Premier African Minerals, a London-listed miner, has experienced a 15% decline in its shares as operational issues at its Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe have raised concerns about its ability to fulfill an upcoming order.
As of 1548 GMT, the company's shares have dropped by 0.06 pence to 0.38 pence.
The miner announced on Friday that its capacity to deliver 1,000 metric tons of spodumene by November 25th, as stipulated in its off-take and prepayment agreement with Canmax Technologies, is contingent upon the resolution of certain commissioning and optimization challenges.
Among these challenges, the miner mentioned ongoing difficulties with the ore sorter, instrumentation, and material-flow, in addition to previous optimization issues at the plant.
"Our top priority at this time is to meet the initial shipment target date, and we will provide further updates in due course," stated Chief Executive George Roach.
In a separate development, the miner revealed that Stark International Projects, the operator of the plant, has agreed to receive $2.5 million in shares at a price of 0.44 pence each.
