BELMORE RESOURCES (HOLDINGS) PLC
("BELMORE" OR "THE COMPANY")
COMMENCEMENT OF TRADING ON OFEX
The Board of Belmore, a minerals exploration company with projects and licence
applications in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, announces today
the commencement of trading in the Company's shares on the OFEX market.
The Company intends to use its Admission to OFEX to maximise management's
experience and local knowledge to add value to currently held licences through
targeted groundwork and modern data interpretation techniques, as well as seek
other prospective targets in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
KEY LISTING POINTS
* In an Offer for Subscription, GBP250,000 has been raised through the
issue of 5,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 5p per share.
* Offer was oversubscribed by some 30%.
* The market capitalisation of Belmore at the share offer price is GBP1.26m
* The total number of shares issued is 25,164,680.
* The funds will be used to carry out exploration activities on the
prospecting licences held by the Company, and provide working capital.
Subsequent to the publication on the 23rd February, 2005 of the Company's
prospectus for the Offer of Shares for Subscription, one of the holders of
convertible loan notes (see 1.12 on page 39 of prospectus) has converted
GBP5,000 of loan note principal and GBP208.33 of interest into new Ordinary
Shares at a price of GBP0.04 per share. This has resulted in the issuance of
130,208 shares and is reflected in the above number.
KEY INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
* Belmore brings a prospective mineral property portfolio to the table,
with projects and licence applications already held in the Clare Block,
Carlingford Block and Dromore regions;
* Highly qualified and experienced management team with a demonstrable
track record in the Irish and international natural resources industry, as well
as management of public listed companies;
* The Company has low overheads and management are significant
shareholders; and
* The UK's investment market for the natural resources sector has
strengthened tremendously in recent years. This evidence suggests the emergence
of London as an important location to hold a listing.
INDUSTRY BACKGROUND
In the opinion of the Directors, the current outlook for zinc is favourable.
Demand prospects remain robust in the key US and Chinese markets, whilst
smelter closures in recent years, coupled with the tightness in the concentrate
market are expected to constrain refined production growth.
Between 1999 and 2003, total world demand for zinc increased by 3% per year. In
2004, growth in the demand for zinc was calculated to be 4.8%, coinciding with
a 1.9% decline in total supply. In terms of prices, zinc may be the only LME
base metal to achieve higher annual average in 2005 than in 2004, and is poised
to outperform other metals - as supply tightness has not yet peaked.
In 2004, LME cash prices for zinc averaged 47.5 US cents per lb. Having come
from a low of 35 US cents per lb in 2002, several commentators are forecasting
a further rise to an average of around 55 US cents per lb in 2005.
COMPANY HISTORY
Belmore was incorporated on 4th May 2004 as a private limited company, and was
re-registered as a public limited company on 17th June 2004. On 17th May 2004
it acquired the whole of the issued share capital of Belmore Resources Limited,
which had been incorporated on 8th June 2000 as a minerals exploration company
with projects and applications in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
BUSINESS AND CURRENT PORTFOLIO
The Company intends to use the experience and local knowledge of its directors
to identify opportunities to add value to the currently held licences. The
current mineral property portfolio comprises:
CLARE BLOCK (REPUBLIC OF IRELAND): In 2002, Belmore acquired a 50% interest in
8 prospecting licences covering 330 sq kilometres in County Clare, Ireland -
subject to a 1% net smelter return royalty on mining production. The other 50%
interest is currently held by Central Mining Finance Limited. Belmore's
interest will increase in accordance with an agreed formula, as it incurs
expenditure on exploration activities relating to the licence areas.
The Clare licences are located 50 kilometres southwest of Tynagh, and 40
kilometres west north-west of Silvermines, both of which are previously worked
zinc-lead-silver deposits hosted in similar geology.
Previous exploration on the Clare Block licences identified a copper deposit at
Ballyvergin. Between 1995 and 1998 a drilling programme identified a high-grade
resource of zinc and lead rich massive sulphides (approximately 400,000 tonnes
@ 12% zinc plus lead and 79g/t silver) in the area of Milltown. An ore genesis
study by Professor Murray Hitzman of the Colorado School of Mines was carried
out on the Clare Block exploration data and drill core in 2000 for Billiton
and, concluded that:
* The regional geology of the area suggests that while there are
similarities with other nearby ore-bodies, there seems to have been the
discovery of a new style of mineralization in the southwest of Ireland and,
furthermore, the presence of an "iron formation" as found at every major Irish
ore system such as Tynagh, Lisheen, Galmoy and Silvermines is highly
encouraging for sulphide mineralization to be found in the area; and
* The Milltown prospect, while containing similar features to other nearby
prospects such as Carrackittle, is interesting due to the higher grades and
more continuous quantities of massive sulphides.
CARLINGFORD BLOCK (REPUBLIC OF IRELAND): In January this year, two licences
were awarded to Belmore in North Country Louth, east of Dundalk, covering an
area of 80 sq kilometres. The licences are currently being advertised prior to
issue. The interest in the Carlingford Block stems from work carried out by BHP
(now BHP Billiton) between 1995 and 1998, which identified a nickel / copper
soil anomaly adjacent to previously discovered mineralization in boulders
containing significant quantities of PGE's and copper. Consequent to cutbacks
in international exploration activity, BHP did not follow up on the discovery
of this anomalous area.
