Unaudited Financial Results for the Period Ended 30 June 2023
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") (EU) No. 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
31 August 2023
Beowulf Mining plc
("Beowulf" or the "Company")
Unaudited Financial Results for the Period Ended 30 June 2023
Beowulf Mining (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), the mineral exploration and development company, announces its unaudited financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2023 (the “Period”).
Activities in the Period
Sweden
- Following the announcement of the Scoping Study for Kallak North in January 2023, the Company, through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB (“Jokkmokk Iron”), continued to engage with key stakeholders and advance a number of work streams in preparation for the commencement of the Pre-Feasibility Study and the environmental permit application.
- A number of public meetings with the communities of Jokkmokk Iron, including residents of the villages closest to the project were held.
- Ongoing work streams include a review of transportation and logistics options for the Kallak North project and further environmental baseline studies.
Finland
- Beowulf, through its wholly owned Finnish subsidiary Grafintec Oy (“Grafintec”), continued to advance the Pre-Feasibility Study for the establishment of a Graphite Anode Materials Plant ("GAMP"). During the three months ended 30 June 2023, Grafintec was granted an extension of the advance reservation for Plot 1, Block 3017 in the GigaVaasa area, the site for the proposed GAMP. The Extension was approved by the municipality of Korsholm and the reservation remains valid until 31 January 2024, with the option to extend further.
Kosovo
- On 12 January 2023, Beowulf invested £250,000 in Vardar. The investment increases the Company's ownership in Vardar from 59.5 per cent to 61.1 per cent approximately. This funding will be used to start preparations for the 2023 exploration programme.
- Vardar Minerals, which is 61.1 per cent owned by Beowulf, undertook further low-cost field work including mapping, soil and grab sampling and reconnaissance work across its tenement package during the three months ended 30 June 2023. The objective of this work was both to enhance the baseline exploration dataset and to build on the understanding of the geological setting at the Mitrovica licence following the drilling completed at the end of 2022, but also to complete preliminary work on the Shala East and Shala West licences.
Corporate
- On 28 February 2023, Beowulf announced the outcome of the Company's Capital Raise. In total, Beowulf received approximately SEK 80.8 million (approximately £6.4 million) (gross). The main purpose of the Capital Raise is to finance the continued development of Kallak North, the start of Pre-feasibility workstreams, and to progress at pace with the preparation of an environmental permit application. Net proceeds from the Capital Raise will also be used to repay bridge loan financing and fund the advancement of Grafintec and Vardar Minerals Ltd ("Vardar").
- On 3 May 2023, Kurt Budge stepped down from the Company being replaced by Johan Röstin who served as Executive Chairman and interim CEO.
Post Period
- On 10 July 2023, Mikael Schauman was appointed as Non-Executive Director.
- On 21 July 2023, the settlement in relation to Kurt Budge’s resignation was agreed and subsequently paid on 27 July 2023.
- On 7 August 2023, Ed Bowie joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer and Director.
- On 16 August 2023, Ulla Sandborgh stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Jokkmokk Iron.
Financial
- The underlying administration expenses of £1,097,738 in Q2 2023 exceeded Q2 2022 of £400,212. This has increased primarily due to share-based payment expenses of £158,120 (Q2 2022: £Nil), professional fees of £236,877 (Q2 2022: £72,739), directors and staff costs of £301,576 (Q2 2022: £93,568), and a foreign currency loss of £140,575 (Q2 2022: gain of £3,283). Professional fees increased primarily due to non-recurring advisor fees in relation to the directorship changes within the period. Directors and staff costs increased primarily due to recognition of Mr. Budge’s gross settlement amount and additional consultancy incurred.
- The consolidated loss before tax for H1 2023 increased to £1,799,616 (H1 2022: £683,607). This increase is primarily due to share-based payment expenses of £238,843 (H1 2022: £Nil), professional fees of £405,196 (H1 2022: £139,469), directors and staff costs of £424,875 (H1 2022: £168,361), and a foreign currency loss of £199,393 (H1 2022: £28,989), combined with finance costs in relation to the bridging loan of £195,304 (H1 2022: £Nil), which was fully repaid in the period.
- Consolidated basic and diluted loss per share for the quarter ended 30 June 2023 was 0.09 pence (Q2 2022: loss of 0.04 pence).
