PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Bathurst Resources has completed a NZ$18.9-million share placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.
The ASX-listed miner said on Thursday that it had placed some 104.9-million shares, at NZ$0.18 each.
“The net proceeds of the placement will provide the company with working capital to fund its existing operations and the resource consenting process for the Escarpment project, which is now at an advanced stage,” said Bathurst chairperson Craig Munro.
He noted that once resource consent had been obtained, Bathurst would reassess its funding needs for the development of the Escarpment project as well as other development opportunities, with a view to becoming New Zealand’s pre-eminent coal producer.
The Escarpment project forms part of the greater Buller coal project and was expected to add some 225 direct jobs and around 800 indirect jobs to the region, as well as NZ$45-million a year in royalties and taxes from a production base of one-million tons of coal a year.
Meanwhile, Munro noted that Bathurst was considering offering a share placement plan to eligible shareholders, capped at 5% of the company’s shares, in order to allow shareholders to participate in the capital raising.