ore sorters will be assessed following.
The corporation maintains that it is its preferred outcome for the original supplier to handle this matter.
The undersized ore fraction that is being stored has been tested using dense media separation, and lab results are still being awaited to see if tantalum and spodumene can be recovered.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
