Bushveld Minerals Ld - Partial repayment of Duferco convertible loan note

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18 December 2020

Bushveld Minerals Limited

("Bushveld Minerals", "Bushveld" or the "Company")

Partial repayment of Duferco convertible loan note and Total Voting Rights

Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM: BMN), the AIM quoted, integrated primary vanadium producer and energy storage provider, with ownership of high-grade assets in South Africa, is pleased to announce the partial repayment of the US$23 million unsecured convertible loan note held by Duferco Participations Holding S.A. ("Duferco").

On 30 September 2020, the Company announced that Duferco, the previous owner of Vanchem, had agreed to accept the partial early repayment of US$11.5 million of their US$23 million convertible loan notes, originally issued in accordance with the terms of the acquisition of Bushveld Vanchem announced on 23 October 2019. 

As the Company has drawn down the funds under the US$30 million Production Financing Agreement and the US$35 million Convertible Loan Notes with Orion Mine Finance, it has now repaid US$5 million of the Duferco loan notes, plus interest of US$1.28 million, in cash and satisfied the balance of US$6.5 million by the issue of 37,115,210 new Bushveld shares, using a conversion price of 12.97p, which is a 5 per cent discount to the prevailing 10-day volume weighted average Bushveld Minerals share price leading up to conversion.  

Duferco continues to hold a total of US$11.5 million convertible loan notes, which are due for repayment on 8 November 2021.

Application will be made for the admission of these new Bushveld shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"), and it is expected that Admission will occur at 8.00 a.m. on 24 December 2020.

Following Admission, there will be a total of 1,190,757,892 Bushveld ordinary shares in issue, 670,000 of which are held in treasury. Shareholders should use the figure of 1,190,087,892 as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

ENDS

Enquiries: info@bushveldminerals.com

ABOUT BUSHVELD MINERALS LIMITED

Bushveld Minerals is a low-cost, integrated, primary vanadium producer, with ownership of high-grade vanadium assets. 

The Company's flagship vanadium platform includes a 74 per cent controlling interest in Bushveld Vametco Alloys (Pty) Ltd, a primary vanadium mining and processing company; 100 per cent of Bushveld Vanchem, a primary vanadium processing facility with a beneficiation plant; the Mokopane Vanadium Project and the Brits Vanadium Project.

Bushveld's vision is to become a significant, low-cost, integrated primary vanadium producer through owning high grade assets. Whilst the demand for vanadium remains largely anchored in the steel industry, Bushveld Minerals believes there is strong potential for an imminent and significant global vanadium demand surge from the fast-growing energy storage market, particularly through the use and adoption of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries. Bushveld Energy, the Company's energy storage solutions provider, plays a leading role in the development and promotion of the role of vanadium in this market.

The Company's approach to project development recognises that, whilst attractive project economics are imperative, they may be insufficient to secure capital to bring them to account. A clear path to production within a visible timeframe, low capital expenditure requirements and scalability are important factors in ensuring a positive return on investment. This philosophy is core to the Company's strategy in developing projects.

Detailed information on the Company and progress to date can be accessed on the website www.bushveldminerals.com.

About Vametco

Vametco is located near Brits on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex. The integrated operation comprises a vanadium ore mine and a processing plant that produces mostly Nitrovan, a product sold in major steel markets across the world. The mine lies adjacent to the Brits Vanadium Project, which will in future serve as an alternative source of near surface run of mine ("ROM") ore feed to the Vametco plant.

The Vametco mining operation uses open pit bench mining methods to mine a well-defined orebody. The deposit is continuous with limited faulting and dips in a northerly direction at approximately 19 degrees.

ROM ore is fed into a primary, secondary and tertiary crushing circuit, followed by milling and magnetic separation to produce magnetite concentrates. The magnetite concentrates are fed into the extraction process which includes the kiln for roasting followed by leaching and precipitation. Thereafter the precipitated vanadium as ammonium metavanadate is converted to modified vanadium oxide ("MVO") in rotary calciners. MVO is fed into the mix plant and finally into the shaft furnaces to produce Nitrovan. 

About Vanchem

Vanchem is situated at Ferrobank Industrial Park in Emalahleni Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province in the Republic of South Africa. Vanchem is a primary vanadium producing facility with a beneficiation plant capable of producing various vanadium oxides, ferrovanadium and vanadium chemicals. Vanchem uses the salt roast beneficiation process, similar to the one used at Vametco. The plant comprises: a core salt-roast processing plant, including 3 roasting kilns, an electric smelting ferrovanadium converter, an alumino-thermic smelting facility, also located at Highveld, a vanadium chemical plant; and a rail siding linking the plant with Bushveld deposits and additional potential supply sources through the national rail network.

About Bushveld Energy Limited

Bushveld Energy is a leading energy storage solutions provider, focusing on the African market. Bushveld Energy recognises that electricity in Africa intersects paramount potential for social transformation with an immense commercial opportunity.

Bushveld Energy is focused on developing and promoting the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through application in vanadium redox flow batteries. Its near term strategy is to deploy several VRFB systems as part of its longer term vision to become a significant electricity storage provider in Africa, meeting the demand for utility scale energy storage in Africa by leveraging South Africa-mined and beneficiated vanadium.

http://www.bushveldenergy.com