Business
Saudi Joint Venture Agreement
Saudi Joint Venture Agreement.
About this update from Tertiary Minerals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Tertiary Minerals PLC\n30 March 2006\n\n\n\n Tertiary Minerals plc\n\n 30 March 2006\n\n\n SAUDI INDUSTRIALISTS SIGN\n\n JV AGREEMENT TO EXPLOIT\n\n WORLD'S LARGEST TANTALUM DEPOSIT\n\n\n • Ghurayyah Deposit Planned To Initially Supply 10% Of World Annual Demand\n\n\n • Uranium Content Worth US$12/Tonne In Situ To Be Evaluated In Ongoing\n Studies\n\n\n • Soft Loans For US$100m Project May Require Tertiary To Find Only 6.5%\n Funding\n\n\nTertiary Minerals plc ('Tertiary' or 'the Company') announces that its Saudi\npartners ('the Consortium') have now signed the Joint Venture Agreement for the\nUS$7 million funding of feasibility studies for the development of the Company's\nworld-class Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium project in Saudi Arabia.\n\nThe Consortium comprises two of Saudi Arabia's leading family companies -\nA.H.Algosaibi & Bros. Co. and AlNahla Trading & Contracting Co. Both are\ndiversified industrial companies with a range of domestic and international\nbusiness interests.\n\nThe Joint Venture Agreement follows from the Preliminary Agreement announced on\n7 December 2005 whereby the Consortium subscribed £500,000 for 5,000,000 new\nordinary shares in Tertiary Minerals plc at a price of 10 pence per share\n(representing a 100% premium over the then current market price). As a result of\nthe Joint Venture Agreement the cost of the Preliminary Feasibility Study,\nestimated at US$2,000,000 will be funded US$300,000 by Tertiary, US$850,000 from\nan immediate issue to the Consortium of zero-coupon convertible loan notes and a\nfurther US$850,000 immediate direct contribution to the joint venture account\nfrom the Consortium. The loan notes will be convertible to ordinary shares in\nTertiary at any time prior to completion of the Preliminary Feasibility Study at\na price equal to the higher of 15p per share or 80% of the weighted average\nmarket price in the 30 days prior to conversion. The full conversion of the loan\nnotes would result in the Consortium holding a 15% interest in the enlarged\nissued share capital of Tertiary given their existing interests in the Company.\nThe costs of a subsequent Bankable Feasibility Study, estimated at US$5 million,\nwill be met 90% by the Consortium and 10% by Tertiary by direct contribution to\njoint venture expenses.\n\nAssuming successful completion of these studies a...