JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Armadale Capital has raised £700 000 through the placement of 20-million new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the capital of the company at a price of 3.5p apiece with institutional and other investors.
The funds would allow the miner to continue the development of its Mpokoto gold project, in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, by starting groundworks in conjunction with drilling.
The funds would also be used for the completion of the definitive feasibility study (DFS), targeted for the third quarter.
Mpokoto had a resource of 678 000 oz at 1.45 g/t gold. Production was on track to start in the first half of 2016, at a rate of about 25 000 oz/y over a nine-year mine life.
“Having recently raised £400 000, we are delighted to have further bolstered our cash balance with this placing. We are optimistic that the DFS results will further enhance our already favourable project economics, which includes a net present valuation of $32.3-million based on a forecast gold price of $1 100/oz,” Armadale director Justin Lewis said.
He added that completion of the DFS would represent another major development milestone and, importantly, form the basis of definitive agreements with Africa Mining Contracting Services group to fund, build and operate the Mpokoto mine.
“With funding secured and a defined route to production in place, which includes the recently finalised process route for gold recovery, I am delighted with the excellent progress we continue to make in advancing Mpokoto into production,” he noted.