Latin Resources (ASX: LRS) has announced a ‘transformational’ $35M capital raise to fund development at its Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil.
The company reports that it has received firm commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors at an issue price of $0.16 per new ordinary share, representing a 13.5% discount to the last closing price pre-transaction, and an 8.3% premium to the 10-day VWAP.
The raise was supported by a cornerstone $15M investment from a subsidiary of ‘highly experienced’ lithium investor Waratah Capital Advisers. The company’s President and Managing Director Ernie Ortiz said: “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to invest in Latin Resources. The Salinas Lithium Project shows potential to become a significant lithium operation. We are excited about our partnership with Latin to advance its Salinas Lithium Project.”
Latin Resources Managing Director Chris Gale added: “Our results at Salinas have been exceptional, revealing we have some very high-grade lithium spodumene mineralisation. We consider that winning the support of a technical-focused group, like Waratah’s E&D fund, who are very well-versed on the lithium sector, is a big tick of approval for what we are doing and where we are headed with our Salinas Lithium Project.
“Our results at Salinas have been exceptional, revealing we have some very high-grade lithium spodumene mineralisation”
What’s really exciting is the roadmap ahead for LRS shareholders. We are relatively early in the discovery phase of our Salinas Lithium Project, and we have much work ahead of us, however the level of attention we are receiving from industry players suggests we are not alone in thinking that Latin has a chance to develop a highly valuable lithium project in Brazil.”
Funds raised will support an aggressive resource definition program at the project’s Bananal Valley prospect, with a total of four rigs working to complete 25,000m of drilling, leading up to a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate.
An additional 5,000m of exploration drilling is planned for the Monte Alto and Salinas South prospects.
In parallel, Latin will continue work to complete a pre-feasibility study at its Cloud Nine Halloysite-Kaolin Deposit in Western Australia, along with regional exploration.
