London-listed URA Holdings has raised £240 000 through a placing and subscription to buy critical equipment and machinery required for the restart of the Gravelotte emerald mine, in Limpopo, South Africa.
Chairperson Ed Nealon says existing shareholders participated in the placing, including himself for 625 000 shares worth £15 000 and director Peter Redmond for the same amount.
The placing and subscription comprised ten-million new ordinary shares issued at a price of 2.4p apiece, as well as 125 000 warrants to Peterhouse Capital at an exercise price of 2.4p apiece for a period of three years.
URA in June completed essential workstreams at the 74%-owned Gravelotte emerald mine, ahead of restarting mining operations.
The company upgraded the site’s water supply and water storage capacity for processing operations, site security and main haulage roads between the openpits and processing plant.
URA also upgraded the site’s main electrical infrastructure and rehabilitated 1.5 ha of historic gold slimes and tailings.
Gravelotte was the largest emerald mine globally in the 1950s and 1960s, with 113-million carats having been recovered over its lifespan from 1929 to 2002.
URA identified 29-million carats of contained emeralds in what had been the project’s first-ever code-compliant independent resource.