African Copper said it would seek shareholder approval later in the month as it has decided to delist from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and AIM. The miner, which owns Mowana and Thakadu mines in Botswana blamed lack of liquidity for its move to cancel the admission on the two bourses.
“The size of the company and the lack of liquidity in the market for the company’s shares have led the Directors to undertake a review of the merits or otherwise of the company continuing to be admitted to trading on AIM and the BSE,” the company said.
“After careful consideration, the Directors have concluded that it is no longer in the interests of the Company to retain its admission on AIM and the BSE and that a proposal to cancel the Admissions should be made to the Shareholders at the General Meeting.”
According to a note to the shareholders, the directors said they are of a view the cancellations are in the best interests of the company and its shareholders, and the ‘directors’ recommendation to Shareholders to vote in favour of the resolutions on the cancellations. The company argued that like many other small listed companies, it suffers from a lack of demand for its shares and, in practical terms, a small free float.
“As a result, the Board believes that there is currently no reasonable prospect of the Company being able to use the listing to raise money from other investors”.
Equally, the low liquidity in the company’s shares tends to lead to a volatility in the share price which the Board believes may distort any objective assessment of the company’s value while the Board believes that, in the light of the above, the costs associated with the listings are not justified as being in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.
African Copper will hold a general meeting on 27th May 2015 at which the resolutions will be proposed to shareholders for approval. The company also told shareholders that it would cease mining at Thakadu mine as the project is nearing the end of its scheduled mine life and operations have recently revealed significant variability in ore grades compared to the geological resource model.
“The Company believes that in order to confirm future grades it would be necessary to conduct medium depth high resolution drilling,” it said.
“However, due to the short remaining mine life, a smaller mining footprint and the cost associated with such a drilling programme, the Company has taken the decision to stop mining at the Thakadu pit by the end of May 2015, with processing from accumulated ore stockpiles continuing until end of June 2015.”
