Brisbane, Australia, Feb 5, 2015 - (ABN Newswire) - Orocobre Limited (ASX:ORE) (TSE:ORL) ("Orocobre" or "the Company") is pleased to announce it has raised approximately A$50 million through a $40m Placement to domestic and international institutional and sophisticated investors and a $10m underwritten Share Purchase Plan.
The proceeds of this capital raising will be used primarily to fund working capital requirements for the Olaroz Lithium Plant during its production ramp up.
Orocobre was pleased to announce on 2 February 2015 that commissioning of the final circuits at the Olaroz Lithium Plant had been completed and that the plant had moved into commercial ramp up stage to supply customers with lithium carbonate for final product qualification. The plant is expected to reach nameplate production of 1,450 tonnes per month (17,500tpa) in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Placement
The Placement of approximately 15.7 million shares will be issued pursuant to Orocobre's 15% capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 at a price of A$2.55 per share, representing a 13% discount to the ASX closing price prior to the Company entering into a trading halt on 30 January. Subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting proposed to be held on or about 9 March entities associated with Chairman James Calaway and Managing Director Richard Seville will be participating in the placement for 267,563 and 100,000 shares respectively.
The Lead Manager and Bookrunner for the placement was Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Ltd.
Share Purchase Plan
The Company is also pleased to announce the opportunity for existing shareholders of the Company to participate in an underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP). The SPP will be capped at $15m, and is underwritten to $10m.
Under the SPP, eligible Orocobre shareholders are invited to invest up to $15,000 per shareholder at $2.55 per share, the same price per share as institutional investors were offered shares under the Placement. No brokerage or transaction costs are payable by shareholders when subscribing for shares under the SPP.
The offer price of the shares under the SPP represents an 11.3% discount to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) for the 5 days prior to the Record Date for the Offer. The SPP is underwritten by Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Ltd.
The Directors reserve the right to accept additional applications subject to shareholder demand. The SPP will only be offered to eligible ORE shareholders resident in Australia or New Zealand and the SPP Offer document will be provided to Eligible Shareholders shortly.
To view the Proposed SPP Timetable, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ORE-841205.pdf
Managing Director, Richard Seville, said "We are very pleased with the result of the raising in what are difficult conditions for resource companies. We are now well funded to take Olaroz and the Company through to the next stage of development, becoming a profitable operating company. Although we welcome some new shareholders onto the register, we are honoured by the on-going support we have received from our existing shareholders in this raising. We will continue to work hard to build on the shareholder value that we have delivered to date."
About Orocobre Limited:
Orocobre Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (ASX:ORE) (TSE:ORL), and is building a substantial Argentinian-based industrial minerals company through the construction and operation of its portfolio of lithium, potash and boron projects and facilities in the Puna region of northern Argentina. The Company is building in partnership with Toyota Tsusho Corporation the first large-scale, "greenfield" brine based lithium project in 20 years at its flagship Salar de Olaroz resource, with projected production of 17,500 tonnes per annum of low-cost battery grade lithium carbonate scheduled to commence at the end of Q2, 2014. The Company also wholly-owns Borax Argentina, an important regional borate producer. Orocobre is included in the S&P/ASX 300 Index and was named 2012 Mining Company of the Year by Argentine mining magazine Panorama Minero and the Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Mineria Argentina ("Fundamin" or Foundation for Development of Argentina Mining).
Contact:
David Hall
Business Development
Orocobre Limited
M: + 61 407 845 052
E: dhall@orocobre.com
James Calaway
Manager Chairman
Orocobre Limited
M: + 1 (713) 818 1457
E: jcalaway@orocobre.com
Source:
Orocobre Limited
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