Minera IRL Limited
(“Minera IRL” or “the Company”)
Hidefield Gold Limited
(“Hidefield”)
Mineral IRL Acquisition of Hidefield Effective
London, 21 December, 2009: Minera IRL and Hidefield are pleased to announce
that further to the announcement released on 20 October 2009, all of the
conditions to the scheme of arrangement ("Scheme") between Hidefield and its
shareholders have been satisfied and the Scheme has become effective as of
today.
The key assets in this transaction are the Don Nicolas Project where
approximately 360,000 ounces of gold has been defined and a large exploration
holding of some 250,000 hectares containing a number of promising exploration
prospects. These are located in the mining friendly state of Santa Cruz in
Southern Argentina.
Courtney Chamberlain, Executive Chairman of Minera IRL stated: “The completion
of the Hidefield transaction provides Minera IRL with an excellent opportunity
to extend its business of gold mining, development and exploration into
Argentina. We believe there is excellent potential to extend the resource base
at the Don Nicolas Project and to advance this project rapidly toward
development. To achieve this, and also explore for new discoveries within this
emerging gold district, the Minera IRL Board has approved a substantial budget
of approximately US$5 million for 2010. The Board of Directors will also be
strengthened with the inclusion of Kenneth Judge, the former Chairman of
Hidefield. I extend him a warm welcome.”
In accordance with the Scheme, a total of 9,767,291 new shares of Minera IRL
(“New Minera Shares”) were issued today to Hidefield Shareholders on the
register at 6.00 p.m. (UK) on 17 December 2009 (“Scheme Shareholders”) on the
basis of 1 New Minera Share for every 42 Scheme Shares held at that time. The
New Minera Shares will rank pari passu with the existing issued ordinary shares
of Minera IRL and trading of these shares on AIM is expected to commence at
8:00 a.m. (UK) on 22 December 2009.
The total number of Minera IRL ordinary shares in issue following this issue is
85,575,173.
The CREST accounts of Scheme Shareholders holding Scheme Shares in
uncertificated form are expected to be credited on 22 December 2009. Share
certificates for the New Minera Shares will be dispatched to Scheme Shareholders
holding Scheme Shares in certificated form on or before 5 January 2010.
Hidefield Shares are currently suspended from trading on AIM and Hidefield has
applied for their admission to AIM to be cancelled on 22 December at 7:00 a.m.
(UK). Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited, as operator of the CREST system, will be
instructed to cancel Scheme Shareholders’ entitlements to Scheme Shares held in
uncertificated form. All certificates representing Scheme Shares have ceased to
be valid.
Any term used but not defined in this announcement is as defined in the scheme
document sent to shareholders of Hidefield on 3 November 2009.
For more information contact:
Minera IRL +511 4181230
Courtney Chamberlain, Executive Chairman
Trish Kent, Vice President, Corporate Relations
Hidefield +44 (0) 7733001002
Ken Judge, Chairman
Arbuthnot Securities (Nominated Adviser &
Broker to Minera IRL, London) + 44 (0)20 7012 2000
John Prior
Edward Burbidge
Fox-Davies Capital (Co-broker to Minera IRL London) + 44 (0)20 7936 5200
James Hehn
Westhouse Securities (Financial Adviser, Nominated
Adviser & Broker to Hidefield)
Tim Feather or Matthew Johnson +44 (0)20 7601 6100
Bankside Consultants (Financial PR, London) + 44 (0)20 7367 8888
Simon Rothschild
Louise Mason
Synergy Asociados (Public Relations, Lima) +511 628 6300
Magaly Villena + 511 99855 2232
Minera IRL Limited (“MIRL”) is the AIM and BVL, Lima, Peru listed holding
company of precious metals mining and exploration companies focused in Latin
America. MIRL is led by an experienced senior management team with extensive
industry experience, particularly in operating in South America. The Group
operates the Corihuarmi Gold Mine and the emerging Ollachea Gold Project in
Peru.
www.minera-irl.com <
http://www.minera-irl.com/>
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