Botswana Minerals, the Dublin-headquartered exploration company, has announced a £1.15 million (€1.3 million) placing of shares to fund its copper-focused prospecting licences in southern Africa as it shifts its focus away from diamonds.
The company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), on Friday also announced the appointment of Arkle Resources chief executive, Rory Harding as a non-executive director.
Mr Harding will invest £100,000 to acquire 40 million Botswana shares at 0.25 pence sterling (0.29 cent) each in the placing as part of a cash subscription by some of the company’s directors, giving him a 2.4 per cent stake in Botswana Minerals, according to the announcement.
Existing directors John Teeling, James Finn and James Campbell will each subscribe for around 16 million shares in the placing bringing their respective holdings in the business to 5.3 per cent, 3.78 per cent and 2.04 per cent respectively.
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In total, the company is looking to place 460 million ordinary shares, bringing the number of ordinary shares in the listed business to just shy of 1.66 billion. The company expects trading in the new shares to be possible from Friday of next week, March 27th.
Anyone investing in the placing will also receive a warrant entitling them purchase one additional share for each share taken up in the placing at the same quarter of a penny price on or before March 20th, 2027.
At close of business on Thursday, the company’s share were trading at 0.26 of a penny.
In a statement, the company said the funds will be used to further its copper-focused prospecting licences in northwest Botswana.
The AIM-listed company was formerly known as Botswana Diamonds before changing its name earlier this year to reflect a switch in its focus to exploring for copper deposits.
The pivot comes against a backdrop of a weakening market for natural diamonds amid competition from lab-grown diamonds.
Earlier this week, Botswana reported results for the second half of last year, revealing fresh losses of £215,000 (€249,000) in the period. The board said the losses were limited by tight cost controls.
In a statement, the directors said: “The objective over the next 24 months is clear: build and test copper and polymetal targets through phased work programmes, minimise dilution through farm-in structures, and preserve optionality across the portfolio.”
Botswana is a country that “remains underexplored for base metals relative to its geological potential”, they said.
