London-listed copper, gold and uranium explorer Zambezi Resources Ltd has closed its $15 million initial Australian Stock Exchange offer more than three times oversubscribed, with funds raised to be used for exploration of its Zambian projects.
London-listed copper, gold and uranium explorer Zambezi Resources Ltd has closed its $15 million initial Australian Stock Exchange offer more than three times oversubscribed, with funds raised to be used for exploration of its Zambian projects.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
London-listed Zambezi Resources Limited is set to make its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange later this week after closing its A$15 million Initial Public Offer (IPO) heavily oversubscribed just three days after the offer opened. Zambezi is scheduled to list on the ASX on 29 June 2007 (proposed ASX code: ZRL)
The Offer, comprising 33.3 million shares at 45 cents each, closed more than three times oversubscribed following very high levels of demand from Australian institutional and retail investors. Perth and Melbourne based Carmichael Capital Markets Pty Limited is Lead Manager to the Australian IPO while Bell Potter Securities Limited is Broker to the Issue.
Zambezi's Managing Director, Mr Julian Ford, said he was delighted with the investor response to the Australian IPO, with the Offer closing within three days. "This is a great outcome and reflects the quality of our project portfolio and the exceptional leverage which Zambezi offers to the growth of a potentially globally significant copper resource inventory," he commented.
Following completion of its dual listing on the ASX, Zambezi will have a total of A$26.25 million of cash on hand (including existing cash reserves of A$11.25 million), positioning it to pursue an aggressive 2-year exploration and development program within its advanced, high-quality project portfolio in southern Zambia.
This 2-year program will include total exploration expenditure of $21.15 million - including up to 100,000 metres of planned drilling in 2007, 80% of which is targeting resource drill-out programs.
"This will be a very busy year for us, with four drilling rigs already operational at our flagship Cheowa Copper Project in Zambia," commented Zambezi's Managing Director, Mr Julian Ford. "Additional rigs have been secured and we expect to have somewhere between 7 and 9 rigs operational within the next few months."
"This will represent one of the more significant exploration programs by a junior exploration company anywhere in the world," commented Zambezi's Managing Director, Mr Julian Ford. "The vast majority of this planned expenditure will go directly into the ground, which we believe is the best possible way to achieve a substantial value-uplift for our shareholders."
Zambezi has assembled an extensive 16,300 square kilometre tenement position, primarily in southern Zambia, comprising copper-gold and uranium projects with strong growth and development potential. In addition, Zambezi has established Joint Ventures on two of these projects with one of the world's leading commodity groups, Glencore International AG and a Joint Venture with its 35.3%-owned AIM-listed sister company, Zambezi Nickel Limited, covering its Oryx Uranium Project in Zambia.
A key focus will be the flagship Cheowa Copper Project, which is expected to become the cornerstone of the Company's plans to develop a substantial copper-gold mining operation in Zambia.
Earlier this year, Zambezi announced an initial Inferred Resource estimate for this project of 1.7 million tonnes at 1.5% copper and 0.5g/t gold for 26,000 tonnes of contained copper metal and 29,000 ounces of contained gold (using a 0.5% copper-cut).
Zambezi is planning extensive resource definition drilling at Cheowa this year, with the aim of completing a Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) by June 2008. In addition, major exploration drilling programs are planned for the Kangaluwi-Chisawa project, where a new copper discovery was made last year, with the objective of establishing an initial Inferred Resource.
Further drilling is also planned to define the mineralisation at the Chakwenga Gold Project, and to develop a pipeline of drill-ready targets at key projects including Mwembeshi, Mulofwe Dome and Mpande Dome.
