PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Bardoc Gold is looking to raise A$24-million through a share placement to fund a definitive feasibility study (DFS) on its Bardoc gold project, in Western Australia, and to complete front-end engineering design work while also securing long-lead items ahead of a final investment decision.

Bardoc told shareholders on Wednesday that the company had received firm commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors for a share placement comprising 307.6-million shares, at a price of 7.8c a share.

The issue price represented a 13.3% discount to Bardoc’s last closing price on July 3, and a 9.1% discount to the company’s five-day volume weighted average share price.

The shares will be placed under the company’s existing placement capacity.

“This is a landmark capital raising for the company that will result in the introduction of a number of new Tier 1 institutional and strategic investors to our registers. These are investors who are willing to follow their money and back us as we make the transition from explorer to developer to producer over the next 12 to 18 months,” said CEO Robert Ryan.

“The success of this raising reflects the growing level of recognition within the market that Bardoc is one of the few advanced gold developers which is now ready to take the next step and become one of the next midtier gold producers on the ASX.”

The funds will be used to fast-track the ongoing DFS and mining studies for the 3.02-million-ounce project, as well as to accelerate exploration work across the company’s tenements with a view to further expanding and upgrading the existing resource.

“We see the next phase of activity as very much a continuation of the strategy we have been pursuing over the past three years, with the three key elements comprising aggressive exploration to grow our resource base, selective and value-accretive acquisitions and mergers, and the completion of high-quality development studies to progress the Bardoc gold project towards production,” said Ryan.

Bardoc will have cash of more than A$35-million at the end of the raising, giving the company the financial flexibility to advance the next stage of a multi-pronged growth strategy in the Kalgoorlie district.

A previously completed prefeasibility study into the Bardoc project has forecast an average annual production of 135 000 oz at an all-in sustaining cost of A$1 220/oz. The study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$1 424-million to bring it into production.