African Pioneer raises £1.8m to advance Namibian copper/gold projects
London-listed African Pioneer has raised £1.8-million through a large equity fundraising to fund further technical work at its Ongombo and Ongeama copper/gold projects, in Namibia, and to support working capital across the group.
The exploration and resource development company said it would issue 200-million new ordinary shares at a price of 0.90p a share, raising gross proceeds of £1.8-million.
The fundraising price represents a discount of 10% to the closing middle market price of 1.0p on January 30, 2026. The new shares represent about 71.83% of the company’s existing issued share capital and will rank equally with existing shares.
The fundraising comprises a placing of more than 88.1-million shares, raising £793 000 through Shard Capital Partners, and a direct subscription by existing shareholders and directors for more than 111.8-million shares, raising £1.01-million.
Each fundraising share carries one warrant exercisable at 1.6p a share for a period of two years from admission, subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting. The warrant exercise price represents a premium of 77.77% to the fundraising price.
In addition, Shard Capital Partners will receive broker warrants to subscribe for more than 2.9-million shares at the same warrant price, exercisable for two years from admission, which are not subject to shareholder approval.
African Pioneer said the net proceeds would be used primarily to advance project activities at the Ongombo and Ongeama copper gold projects, with additional funding allocated to exploration licences in Zambia, a strategic review of projects in Botswana and general working capital requirements.
The company has completed an internal review of the Ongombo and adjoining Ongeama projects and plans to begin a mine development drilling programme.
According to African Pioneer, the drilling is intended to provide final geotechnical data for both openpit and underground mine design, as well as additional resource drilling aimed at confirming orebody continuity and potentially extending the current openpit footprint. The company said recent increases in copper, gold and silver prices have supported a review of mine design and processing capacity.
At Ongombo, drilling will target extensions to the existing starter pit, which is estimated at one-million tonnes grading 1.33% copper, 0.17 g/t gold and 6.3 g/t silver.
Additional drilling is planned to test up-dip extensions of mineralisation, under-explored zones identified through geophysical surveys, and higher-grade shoots at the Ongeama South project.
The work will be undertaken within mining licence ML240 and exploration licences EPL5772 and EPL6011. The original Joint Ore Reserves Committee (Jorc) 2012 mineral resource estimate for the combined project area stands at 29-million tonnes at 1.1% copper equivalent.
In Zambia, African Pioneer plans additional ground geophysical surveys across four exploration licences, followed by drilling aimed at testing near-surface copper mineralisation identified through regional geochemical surveys in the External Fold and Thrust Belt.
In Botswana, the company said it would continue to review strategic options for its licences in consultation with an external geological consultant specialising in copper geology.
To conserve cash, African Pioneer will also settle accrued fees owed to directors and consultants through the issue of new shares at the fundraising price. Fees of £368 667 owed to certain directors will be settled through the issue of more than 40.9-million shares, while £40 040 owed to consultants will be settled through the issue of more than 4.4-million shares.
The company also disclosed that, following the fundraising, the issue of fee conversion shares and the recent sale of shares by Tiger Alpha, the aggregated holding of a previously disclosed concert party will be diluted to 26.82%. As a result, any future purchase by a concert party member that increases the aggregate holding above 30% would trigger a mandatory takeover offer.
“This fundraising will allow the company to focus on the technical evaluation on the Ongombo and Ongeama licences in Namibia before proceeding to the feasibility study and if appropriate thereafter, mine construction. The Ongombo project has the advantage of 300 000 t of contained copper with open potential for additional resource. The project is . . . well located, some 25 km from . . . Windhoek and has a mining licence in place,” African Pioneer executive chairperson Colin Bird said on February 2.
“In addition, we have highly prospective copper exploration licences in Northwest Zambia, some 100 km from the Ivanhoe Kamoa operating mine. These licences are situated in the Western Foreland geological architecture as well as the Fold and Thrust Belt. We intend to progress these licences in the coming dry season,” he added.
