HAILEYBURY (miningweekly.com) – Shareholders of JSE-listed Metorex on Tuesday approved a share issue to raise cash, which the company says it needs to finance the completion and production ramp-up of its now overdue Ruashi copper/cobalt project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Metorex announced earlier this month that it planned to raise R744-million by selling 372-million shares at R2 each, and had arranged for a R178-million bridging finance loan from Standard Bank. The miner had also restructured about R2-billion of its medium-term debt.

The company said a week later that CEO Charles Needham had agreed to step down as soon as a replacement could be found.

Shareholders approved the issuance of new shares at a general meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Metorex declined 2,38% on Tuesday, to R2,05 by 17:24 in Johannesburg. The stock has lost more than 90% of its value this year.

The company owns operations in South Africa, Zambia, the DRC, and explores in Mozambique, the Central African Republic and Ghana.

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