Potash developer Emmerson has entered into a subscription agreement with Global Sustainable Minerals (GSM) which will see the company gaining a 20.3% shareholding in Emmerson.

GSM will have the right to appoint a representative to the Emmerson board of directors.

GSM is subscribing for 90.7-million Emmerson shares worth $2-million, at a placing price of 1.75p apiece, while another investor Gold Quay Capital is investing $175 000 for just under eight-million shares.

Upon completion of the subscriptions, Gold Quay will own 2.64% of Emmerson’s issued share capital.

Both investors will receive a warrant to subscribe for new shares for each share subscribed, with an exercise price of 3p by December 31.

Emmerson will use these proceeds, as well as proceeds from another share offer on the REX platform, to advance studies in respect of its newly developed Khemisset Multimineral Process (KMP) technology, as well as for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process on the Khemisset project, in Morocco.

Emmerson had to submit a revised EIA to the country’s Commission Régionale Unifiée d'Investissement (CRUI) authority to address concerns raised by the CRUI previously, as well as detail other improvements.

The company incorporated technology called the KMP into the revised EIA, which it believes will notably reduce the mine’s water consumption and eliminate brine disposal.

The CRUI is expected to review the revised EIA over the coming weeks, which incorporates a scoping study on the KMP processing route. Emmerson plans to advance the technology to feasibility study stage next.

“While we maintain the previous EIA submission was adequate, we believe this, in addition to the previous optimisations, makes the revised EIA even more environmentally robust, and addresses all material concerns related to water that have been raised in the past,” says Emmerson CEO Graham Clarke.

He adds that the Khemisset project is world-class, but with the addition of the KMP processing route, it represents a truly unique multinutrient producer.

By offering a full suite of fertilisers containing potash, phosphates and nitrogen, as well as magnesium and iron, from one deposit, it represents a solution to the challenges of food insecurity in some regions unlike any other mine in the world, Clarke adds.

RETAIL OFFER

To enable the company’s existing shareholders to participate at the same placing price of 1.75p as the subscription investors, Emmerson will make available a retail offer of shares on the REX platform.

The retail offer is dependent on the completion of the subscription.

The REX retail offer is open to investors in the UK at a total value up to £240 000.

AJ Bell Securities, Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management and Interactive Investors Services have indicated their interest in participating in the retail offer.