Type of Issue: Introduction
10/06/2010
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc
Application to Plus Quoted
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc ("Sovereign Mines" or "the Company") is pleased
to announce that it has made an application for its entire ordinary share
capital to be admitted to trading on the PLUS quoted market.
LISTING DETAILS:
Shares in Issue on Admission: 139,702,183 Ordinary Shares of 1p each
Sector classification: Mining
Anticipated Admission Date: 24 June 2010.
Corporate Adviser: Rivington Street Corporate Finance Limited
Principal Activities: Form joint ventures with governments in Africa for
mineral exploration.
PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES:
The strategy of Sovereign Mines is to form joint ventures with governments in
Africa for mineral exploration. An approach was made to the Guinean Ministry
of Mines and following lengthy discussions a Protocol d'Accord was signed with
the L'Office des Mines de Guinee ("OGM") in October 2009, pursuant to which it
was agreed to establish Sovereign Mines of Guinea, a BVI company, in which the
Government of Guinea would hold a 40% interest. It was also agreed that
certain Gold and Diamond Concessions would be transferred to Guiord, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Sovereign Mines of Guinea.
Sovereign Mines of Guinea and Guiord were duly formed and the terms of the
Protocol d'Accord were recorded in a formal agreement with the Guinean
Ministry of Mines. Short-term finance was secured and the Exploration Licences
were transferred by OGM in February 2010.
Sovereign Mines has since been established as a new holding company for the
Group, pursuant to which Sovereign Limited became a 100% wholly owned
subsidiary of Sovereign Mines and, through Sovereign Limited, Sovereign Mines
acquired the entire beneficial interest of Sovereign Limited in Sovereign
Mines of Guinea and Guiord.
The Group intends to pursue further collaborative joint ventures with other
governments similar to that which it has established with the Government of
Guinea. In doing so, the Directors will consider following up such
opportunities with the aim of adding value for Shareholders.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Pearl - Chairman
David Pearl, one of the Founders, is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered
Accountants and qualified with Cooper Brothers, now PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Since then he has been involved in all aspects of investment, fund management
and corporate finance relating to smaller quoted companies. He is currently
Chairman of Albemarle Trust plc, a developer of affordable housing. He has
been a director of numerous public companies and was Executive Chairman of
London Securities Plc between 1984 and 1994, during which period he was also
Non Executive Chairman of The Crown Suppliers and Deputy Chairman of Medway
Ports Authority. He was Executive Chairman of Premier Asset Management Plc
from 1995 to 1997 and from 1994 to 2001 was a Non Executive Director of
Stanley Plc.
John Barry - Exploration Director
John Barry has degrees in Geology from The State University of New York and
The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in
Scotland. He has worked for over 20 years on a range of gold and base metal
deposits in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia and has discovered, sourced and
supervised feasibility studies on multi-million ounce gold deposits in Ghana
(Ahafo), Tanzania (Nyanaga) and Mali (Yanfolila). John is also the CEO of
Rathdowney Resources Ltd, which explores for base metal deposits in Ireland.
Nathan Steinberg - Finance Director (Part-time)
Nathan Steinberg has considerable public company experience in the mining
sector. He is a Member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England & Wales. He is a partner in Munslows, a specialist tax
adviser, holder of the Corporate Finance certificate issued by the ICAEW and a
director of such companies as Longships PLC and Ambrian Capital PLC, the
natural resources investment bank. As part time Finance Director of Pan
African Resources Plc he was previously part of the management team
responsible for the reverse acquisition of the Barberton Mines located in
South Africa in July 2007 which established Pan African as a gold producer.
Following the acquisition he retired in favour of a full time finance director
located in South Africa.
