Beowulf raises £0.25m as it continues to wait on Swedish government

Mineral exploration and development company Beowulf Mining announced a subscription for new ordinary shares on Friday, to raise £0.25m before expenses.

The AIM-traded firm said the funds would be used to support Vardar Mineral's plans for the Mitrovica and Viti Projects in Kosovo, and for general working capital purposes.

It said that under the subscription, it would issue 4,347,826 new ordinary shares at a price of 5.75p each.

The company held £1,050,767 in cash as at 31 October.

Beowulf Mining confirmed that application had been made to the London Stock Exchange for the subscription shares to be admitted to trading on AIM on or around 13 November.

“The company is benefited by its listings in London and Sweden, and, even with market uncertainty created by Brexit and a US-China trade war, we are attracting investor interest in both markets, able to raise funds and maintain a strong cash position,” said chief executive officer Kurt Budge.

“In Sweden, we are concluding our work with legal advisers regarding our Kallak application, as we wait on a decision from the Swedish government.

“It was good to see a debate article by Swedish Minister for Enterprise, Ibrahim Baylan, and the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Commerce, Katri Kulmuni, in Aftonbladet on 6 November, describing how Sweden and Finland should lead the way in global standardisation and certification of sustainably produced metals and minerals.”

Budge noted that Beowulf had invested in both countries, and was focused on developing sustainable mining operations at Kallak and with its graphite in Finland.

“It's over a year since LKAB's CEO stated that LKAB's iron ore reserves would be insufficient to meet future supply needs, and, added to this, if your ambition is to put poor performing industry participants out of business, and have a pipeline of supply to meet future demand, then you need to permit new mine development.

“I look forward to updating shareholders on further developments.”

At 1122 GMT, shares in Beowulf Mining were down 1.68% at 6.14p.