JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Alecto Minerals has raised £600 000 by way of a placing, through Hume Capital Securities, of 200-million new ordinary shares of 0.01p apiece in the capital of the company at a price of 0.3p a placing share.

The net proceeds of the placing with certain new and existing shareholders would provide the company with additional working capital as it progressed discussions to form potential joint ventures (JVs) for the advancement or early monetisation of opportunities across its gold portfolio in Africa.

This as the group continued to explore and evaluate potential attractive opportunities to expand its asset base, it said on Thursday.

Alecto CEO Mark Jones said the company was delighted to have successfully raised £600 000 in the prevailing difficult market conditions for the natural resources sector. 

“The additional funds will further enable us to position our portfolio effectively, while at the same time working towards a more advanced project that the company believes can be funded through to production. 

“A stronger balance sheet improves our negotiating position in JV and acquisition discussions. While the placing price, at a discount of 40% to the closing bid price per share on January 14, reflects the funding challenges facing exploration companies in today’s market, it puts the company in a much stronger and better position to achieve its goals in 2015,” he outlined.

The company’s core portfolio comprised the recently acquired Kerboulé gold project, in Burkina Faso, where the company was focused on delineating a Joint Ore Reserve Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource estimate in 2015, as well as the Kossanto East gold project, where the company had identified a Jorc-compliant inferred resource estimate of 247 000 oz of gold.

In addition, Alecto continued to hold early-stage discussions regarding a potential JV for the advancement of the Kossanto West gold project.

It also currently had two gold projects in Ethiopia, which were subject to a JV with Egypt-focused Centamin.