Bellzone Mining lists on AIM, raises £33.6 mln for projects in Guinea

Bellzone Mining (AIM: BZM) has commenced trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange today, after placing 96 million new shares to raise £33.6 million for its project portfolio of assets in Guinea in West Africa that comprises more than 13 Bt (billion tonnes) of magnetite and 2.9 Bt of oxide ore.

The shares have been issued at a price of 35 pence to a broad base of institutional and other investors following a roadshow across the UK, the US and Canada, giving the company a market capitalisation of £184.5 million.

Specifically, the proceeds will be used for the completion of long lead items of the bankable feasibility study (BFS) at Bellzone’s wholly owned Kalia iron project in Guinea, where the company is planning a two staged production with initial ramp up to 20 Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) in Q1 2014, increasing to 50 Mtpa in 2018.

Kalia I currently has a maiden inferred magnetite JORC resource of 2.4 Bt. It has been estimated that Kalia I and the 20 km long magnetite strike known as Kalia II, have the potential to host more than 13 Bt of magnetite ore. On top of that, Bellzone estimates that there is 2.9 billion tonnes of oxide ore at surface over Kalia, which can be used to generate early cash flow in 2014.

The company is now planning to develop 286 kilometres of railway, a port facility and power infrastructure to service the mine, having contracted a Chinese enterprise to prepare a BFS on the infrastructure. Bellzone believes the infrastructure has multi-user potential and could be a standalone entity. It called Kalia "an exciting opportunity to develop a 50mtpa mining operation in one of the world’s largest underdeveloped iron and bauxite provinces".

“Following today's successful listing and admission to AIM, our main objective is to carry out the long-lead items of the BFS, which we expect will cut the timetable from 12 to 8 months at Kalia and continue the resource extension. We believe Kalia has the potential to host more than 13 billion tonnes of magnetite and the funding will also enable us to upgrade and extend the existing JORC resource as well as delineate and classify our significant oxide potential of 2.9 billion tonnes,” said managing director of Bellzone Mining, Nik Zuks.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/15158/bellzone-mining-lists-on-aim-raises-336-mln-for-projects-in-guinea-15158.html