PERTH (miningweekly.com) – US-focused Peninsula Energy has signed a $69.4-million funding deal to fund the remaining construction and Stage 1 ramp-up of its Lance uranium project, in Wyoming.

The fully underwritten institutional funding included a $16.8-million placement to Resource Capital Fund, with the shares priced at 2c each, one free attaching option attached to every two shares.

The financing also included an entitlement offer to shareholders to raise some $52.6-million, with the shares to be priced at 2c each, and with one free attaching option also attached to every two shares.

Resource Capital Fund and Pala Investments have also provided a further $17.8-million stand-by debt facility, guaranteeing the non-institutional shareholder entitlement offer.

Both Resource Capital Fund and Pala Investment would be offered a seat at the Peninsula board, as non-executive directors.

“Securing this funding is a defining achievement for the company as it enables us to transition to a uranium produce in 2015,” said Peninsula’s CEO Gus Simpson.

The funds raised would be used for the construction and ramp-up of Stage 1 of the Lance project, through to the point of positive free cash flow. The funds would also be used towards the repayment of current fund notes, which have a maturity date of December 2014.

Peninsula was hoping to start uranium production from its Lance projects by the first half of 2015, under a newly approved scalable production plan.

Under the first stage, Lance would produce between 500 000 lb and 700 000 lb of uranium oxide (U3O8) a year, which would be increased to 1.2-million pounds a year. The Stage 3 development would further increase production to a rate of 2.3-million pounds of U3O8 a year.

Simpson said that as Stage 1 of the Lace project was now fully funded, the structure and composition of the company’s board was being reviewed, allowing for board roles to be consistent with the corporate governance structure of a producing mining company.