Batavia Announces $8.9M Raising to UnderpinDeflector Development...

Batavia Announces $8.9M Raising to Underpin
Deflector Development Programme
Highlights
Enquiries:
Greg Durack
Batavia Mining Ltd
+ 61 (0)8 9327 0980
Damian Delaney
Batavia Mining Ltd
+ 61 (0)8 9327 0980
Jan Hope & Partners + 61 (0)8 9388 1474
$8.9 MILLION CAPITAL RAISING
Batavia said today (Wednesday) it had signed an agreement with Australian broking
firm, Patersons Securities Ltd, to manage a $1 million share placement and
underwrite the early exercise of its 15 June 2006 Options (ASX: BTVOA). At the
entitlement date (11 April 2006) option holders will be offered one new option
exercisable at 5 cents on or before 15 June 2007 (“2007 Options”) for each 2006 option
held, the acceptance of which is subject to the 2006 options being exercised on or before
28 April 2006.
Batavia currently has 157,830,023 15 June 2006 options on issue, exercisable at 5 cents.
The early exercise of these options would raise up to $7.9 million.
Patersons will underwrite the amount that the Company would receive if all holders of
2006 Options currently on issue had accepted the 2007 Option Issue prior to 28 April
2006. The Directors and major shareholders have each agreed to sub-underwrite the
early exercise of the 15 June 2006 options. The Underwriting Agreement has the usual
terms and conditions.
The share placement comprises 20 million shares to be placed with the Phoenix Gold
Fund at an issue price of 5 cents with one free attaching 5 cent existing listed option
(2006 Options).
Batavia will shortly dispatch a notice of meeting to shareholders seeking approval to
ratify the placement and authorize the 2007 Option Issue and the Patersons issue. The
notice of meeting will contain a detailed timetable relating to the 2007 Option Issue and
will set out the terms of the Underwriting Agreement.
Batavia will make an application to the ASX to list the 2007 Options.
USE OF FUNDS
The proposed capital raising represents a major step forward for Batavia’s exploration
and pre-development activities, with a large portion of the funds raised to be allocated
towards intensive resource extension drilling, in-fill drilling, and delivery of a Bankable
Feasibility Study on the Deflector Gold-Copper Project with a view to advancing the
Project towards production as rapidly as possible.
Following successful deep drilling programs last year, Batavia earlier this year announced
a 130% increase in the resource for the principal Deflector Deposit at Gullewa to 2.65
million tonnes at 6.04 g/t gold and 1.23% copper containing 775,000 gold
equivalent ounces.
The Company is close to completing a Pre-feasibility Study on the development of the
Project after successfully developing a flotation flowsheet for all three types of
mineralisation within the Deflector Deposit, representing one of the final objectives
required to progress development of the project.
The Pre-feasibility Study is expected to be finalised in the March 2006 Quarter.
The funds raised will be used to complete the Pre-feasibility Study and then expedite a
Bankable Feasibility Study. In addition, funds will be applied towards an aggressive new
program of deep drilling designed to test for extensions of the Deflector West and Central
lodes at depth, and also to complete in-fill drilling to bring a significant portion of the
inferred category of the mineral resource into the indicated category.
The recently completed drill program successfully tested the resource to 300m vertical
depth; however both the Central and West lodes remain open. Batavia is targeting a gold
equivalent resource of approximately 1 million ounces from this drilling campaign.
The Company also has an IP (induced polarization) survey currently in progress covering
the Deflector deposit and areas immediately along strike to identify further drill targets
for a similar style of mineralisation.
Batavia’s Managing Director, Mr Greg Durack, said the Company was delighted to have
received the support of a leading Australian broking firm to implement a landmark capital
raising which would enable it to progress its key assets, particularly the Deflector Gold-
Copper Project, to the next level.
“The Gullewa Project, with its existing plant and camp infrastructure and relatively low
capital cost estimate of $13.8 million for the proposed process plant and infrastructure
upgrade, represents an attractive opportunity for Batavia to advance rapidly towards
production to take advantage of current strong metal prices,” Mr Durack said.
“This raising will provide funding to accelerate our pre-development and feasibility
activities at Gullewa, while at the same time building on last year’s successful exploration
programs by launching an intensive deep drilling program aiming to increase the
resource to over 1 million gold equivalent ounces,” he added.
“This capital raising represents a key milestone for the Company in our objective to
establish a diversified resources group with a strong production base in the gold-copper
business,” Mr Durack commented. “The funds raised will also enable us to progress
exploration of our new uranium portfolio in the Northern Territory, where we have
assembled some quality exploration targets with considerable potential.”
HARTS RANGE EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED
Batavia advised today that the Exploration Licences for its Harts Range uranium prospect
in the Northern Territory had been formally granted, clearing the way for ground
exploration activities to commence.
The Company has identified a number of advanced targets for high-grade, pegmatite and
structurally controlled uranium deposits at its Harts Range and Arunta Prospects in the
Northern Territory. The outstanding Exploration Licence Applications (ELAs) for Batavia’s
other NT uranium prospects are expected to be granted within the next four months.
Greg Durack
Managing Director
22 February 2006