PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior AuTECO Minerals on Thursday announced plans for a A$9-million capital raise to fast-track exploration at its Pickle Crow gold project, in Ontario.

The ASX-listed company has received firm commitments for the placement of 180-million fully paid ordinary shares, at a price of 5c each to institutional, sophisticated and professional investors.

The issue price represented a 12.3% discount to AuTECO’s last trading price and a 16.1% discount to the company’s 15-day volume weighted average share price.

“Funds from the placement will enable us to fast-track regional exploration work during the winter drill season, in addition to further increasing the size and quality of our existing 2.2-million-ounce at 7.8 g/t gold inferred resource at Pickle Crow,” said executive chairperson Ray Shorrocks.

“The quality of the institutions attracted signals the market’s confidence in our dual strategy of growing the high-grade gold resource in the shadow of the mine’s historic headframe, while also drilling our 500 km² of exploration claims to test the scale of the system.

“The regional exploration potential is immense, and we are just starting to unlock the discovery potential geologically. The significant interest in the Placement, which was well supported, also reflects the work delivered to date at Pickle Crow, which has demonstrated the potential to significantly grow resources in the short-term and long-term.”