IBI Corporation: New Progress At Namekara Vermiculite Site
TORONTO, ONTARIO--IBI Corporation (YIB-CDNX) (the "Company"), a junior mining and investment company, provides the following update following the listing this week of its common shares on Tier 3 of the Canadian Venture Exchange ("CDNX"):
Building Construction
Construction of the planned processing building is scheduled to start next week, and to be completed within approximately 60 days. Cost is budgeted at US$50,000. The building will house the processing machinery and provide covered storage for both unprocessed and processed material.
Much of the initial processing machinery has been fabricated in nearby Mbale and is being prepared for testing. The machinery will carry out the functions of milling, partial drying, cleaning and grading, along with required material handling.
Exfoliation Plant
In the press release #120 dated December 21, 2000, the Company announced the signing of a letter of intent with a new business in Kampala being set-up to exfoliate vermiculite for the local markets. Subsequently, as a result of ongoing discussions, one of the partners in the business, Mr Garry Sutherland from Kenya, has agreed to join Canmin Resources Limited ("Canmin") and set-up and manage an exfoliation facility for the Company.
This division of Canmin will focus on domestic agricultural and building materials markets in Uganda. Planned production will initially be in the order of 2,000 tonnes of raw vermiculite.
The estimated capital cost of the facility will be US$50,000, and the machinery will be fabricated concurrently with set-up of the mine processing plant.
Mr Hans Hansen, managing director of Canmin has advised that "this facility will enhance the presence of Canmin in Uganda and provide a first hand opportunity to learn more about the ultimate marketplace for vermiculite."
Markets
A number of Middle East and European prospective customers continue in dialogue with Canmin in connection with contemplated initial orders and delivery dates to follow completion of construction of the processing facility.
Canmin has received a serious enquiry from a long-standing UK exfoliator wishing to establish an exclusive supply agreement for their exfoliation plant and to also have exclusive distribution rights for the UK. Samples have been supplied and are currently being laboratory tested.
Gary A. Fitchett, President and CEO of the parent Company, stated that "the $1 billion resource of vermiculite (as reported on the business pages of the Uganda New Vision newspaper in September 1999) with its outstanding physical characteristics of large flakes, unique cuboidal exfoliation, and complete absence of asbestos fibres, is attracting a lot of interest in the marketplace. It would also appear that prospective customers are welcoming new competition in the market."
Private Placement
The private placement announced February 21, 2000 of 12,500,000 units priced at $0.04 each, and increased by a further 2,000,000 units on October 30, 2000, has been increased to approximately 20,000,000 units in late December 2000 to provide additional funding to satisfy the conditions for listing required by CDNX. Subscriptions have been finalized and total funding received was approximately $800,000 for 20,000,000 units.
The additional private placement funds of $260,000 received to the date of clearance of the listing conditions and bridge financing loans of $115,000 received from certain directors provided total funding of $375,000, which exceeded the required condition amount of $300,000. The bridge financing is to be repaid from the proceeds of the exercise of warrants from the rights offering.
The Company is now proceeding to close the private placement.
Extension of Warrants from 1999 Rights Offering
Because of the delay in finalizing the listing status of the Company, the expiry date for the exercise of these $0.06 warrants has been extended until Friday, February 16, 2001, subject to the approval of the CDNX.
There are currently approximately 13,000,000 warrants outstanding. If all were to be exercised, the Company would receive additional working capital and funding for new projects of $780,000.
Account Receivable - James A. Stephenson
The Company has taken legal action against a former officer for an amount unpaid of $115,000 from the exercise of incentive options. Discoveries have been completed, and no new matters were revealed to alter the Company's claim. The matter has now been set down for trial.
Common Shares Outstanding
The Company has 204,952,878 shares issued, before the closing of the private placement announced February 21, 2000 and updated above.
The Canadian Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. |
