JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed manganese development and iron-ore exploration company Ferrex has raised £835 000, before expenses, through the placing of 127-million new ordinary shares to provide working capital to finalise the construction of its flagship Nayega manganese project in Togo, West Africa.

Ferrex had finalised an accelerated start-up production plan for the 250 000 t/y project, which would deliver manganese ore production and near-term cash flow within eight months of commissioning.

"We are delighted to have received such strong support from our shareholders for this placing. With these funds. . . initial production [is] currently anticipated at the beginning of 2016, subject to finalis[ing] the mining convention and secur[ing] the mining permit,” Ferrex CE Dave Reeves said.

He added that the company was in discussions with numerous interested parties about funding for Nayega, which was being developed as a low capital expenditure, openpit operation.

It intended to enter into a memorandum of understanding in the near future with one or more preferred parties to finalise these discussions. In particular, one party had progressed to providing a term sheet to Ferrex which, if the transaction was concluded, would see an equity investment in the company at a significant premium to the issue price in return for a substantial stake in the company.

“The proceeds of the fundraising give Ferrex cash headroom to consider the options available to it. These proceeds will be used primarily to provide general working capital until these discussions are concluded,” the company said in statement.

“The directors may, however, decide to commit some of the funds towards [a] due diligence by one or more of the third parties considering providing financing for Nayega at either the project or company level,” it added.

In the meantime, the company continued to work with the Togo government towards the conclusion of the mining convention, which was the penultimate item for the issuance of the mining permit over Nayega. The company still expected  to conclude the mining convention by the end of the first quarter.