Benz Mining (ASX:BNZ) has received firm commitments for an institutional placement of 40.4 million new chess depositary interests at $3.71 per share to raise $150 million.
The placement, which represents no discount to the company’s last closing price on 21 August, intends to fund an expanded 450,000m drilling campaign at the Glenburgh Gold Project in Western Australia.
According to Benz, proceeds will add six drill rigs to the current eight-rig fleet, bringing the on-site operation to 14 rigs across 20 shifts to accelerate preparation of a maiden mineral resource estimate targeted for H1 2027.
Additional funds will advance geological modelling, assay analysis, technical studies, field activities, and permitting across the company’s project portfolio.
Chair Evan Cranston says Benz is advancing Glenburgh at “a pace that very few gold projects in Australia can currently match”.
“Our planned 450,000m drill program is one of the country’s most aggressive gold exploration campaigns and, by scale, among the largest globally,” Cranston says.
“The reason we are drilling at this intensity is simple: the more systematically we drill Glenburgh, the more compelling the scale of the opportunity becomes.
“This funding enables us to bring forward a huge amount of drilling, compress the exploration timeline, and move Glenburgh rapidly towards a defined resource and, ultimately, development.”
Located in WA’s Gascoyne region, Glenburgh is Benz’s flagship, district-scale gold asset with a previously announced maiden exploration target of 485 million tonnes (Mt) to 540Mt at 0.6 grams per tonne gold (Au) to 0.7g/t Au for 10.1 million ounces (Moz) to 12Moz.
Settlement is expected on 28 August, with new shares to commence trading on 31 August under existing placement capacity pursuant to ASX listing rule 7.1.
Canaccord Genuity Australia acted as global coordinator, joint lead manager, and sole bookrunner for this placement. Euroz Hartleys Group served as joint lead manager; and Shaw and Partners as co-manager.
Benz Mining is a pure-play gold explorer with assets in Western Australia and Canada.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Benz Mining
