Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB) has secured firm commitments for a $12.5 million placement to fund underground drilling and resource conversion work at its Shafter Silver Project in Texas, US.
The placement comprises 22.7 million new shares priced at $0.55 each, representing a 16.0% discount to its last traded price. Executive Chairman Matthew Hayes also intends to subscribe for $500,000, subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting in early to mid-November 2026.
CEO Dennis Lindgren says the strong support for the raise reflects ‘growing’ recognition of what Shafter represents — “a past-producing, high-grade silver project in Texas with genuine restart optionality”.
“This funding lets us move straight to the work that matters, getting underground and drilling to grow and define the Shafter resource, converting the foreign estimate to JORC, and progressing engineering studies that will underpin a restart decision,” Lindgren says.
Black Bear has earmarked proceeds across four key areas: stage one underground drilling targeting resource growth and definition, resource validation and infill drilling, permitting and engineering studies, and working capital.
Shafter hosts a foreign mineral resource estimate of 17.57 million ounces (Moz) of silver (Ag) at 289 grams per tonne Ag under Canadian NI 43-101 standards.
The deposit includes a permitted Merrill-Crowe processing plant, grid-connected power, water rights, and over 160km of historic underground workings. The historic Presidio Mine previously produced roughly 35.2Moz Ag at average grades of 521g/t Ag.
Settlement is scheduled for 3 September 2026, with allotment and quotation the following day (4 September).
Canaccord Genuity acted as sole lead manager and bookrunner for this placement.
Black Bear Minerals is a mineral explorer and developer focused on gold, silver, and lithium assets in tier one mining jurisdictions across North America.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Black Bear Minerals
