Premier African Minerals has raised about £1.2 million to restart its Zulu lithium project in Zimbabwe. The money will pay for a short test run of the plant, not a full return to production.
The company, which trades on London’s AIM market, said it raised the cash before expenses through a direct subscription from institutional and professional investors. It issued 27,522,935,780 new shares at 0.00436 pence each.
The proceeds will mostly cover running costs at the site, including staff, diesel, reagents, consumables and payments to essential creditors. Premier said the plan could include restarting the processing plant and bringing mining crews back.
A shorter, cheaper restart plan
Premier has changed its approach. It had planned to build a larger stockpile of mined ore before restarting processing. Instead, it will run about 13,000 tonnes of ore already sitting on the run of mine pad through the plant in a campaign expected to last roughly 15 days.
The goal is to stabilize the plant and measure how much ore it can handle, how much lithium and tantalum it recovers, and how good the product is. Managing Director Graham Hill said a successful run would give the board, shareholders and possible funders “clearer insight into Zulu’s potential.” Future funding and development decisions will depend on the results.
The cost to shareholders
The price of the raise is steep. Premier had about 50.1 billion shares in issue before the subscription. The new shares equal roughly 55% of that total and will make up about 35.5% of the enlarged company, which will have close to 77.6 billion shares.
It is also not the first time Premier has gone back to investors for the Zulu lithium project. In May 2024, the company raised about £1.25 million at 0.16 pence a share. Eight months later, it raised £1.2 million in a placing at 0.0275 pence. The latest price is about 97% below the 2024 level.
What Premier now has to prove
Market commentators describe the round as buying a test, not financing a ramp up. Premier needs to show three things, they say: that the plant can run for an extended period, that it can produce saleable spodumene at acceptable recovery rates, and that the evidence is strong enough to attract a more stable source of money.
Premier also holds the RHA Tungsten project in Zimbabwe and interests in rare earths, lithium, tantalum and gold across Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the Zulu lithium project is the asset the market is watching.
In short, the next two weeks of operations will decide whether investors see a working mine or another round of dilution.