DROMORE LICENCE (NORTHERN IRELAND): Belmore holds 100% interest in Licence
BR2/02 (Dromore) in Northern Ireland. The Dromore licence lies in a mineral
prospective region. It has had little work carried out on it but is interesting
due to local gravity and aeromagnetic anomalies, which underlie the licence.
Although the Company did not complete its first two year work commitments on
this licence, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has agreed to
grant an extension to the licence, subject to there being evidence of finance
being available by 31 March 2005.
OUTLOOK
The Company will focus on exploration in Ireland at this time and, while
prospects for any mineral will be considered, priority will be given to the
Company's zinc exploration properties in County Clare.
THE BOARD
The Board of Directors consists of:
NON EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN Ian Forrest
MANAGING AND FINANCE DIRECTOR Patrick Mahony
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR George Emo
IAN FORREST (66) is a Chartered Accountant and specialist in finance, banking
and tax consulting. Mr Forrest sits on the Board of six publicly quoted
companies, including Desire Petroleum Plc, an AIM-listed oil exploration
company. Mr Forrest was previously a director at Reunion Mining Plc; a London
listed gold and base metal mining company - prior to its takeover by Anglo
American Corporation.
PATRICK MAHONY (52) brings to the Board a wealth of public company experience.
A qualified Chartered Accountant by training, Mr Mahony was Managing Director
of Bula Resources (Holdings) Plc from April 1997 to his resignation in March
1999, where he was responsible for raising IRGBP3.5 million in equity,
divesting Bula from projects in Russia and ensuring that their Libyan and Iraqi
projects progressed.
GEORGE EMO (53) has twenty five years' experience in mineral exploration and
mining in Ireland, Europe and North America. In 1986 he set up his own private
consulting company and has provided geological, geophysical and drilling
services to industry multi nationals including Anglo America, Minorco and
Billiton.
Commenting on today's announcement, Managing & Finance Director, Patrick
Mahony, said: "WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE JOINED THE OFEX MARKET TODAY. I BELIEVE
THAT THIS IS AN OPPORTUNE TIME TO INVEST IN NATURAL RESOURCE PROJECTS, ZINC IN
PARTICULAR, BY CAPITALISING ON THE GEOLOGICAL, INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL
EXPERIENCE OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM. THE COMPANY IS CURRENTLY IN A STRONG
POSITION AND I BELIEVE THAT TODAY'S LISTING WILL FURTHER ENHANCE THE COMPANY'S
POSITION WITHIN THE NATURAL RESOURCE SECTOR".
MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
The name of any shareholder who holds an interest in 3% or more of the Issuer's
securities on admission
Walter Ian Logan Forrest 20.33%
Patrick Mahony 20.33%
George Emo 20.33%
Global Finance and Petroleum Products Inc 6.90%
Starvest Plc 14.11%
SCHEDULE OF ANY PREVIOUS DIRECTORSHIPS HELD DURING THE LAST FIVE
DIRECTOR CURRENT DIRECTORSHIPS PREVIOUS DIRECTORSHIPS
W I L FORREST Anglo Scandinavian Petroleum Plc A.B. Airlines Plc
Belmore Resources Ltd AP International Maritime
Finance Ltd
Blue Wing Investments Ltd London Wall Securities Ltd
Bolcar Investments Ltd Reunion Mining Plc
Bridgenorth SA
Caledonian Mining Corporation
Camanoe Developments Ltd
Charles Street International Ltd
Colen Limited
Concept Brokerage Holding Inc
Desire Petroleum Plc
Dromedary Trading Ltd
Ellen Holdings BV
FlightParks Ltd
Gaelic Oil Plc
Gaelic Resources Plc
Georex SA
Interaf SA
Interoil Limited
Island & Costal Minerals (Sierra Leone) Ltd.
Kensid Trading SA
Leman Nominee Company Ltd
Mengold Resources Inc
Meribel Holdings Ltd
Metcom Trading SA
Micor Trading SA
Molard Financial Management Services SA
Molard Nominees SA
Paddington Investments SA
Panares Resources Inc
Pentex Italia Ltd
Phoenix Global Management Ltd
PolyMet Mining Corp
Rene Gott SA
Texican Oil Plc
Viatrade Plc
Technology Support Corp Ltd
Texinvest SA
Tortin Holdings Ltd
Trelexploration SA
WNJ Corporation
G EMO Allied Consulting Geologists Ltd Onshore Resources Limited
An Conascaire Picotee Limited
Belmore Resources Ltd. Promin Limited
Quest Resources Limited Prospex Ireland Limited
Patrick Rock Enterprises Ltd Slievenore Mining Limited
Wilderness Resources Ltd
P G MAHONY Belmore Resources Ltd Northern Exploration Ltd
Gaelic Resources Plc
Gaelic Oil Plc
Gold Oil Plc
Grovespan Limited
ICM Technology Limited
North African Resources Ltd
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