James Comyn - Non Executive Director
After leaving Imperial College London, with a BSc. Hons, in Chemical
Engineering, James Comyn, one of the Founders, spent his career doing business
in Africa. He is currently working for a FTSE 250 listed company, negotiating
high level contracts, for the sale of goods and services to Central Banks and
Governments in West, Central and East Africa. He was previously Managing
Director of four Michelin companies in the Southern Africa region. James Comyn
has had many years' experience of negotiating at government level in Africa
and is primarily responsible for the relationship with the Government of
Guinea.
John Prochnau - Non Executive Director
John Prochnau, one of the Founders, is a Mining Engineer and Geologist, with
degrees from the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, and McGill
University in Montreal, Canada. Early in his career he held executive
positions with Selection Trust Limited, London, where he was responsible for
U. S. operations, and Billiton International Metals of The Hague, The
Netherlands. Since 1984 he has operated as an international minerals
consultant, managed a number of private and public companies and been
responsible for gold and base metal discoveries and mine developments in North
America, South America and Australia. He was co-founder with David Pearl of
Brancote Holdings PLC, which discovered the Esquel Gold Deposits in Argentina
and which was sold in 2002 for US$200 million.
Rufus Pearl - Non Executive Director
Rufus Pearl has been a director of companies listed on the London, Irish,
American and the Bermuda Stock Exchanges and has been responsible for
co-ordinating a number of flotations on AIM. He holds a Certificate in
Corporate Finance and is an Associate of the Securities Institute.
Charles Comyn - Non Executive Director
Charles Comyn spent most of his childhood in Africa and now provides
consultancy services to companies doing business there. He previously ran a
team of analysts, providing research on over 100 smaller cap quoted stocks for
a group of investment trusts. He also holds a Certificate in Corporate Finance.
Len Russell - Non Executive Director
Len Russell is a member of the Securities Institute. He started his career in
the City with Quilter Goodison in 1968. Since then he has been a director of
NatWest Stockbrokers and Shaw & Co. He retired at the end of 2009, after
thirteen years as Head of the High Net Worth Division at Williams DeBroe.
Employees and Consultants
The Group does not have any employees, however John Barry will be supported in
the field by Yury Deryugin. Mr Deryugin is a Russian national, who first
worked in Guinea between 1990 and 1993 as Chief Geologist of a Soviet
Expedition assisting Guinea in a geological mapping survey, which included
prospect identification in the Dinguiraye and Kerouane areas.
Mr Deryugin also worked for a private equity Russia-Guinean company in the
Bagui - Dinguiraye area between 1996 - 1997 where Sovereign Mines holds one of
the Gold Concessions. Access to the area is challenging, but Mr Deryugin is
enthusiastic about the Bagui Concession.
In addition, an experienced local team, which includes Abdoully Sylla, Karim
Camara and Bakary Diabete, has been seconded from the Ministry of Mines for
the duration of the exploration programme as part of the contribution of the
Guinea Government under the joint venture agreement.
The land form regolith map and structural interpretation to orient the soil
geo-chemical surveys will be carried out by a specialist in this field.
Sovereign Mines of Guinea has an office in Conakry, the capital of the
Republic of Guinea, which is a base for the geophysicist and the two
geologists seconded to Guiord by the Guinean Ministry of Mines and for the
Group's operations.
REASONS FOR ADMISSION
The Directors believe that the benefits of the Ordinary Shares being traded on
the PLUS Quoted Market will include:
* Increased corporate profile — the Directors believe that the status of
being a company whose shares are traded publicly could benefit the Company by
increasing the Company's profile with potential new joint ventures;
* To Incentivise key staff — the ability to motivate personnel through the
future grant of share options, which will assist the Group to attract, retain
and motivate high calibre personnel;
* Future capital requirements — the Directors believe that Admission will
enable the Company to access working capital at later dates more effectively
than if it were an unquoted company.
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for this announcement.
---Ends---
Enquiries:
Sovereign Mines of Africa Plc Tel: +353 6968961
David Pearl
david.pearl@pearlcp.com
Rivington Street Corporate Finance Tel: +44 20 7562 3373
Eran Zucker
Eran@rs-cf.com
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