Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) has tapped domestic and international investors to raise $25 million to underpin an expanded exploration campaign at its core Dalgaranga Project in Western Australia.
The $342.44 million market capitalisation company says funds will be raised through a placement of 62.5 million new Spartan shares — about 7% of existing shares on issue — at $0.40 per share, a premium of about 3% to the last closing price of $0.39 per share before the placement.
Canaccord Genuity (Australia) and Ashanti Capital are acting as joint lead managers to the placement, whereas Herbert Smith Freehills is acting as legal advisor.
Upon completion of the placement, Spartan is expected to have $53.2 million cash at hand, which will be used to drill out the Never Never Deeps deposit and grow the ‘high-grade’ resource beyond the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) update scheduled for December 2023.
Funds will also be used to drill out multiple new ‘high-grade’ discoveries immediately along strike to include them in the resource, as well as finalise a Feasibility Study on a fully integrated restart of the Dalgaranga Project based on Spartan’s new ‘high-grade’ strategy and general working capital.
Targets to be included in the resource are the Four Pillars, West Winds, Arc, and Ink discoveries.
Spartan Resources Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Simon Lawson says the company is now in an ‘outstanding’ position to capitalise on what has been an ‘exceptional’ year in 2023.
“The funds raised will be earmarked to delivering resource growth above the scheduled MRE update in December 2023, targeting the next leg of resource growth at Dalgaranga and ensuring we can maintain our current exploration momentum.”
Spartan Resources is an ASX-listed gold company currently undergoing a transformational restructure and repositioning as an ‘advanced explorer’ with a rapid pathway towards production at its Dalgaranga Project.
The project produced over 70,000 ounces of gold in FY22 before being placed on care and maintenance in November 2022.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Spartan Resources
