Harare – AIM listed Premier African Minerals says it has received notice from Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Industry that is has secured a proposed investment of $6-million for the RHA Tungsten project being developed by Premier, subject to the completion of necessary agreements.

Through the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, the Government owns 51 percent stake in RHA Tungsten Mine while Premier holds the difference.

Of late, following amendment of the Act the miner has been trying to get the Zimbabwe authorities to agree on a debt-to-equity swap which would have seen its holding in RHA increase to 90 percent from 49 percent.

In an announcement on its website, the miner said the letter also states that Zimdiv Holdings Limited, which is a wholly subsidiary of Premier and which manages the RHA Mine, will be awarded another management agreement on similar terms to the management agreement which was entered into on 23 September 2013, adding that the Company will provide further updates once the agreements have been signed.

Premier African Minerals Limited (AIM: PREM) is a multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company focused on Southern Africa with its RHA and Zulu projects in Zimbabwe.

Tungsten's many alloys have numerous applications, including incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes (as both the filament and target), electrodes in gas tungsten arc welding, superalloys, and radiation shielding. Tungsten's hardness and high density give it military applications in penetrating projectiles. Tungsten compounds are also often used as industrial catalysts.

The worldwide market for Tungsten Electrode is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 1.8 percent over the next five years, will reach 100 million US$ in 2024, from 93 million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study. This report focuses on the Tungsten Electrode in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.

The RHA Project is located in an area of historic production, approximately 270km northwest of Bulawayo. Premier has advanced the RHA project from an exploration project through to a producing tungsten mining operation.

The project comprises 50 Mineral Claim Blocks, covering 1,800 hectares, consisting of 10 owned by Premier and 40 which are under option. Small-scale surface and underground mining was conducted at the site between 1931 and 1979. Total production from the RHA mine was 1,247.65 tonnes of wolframite concentrate, containing 65% WO3.

The deposit is approximately 800m in strike length and 300m wide. Premier African recently announced a resource of 22.14 million tonnes at 2.45kg per tonne in both the underground and open pit operations.

To date, Premier African Minerals has invested around US$18million in the acquisition and development of the mine as well as the plant and necessary infrastructure.

The processing plant is a conventional gravity processing plant with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes per month. The plant is equipped with an XRT sorter to upgrade the feed to the plant and hence reduce the overall operating costs.

The plant produces a commercial tungsten concentrate (in excess of 60% W03) and the Company currently has an offtake agreement with Noble Resources.

Total production from the RHA and Tung Mines was 1 247,65 tonnes of wolframite concentrate, containing 65 percent WO3.

According to Premier, deepening its vertical shaft will see RHA producing Tungsten at a rate not greater than 10,000 tons per month even after upgrade of the hoist system. At 10 000 tons per month the Company will be earning about $303 000 000 given the average 2018 prices.

The Company has a diverse portfolio of projects, which include tungsten, rare earth elements, lithium and tantalum in Zimbabwe, encompassing brownfield projects with near-term production potential to grass-roots exploration.

In addition, the Company holds 5,010,333 shares in Circum Minerals Limited ("Circum"), the owners of the Danakil Potash Project in Ethiopia, which has the potential to be a world class asset.

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