LUCARA FACES DELISTING RISK AS IT SCRAMBLES FOR CASH TO SAVE KAROWE MINE PROJECT

Article By: Gilbert Manenye

Diamond miner Lucara is racing to secure emergency funding to keep the Karowe underground project running, a move that has pushed the company into a regulatory zone that now includes delisting risk.

According to its recent filing on the BSE, Lucara has applied to the Toronto Stock Exchange for a financial hardship exemption that would allow it to raise 165 million Canadian dollars, equivalent to over 1.6 billion Pula, through a deeply discounted share sale without shareholder approval.

Under the plan, more than one billion new shares will be issued at sixteen Canadian cents each with a large portion of the funding coming from Lucara's largest shareholder, the Lundin Family Trusts, which is expected to invest over 54 million Canadian Dollars.

As Lucara seeks the exemption, the Toronto Stock Exchange has since placed Lucara shares under delisting review.