Jupiter spinning on African deal

JUPITER Mines non-executive director Priyank Thapliyal has started to take a direct interest in the West Perth-based company, which recently announced a transformational deal.

Mr Thapliyal, who is a founding director of Pallinghurst Resources, laid the foundation for his direct shareholding earlier this month when he spent $584,905 buying 2.24 million Jupiter shares on-market.

He followed it up a day later by buying a further 495,000 Jupiter shares on-market for $141,422, and then an extra 55,000 shares a few days later for $15,753.

Mr Thapliyal already held an indirect interest in Jupiter through his exposure to Pallinghurst Steel Feed BV, Pallinghurst Resources’ UK partner.

Pallinghurst Steel Feed BV holds 92.9 million Jupiter shares, or about 25 per cent of the issued capital, a holding it has maintained since late 2008.

Mr Thapliyal’s spending spree comes after Jupiter announced a deal with a group of investors that include Pallinghurst, which is led by Brian Gilbertson.

Under the deal, Jupiter will take a 49.9 per cent stake in an African manganese project through the issue of 1.16 billion shares priced at 21.1 cents each, giving the project an implied value of $490 million.

Since the deal was announced earlier this month, Jupiter’s share price has jumped more than 30 per cent