The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region
Issue link: https://asiaminer.epubxp.com/i/830355
36 | ASIA Miner | Volume 14 • Issue 2 | 2017 Thailand METAL Tiger has completed a pre-flotation financing of its new Thai mining joint venture to be called Kemco. The financing raised £514,000, payment of which will be triggered when the company lists on AIM later this year. Metal Tiger and Kemco directors put in £67,000 of the money, which will fund the IPO costs and provide working capital for the Thai operations. Since January, Metal Tiger has provided an additional £590,000 to Kemco to cover costs. It is likely to contribute further mod- erate sums to support the operations before completion of the IPO. Metal Tiger says the float, which is likely to occur during June or July, will be the first IPO of a Thai operation on the London Stock Exchange and it is looking to raise between £3 million and £4 million from the listing. The primary assets are two underground silver-lead-zinc mines, Boh-Yai and Song-Toh in Kanchanaburi Province, which were worked between 1978 and 2002, and for which considerable infra- structure remains in place, including a plant. Metal Tiger is pleased that a new Minerals Act has been signed by the King of Thailand and will be in force on August 30, 2017, which it believes will aid permitting of the mines. CEO Michael McNeilly said the new act was signed ahead of ex- pectations, removing a key element of timetable uncertainty in the permitting process. He said it underlined the Thai Government's long-term commitment to the extractive industry. "We look forward to continuing to work closely with our JV partners to make the IPO a suc- cess. We are pleased that they will be in a position to make submis- sions to relevant authorities at an earlier date and have full confidence that they will make the strongest possible case for permitting." Metal Tiger says the mine plan is substantially complete, while an updated resource is progressing, which will lead to a further update on the plan. Work towards an environmental impact assessment report is under way, as is data collection for a water study. "The management team for the Thai JV has significant in-country project development and operating expertise and this is proving in- valuable and being demonstrated through the progress occurring to complete the studies before the envisaged IPO." THE identification of a second parallel lepidolite pegmatite trend at Viking Mines' Reung Kiet (RK) Lithium Project has substantially in- creased the project's prospectivity with lepidolite being a lithium-rich mica. In November the ASX-listed company announced that it was acquiring Argo Metals Group, which held a 75% in the project. RK, which is 60km north of Phuket in southern Thailand, exhibits several outcropping lepidolite rich pegmatites along strike from his- torical open cut mines. Viking has been conducting reconnaissance soil sampling, rock chip sampling and mapping programs since an- nouncing the RK transaction. The Main Trend extends southwest along strike and exhibits ex- cellent exposures of several lepidolite pegmatite dykes in a swarm of about 30 metres wide. Previous rock chip and channel sampling returned results of up to 1.9% Li2O. The new Eastern Trend is 65-75 metres east of the Main Trend, about 1km long and runs parallel to Main Trend. Minor historical workings are present with individual dykes up to 4 metres wide. Rock chip sampling indicates Li2O grades of 0.99% to 1.49%. Viking has designed a drilling program with further drill sites be- ing assessed. The 22-hole program of about 2000 metres will test near-surface continuity, grade and widths. The company is also advancing rock chip sampling, soil sampling and geological mapping at Bang I Tum lithium prospect to the north, which is considerably larger in strike extent. Meantime, Viking has been negotiating with several potential drill- ing contractors and rigs will be deployed to its nearby Khao Soon tungsten project, over which it has an option to acquire 75%. This will ensure that drill rigs are secured and upon issuance of the lithium exploration licences, the rigs will be re-deployed to the RK project. Also in November Viking announced that it had entered in a three month MoU with Lepidico Ltd to explore the option of establishing a joint venture to build a small-scale lithium carbonate plant at or near the RK project however, the two companies agreed not to extend the MoU beyond the three months. This followed Viking's determi- nation that it was too early in the project's development to commit to any one process technology although Lepidico's technology re- mains an important potential option. Metal Tiger raises funds for IPO Viking Mines has two projects in Thailand's south, not far from the resort centre of Phuket. Viking identifies new lithium trend at RK