- The Company raised SEK 80.8 million (approximately £6.4 million) before expenses as part of the Capital Raise, of which, the net proceeds have been used to repay the bridging loan principal and interest of SEK 24.8 million (approximately £2.04 million).
- £2,855,840 in cash was held at 30 June 2023 (30 June 2022: £1,880,584).
- Exploration assets increased to £13,588,729 at 30 June 2023 compared to £11,903,312 at 30 June 2022.
- The cumulative translation losses held in equity increased by £750,896 in the period ended 30 June 2023 to £2,040,311 (31 December 2022: loss of £1,289,415). Much of the Company's exploration costs are in Swedish Krona which has weakened against the GB Pound Sterling since 31 December 2022.
- At 30 June 2023, there were 907,945,973 Swedish Depository Receipts representing 78.46 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company. The remaining issued share capital of the Company is held in the UK.
Ed Bowie, Chief Executive Officer of Beowulf, commented:
“It is a pleasure to join the Company at this exciting time. During my first two weeks in post, I visited the Company’s assets and met with key stakeholders in each of the three countries in which we operate. While there is significant work to be done, it is pleasing to see the significant potential of each project and receive support from local stakeholders.
“The focus of the Beowulf Board and management over the coming months is to advance each project and begin to realise their underlying value. I would like to thank the Company’s shareholders for their ongoing support and look forward to providing updates to the market in due course.”
Enquiries:
| Beowulf Mining plc | |
| Ed Bowie, Chief Executive Officer | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7583 8304 |
| SP Angel(Nominated Adviser & Broker) | |
| Ewan Leggat / Stuart Gledhill / Adam Cowl | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
| BlytheRay | |
| Tim Blythe / Megan Ray | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7138 3204 |
Cautionary Statement
Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to the Company’s current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as “may”, “might”, “seeks”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “believes”, “projects”, “plans”, strategy”, “forecast” and similar expressions. These statements reflect management’s expectations and assumptions in light of currently available information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to , (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf’s continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from those presented and forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecast.
About Beowulf Mining plc
Beowulf Mining plc ("Beowulf" or the "Company") is an exploration and development company, listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the Spotlight Exchange in Sweden. The Company listed in Sweden in 2008 and, at 30 June 2023, was 78.46 per cent owned by Swedish shareholders.
Beowulf’s purpose is to be a responsible and innovative company that creates value for our shareholders, wider society and the environment, through sustainably producing critical raw materials, which includes iron ore, graphite and base metals, needed for the transition to a Green Economy.
The Company has an attractive portfolio of assets, including commodities such as iron ore, graphite, gold and base metals, with activities in exploration, the development of mines and downstream production in Sweden, Finland and Kosovo.
The Company's most advanced project is the Kallak iron ore asset in northern Sweden from which testwork has produced a 'market leading' magnetite concentrate of 71.5 per cent iron content. In the Kallak area, the Mineral Resources of the deposits have been classified according to the PERC Standards 2017, as was reported by the Company via RNS on 25 May 2021, based on a revised resource estimation by Baker Geological Services. The total Measured and Indicated resource reports at 132 million tonnes ("Mt") grading 28.3 per cent iron ("Fe"), with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 39 Mt grading 27.1 per cent Fe.
In Finland, Grafintec, a wholly-owned subsidiary, is developing a resource footprint of natural flake graphite and the capability to serve the anode manufacturing industry. Grafintec is working towards creating a sustainable value chain in Finland from high quality natural flake graphite resources to anode material production, leveraging renewable power, targeting Net Zero CO2 emissions across the supply chain.
In Kosovo, the Company owns approximately 61.1 per cent of Vardar Minerals (“Vardar”), which is focused on exploration in the Tethyan Belt, a major orogenic metallogenic province for gold and base metals. Vardar is delivering exciting results for its Mitrovica licence which has several exploration targets, including lead, zinc, copper and gold. It also has the Viti and Shala licence areas which are showing potential for copper-gold porphyry mineralisation. With Beowulf's support, Vardar is focused on making a discovery.
Kallak is the foundation asset of the Company, and, with Grafintec and Vardar, each business area displays strong prospects, presents opportunities to grow, with near-term and longer-term value-inflection points.
Beowulf wants to be recognised for living its values of Respect, Partnership and Responsibility. The Company’s ESG Policy is available on the website following the link below: