Manila Mining plans P 519-M share sale

Manila Mining Corp. plans to raise about P519 million via a stock rights offering (SRO) to finance exploration activities in its mining tenements located in Placer, Surigao del Norte.

As outlined in its preliminary prospectus, the listed company aims to sell up to 51.9 billion common shares priced at a maximum of P0.01 per share, with an entitlement ratio of one share for every five common shares held.

Shares to be offered have yet to be created and are still subject to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval to raise Manila Mining’s authorized capital stock to P4.6 billion from P2.6 billion.

The firm will lodge an application to hike its capital within 15 days after the end of the offer period.

The SRO will run from May 16 to May 20, with the listing date on the Philippine Stock Exchange yet to be determined.

According to Manila Mining, F. Yap Securities Inc. and chair Felipe Yap will subscribe to the SRO as well as any allocations that will not be taken up by other qualified stockholders.

Penta Capital & Investment Corp., the underwriter of the offering, has committed to fully take up all the unsubscribed shares.

Net proceeds from this transaction will fund Manila Mining’s exploration program, settlement of liabilities and working capital.

Gold-rich

Manila Mining, an affiliate of listed Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., is awaiting approval for its exploration work program covering its Placer project.

This was as the firm discovered Ntina Deeps, a gold-rich copper resource below its previous mine site, along with other prospective copper-gold deposits, such as Ophelia, Suyoc, Nene and Mapaso.

“A review of the completed resource block model and resource estimate for the Ntina complex beneath near surface epithermal style mineralization was able to identify two zones of higher grade mineralization. These two zones occur on the northeast and southwest sides of the Ntina drilled area and appear to dip steeply to the north and south, respectively,” it said.

Manila Mining said the program would involve the drilling of 13 drill holes with a total length of 14,370 meters starting the second quarter of 2022 and utilizing two diamond drill rigs. INQ