PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior metals explorer Ardea Resources has raised A$5.5-million in a share placement to sophisticated and professional investors, to accelerate drill programmes at its KNP cobalt project, in Western Australia.
Some 7.6-million new fully paid ordinary shares would be issued under the company’s existing capacity, with the shares placed at a price of 72.5c each.
On the settlement of the share placement, Ardea will have more than A$12-million in cash, with the company saying on Friday that the exploration work planned at KNP would expedite the completion of a prefeasibility study at the project, which had previously been scheduled for 2018, while also bringing forward a definitive feasibility study.
The KNP project is currently estimated to host a mineral resource of 64.4-million tonnes, grading 0.13% cobalt and 0.77% nickel, for some 386 400 t of contained cobalt metal, making it Australia’s largest cobalt deposit.
Funds raised would also be used to employ additional technical staff and drill-out its noncore gold and base metals projects, to evaluate potential further work, joint venture or spin-out opportunities.