PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Bauxite developer Metro Mining has successfully raised A$38-million to advance its Bauxite Hills project, in Queensland, after successfully completing an institutional placement bookbuild.
The company on Wednesday said that the institutional placement, which had been priced at 13.5c a share, had been heavily oversubscribed, with strong support from existing and new institutional investors.
“We are delighted by the success of the institutional placement which generated exceptional demand from leading institutional investors. The bookbuild closed quickly and well above target,” said Metro MD Simon Finnis.
“The institutional placement completes Metro’s funding journey. We are fully funded and are now immediately commencing full construction of the Bauxite Hills mine. Metro will become a leading Cape York bauxite producer early next year,” Finnis added.
Construction on the A$35.8-million Bauxite Hills mine will start in the second half of this year, with first production scheduled for April next year. The project is expected to produce at an initial rate of two-million tonnes a year ramping up to six-million tonnes a year in the fourth year of operation, with expansion capital estimated at around A$36.7-million.