POL : Polo Resources invests in Weatherly International
Polo Resources is investing in copper miner, Weatherly International. Weatherly is an AIM traded mining development and exploration company focusing on copper in Namibia. Weatherly’s copper portfolio includes the following assets in Namibia: two mines named Otjihase and Matchless which are in production; Tschudi – an open pit heap leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning development project which is fully financed with production expected in the second quarter of 2015; and the Tsumeb Tailings project which is in feasibility stage, and an exploration licence. They say Tschudi is the focus of the next stage of growth for Weatherly. The project is designed to produce 17,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year with an 11 year mine life. In addition, Weatherly holds a 25 per cent. interest in AIM traded China Africa Resources plc (AIM CAF). In its year ended 30 June 2014, Weatherly made a loss before tax of US$5.730m and had net assets at that date of US$38.5m.
Polo is investing £902,000 to get 30.8m shares in Weatherly at 2.925p per share (a 22% discount to Weatherly’s share price on 7 November) and will subscribe for a further £2.2m worth of shares (76m of them) provided that existing Weatherly shareholders don’t snap them up first (they are being offered to them via an open offer). However Polo also is being given the right to subscribe (for three months) for more new shares up to the value of the shares it could have bought but were clawed back for existing shareholders. The statement says that Polo could end up spending £4.7m for a 20.7% stake in Weatherly. As long as it holds at least 10%, Polo gets to appoint two of Weatherly’s directors.