Kore Potash PLC on Tuesday said it raised fresh equity via a discounted share subscription and announced that Chief Executive Brad Sampson has resigned immediately.
In London, shares in Kore on Tuesday plunged 23% to 0.42 pence, just above the share subscription price. They fell 21% to 11 rand cents in Johannesburg.
The owner of the Kola and DX potash projects in Republic of Congo said it had completed raising $2.5 million through a share subscription. It issued 542.3 million shares to some existing shareholders at a price of 0.38p each. This included Chair David Hathorn, who invested $750,000.
The cash will be used to further advance work that is expected to lead to the delivery of an the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Kola project.
The company said it is reviewing options to enable other shareholders an opportunity to participate in a fundraise in the near future.
Sampson, who became the CEO in May 2018, will continue in his role until the end of November.
The company said it does not intend to appoint a new CEO until after the receipt of the financing proposal for the construction of the Kola project.
Chair Hathorn will act as CEO in the interim.
Kore said the process to reach agreement on engineering, procurement and construction contract terms, and to receive a financing proposal for the full construction cost of the Kola project, is now near completion and is expected to be finalised during the first quarter of 2024. Construction contractors is scheduled to be mobilised during the first half of 2024.
Kore Potash has said the Summit consortium has confirmed that the financing proposal for the full capital cost of Kola will be provided within six weeks of finalisation of the contract terms. The consortium is an investment group that represents investors and engineering firms. The optimisation study, concluded in June last year, indicated capital cost for the Kola project was $1.83 billion. This study supported moving Kola to the next phase of the development.
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