Once a troubled manganese explorer that was placed in administration, Shaw River Manganese is now expanding its portfolio in a bid to return to being an ASX-listed explorer.

As part of its facelift, the company (ASX:SRR) will rebrand itself Rolek Resources after it struck a deal to acquire several exploration licences prospective for beryllium, lithium, tantalum, nickel and cobalt in the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne and Murchison regions of WA.

Beryllium is one of the lightest metals and has one of the highest melting points of light metals. It is used to make mobile phones, missiles and aircraft.

While manganese will still be one of the commodities the company will be exploring for, the move constitutes a change in activities for Shaw River, so it will need to re-comply with the ASX listing rules.

The company is undertaking a $5 million capital raising, offering 250 million shares at 2c each – this would give Rolek a market value of about $8.9 million on listing.

Rolek Resources, Shaw River Manganese
Rolek’s projects in WA

Shaw River was placed in voluntary administration at the start of 2016 after manganese prices slumped by over 50 per cent in 2015 and it was unable to raise more cash from shareholders.

The company emerged from administration in August this year after it negotiated a recapitalisation deal and the sale of its Otjozondu manganese project in Namibia.

Shaw River’s goal is to relist as Rolek in late October, trading under the ticker “RLK”.