London Stock Exchange-listed mining and exploration junior, Premier African Minerals Limited, has issued over 5.7 billion new shares to Canmax Technologies Co., Ltd., converting close to US$940,000 in accrued interest into equity, as the two companies continue to deepen their strategic collaboration on the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in Fort Rixon, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The transaction, which sees £688,957.63 (US$938,755.14) worth of interest transformed into 5,741,313,598 ordinary shares, follows the terms laid out in an amended offtake and prepayment agreement between the two parties. The shares, priced at 0.012 pence each—the same as the direct subscription announced on 11 June 2025—are expected to be admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange around 8 July 2025.
The new shares will rank equally with existing ordinary shares. Upon issuance, Premier’s total issued share capital will stand at just over 76 billion shares, which shareholders may use as a new benchmark for disclosing ownership under the UK’s financial transparency regulations.
This equity conversion is part of a broader realignment of the commercial relationship between Premier and Canmax. In December 2024, both companies amended their original 2022 offtake and prepayment agreement after Premier defaulted on its obligation to deliver a minimum of 1,000 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate per month in late 2023. The company had secured US$34.64 million in prepayments from Canmax to construct and commission the Zulu Lithium plant.
Due to the missed deliveries in November and December 2023, Canmax carried forward a balance of US$3 million and raised the applicable interest rate on the outstanding amount to 12% per annum from 1 December 2023. Despite these setbacks, Canmax remained supportive, opting for a collaborative path rather than invoking more severe contractual remedies.
The most recent amendment, announced late last year, includes several key safeguards designed to protect Canmax’s investment while giving Premier time to find new partners and stabilise production. The Long Stop Date for Premier to settle its obligations was extended to 31 December 2025 or until the company secures a Canmax-approved buyer for the lithium product. Among the conditions, Premier must not pledge its assets without written consent from Canmax and must maintain financial transparency and operational compliance. Premier’s board members have also personally committed to fulfilling these obligations.
Importantly, Canmax now retains the right to partially convert outstanding obligations into Premier shares, maintaining a 13.38% stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.
Premier’s CEO, George Roach, has previously acknowledged the challenges faced in bringing Zulu Lithium into full production but maintains confidence in the project’s potential and Canmax’s ongoing support.
With this share issuance and Canmax’s growing equity stake, the relationship between the two companies appears to be evolving from simple prepayment-for-offtake terms into a more strategic, equity-based partnership. For Zimbabwe, this signals renewed investor confidence in one of its most prominent lithium projects—a critical mineral for the global electric vehicle and energy storage sectors.
As the Zulu project edges closer to stabilised production, Canmax’s involvement will likely provide not just capital, but crucial technical oversight and market credibility, potentially positioning Zulu Lithium as a long-term player in Africa’s rapidly expanding battery minerals landscape.
