Perth-based gold and base metals explorer Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) has opened a share purchase plan (SPP) to raise $2 million to support its Feysville and Mandilla projects in Western Australia.
The company, which has a $52.08 million market capitalisation, says under the SPP, eligible shareholders will have the opportunity to apply for up to $30,000 worth of new shares at an issue price of $0.065 per share without incurring brokerage or other transaction costs.
This price represents a discount of 18.75% to the last closing price of shares on the ASX immediately prior to 31 July 2023, when the SPP was first announced, and is the same issue price as Astral’s $3 million share placement, announced on the same day.
The cash boost is expected to be used to fund a 3,000m reverse circulation (RC) exploration program at the company’s Feysville Gold Project, as well as a 4,000m RC drilling program at its Mandilla Gold Project, where drilling will follow up on previous ‘high-grade’ assays and infill the southeast area of the Theia deposit.
Further, the funds are expected to advance a Scoping Study at Mandilla, which remains on track to be released later this year.
Astral reports that the funds will also be used to undertake a diamond drilling program at Theia to test current ‘high-priority’ targets, as well as any potentially faulted mineralised offsets and ‘high-grade’ trends identified from an ongoing structural review.
The company notes it reserves absolute discretion regarding the final amount raised under the SPP, meaning it can accept oversubscriptions or close the SPP early and scale back applications as it pleases should it receive subscriptions above the $2 million sought.
The SPP is scheduled to close at 5pm (AWST) on 1 September 2023.
Astral Resources is an ASX-listed gold and base metals explorer focused on its portfolio of projects in the Kalgoorlie-Kambalda region of Western Australia.
The company’s Mandilla project is located about 70km south of the township of Kalgoorlie and 20km east of Kambalada, while Feysville is situated about 14km south of the Golden Mile deposit at Kalgoorlie.
Astral Resources had $1.3 million cash at hand as of 30 June 2023, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Astral Resources NL
