TIDMAVM

RNS Number : 8006D

Avocet Mining PLC

02 May 2017

Update on share suspension, Inata and Tri-K

Avocet Mining PLC, ("Avocet" or "the Company"), the West African focused gold mining and exploration company, provides an update on the share suspension, Inata and Tri-K.

Suspension of shares

Avocet Mining PLC announces that it has been unable to publish its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2016 within four months of the year end, and, as a consequence, the Company has requested that its shares on both the London Stock Exchange and the Oslo Børs be suspended with immediate effect.

The reason for the delay in publishing the accounts is due to the time needed by the Group's auditors, Grant Thornton, to complete their audit work.

The Company expects the audit to be completed in due course and will apply for the restoration of its listing immediately thereafter.

Update at Inata

As announced on 31 March 2017, production at Inata continues to be affected by the knock-on effects of the suspension of operations in October and November 2016, with funding for inventories, spares and maintenance having been impacted by the need to clear overdue payments.

At Inata, the immediate priority is to negotiate continued support from creditors to allow operations to continue, whilst in parallel, the Company seeks the financing needed to secure the additional production from satellite pits (including Souma). This will represent a considerable challenge, with compromises needed from all stakeholders, with there being no guarantee of a successful outcome. Against this background, the mine is experiencing shortage of critical supplies including reagents and explosives, causing ongoing interruptions in the mine's production processes.

In the past weeks, the new management has started discussions with the mine's trade creditors, banks and government. The market will be updated on these discussions in due course.

Progress of Tri-K transaction with Managem

Following the ratification of the Mining Convention for the Tri-K project by the Guinea National Assembly on 24 February 2017, the Company continues to wait for the publication of a Presidential Decree formalising the Convention as an act of law. Publication of this document will trigger the "First Closing" of the earn-in Agreement with Managem and the payment of $4 million in return for a 40% interest in the project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

 
Avocet Mining PLC       Blytheweigh        J.P. Morgan Cazenove 
                         Financial PR       Corporate Broker 
Boudewijn Wentink, CEO  Tim Blythe         Michael Wentworth-Stanley 
 Yolanda Bolleurs, CFO   Camilla Horsfall 
                         Megan Ray 
+44 20 3709 2570        +44 207 138 3204   +44 20 7742 4000

NOTES TO EDITORS

Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or the "Company") is an unhedged gold mining and exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (ticker: AVM.OL). The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in West Africa.

In Burkina Faso the Company owns 90 per cent of the Inata Gold Mine. The Inata Gold Mine poured its first gold in December 2009 and produced 72,485 ounces of gold in 2016. Other assets in Burkina Faso include five exploration permits surrounding the Inata Gold Mine in the broader Bélahouro region. The most advanced of these projects is Souma, some 20 kilometers from the Inata Gold Mine.

The Company also holds an interest in the Tri-K project in Guinea. On 10 October 2016, the Company announced that it had agreed to dispose of 40 per cent of the project to Managem, a Moroccan group listed on the Casablanca stock exchange, which, which will increase upon completion of a bankable feasibility study for a CIL plant at the site, the incurring of expenditures of at least US$10 million, and the enlarging of the ore reserve, to 70 per cent (in the event of an increase of the reserve to 1 million ounce or more) or 60 per cent (if less than 1 million ounces). Following approval by the Guinean National Assembly in February, the transaction remains subject only to the publication of a Presidential decree formalising the Mining Convention.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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May 02, 2017 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)

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