La Mancha Resource Fund, a Luxembourg-based deep value fund focused on investments in the precious and energy transition metals space, plans to acquire a 19.9% shareholdings in Canadian mineral exploration company Miata Metals Corp, through a strategic private placement of about 31-million Miata shares for about C$12.7-million.

The subscription by La Mancha Resource Fund is being made concurrently with, and at the same price as, a C$7.5-million brokered bought-deal offering, taking the combined gross proceeds of the financing to about C$20.2-million.

On completion, the fund will become Miata's largest shareholder, giving it the right to have a nominee appointed to Miata’s board and the right to propose the appointment of a second nominee, subject to minimum ownership and board size thresholds and approval of Miata’s board.

TSX-V-, OTCQX- and FSE-listed Miata holds a 70% interest in the Sela Creek and Nassau gold projects, in the greenstone belt of Suriname, which is part of the wider Guiana Shield.

The investment by La Mancha Resource Fund deepens the fund’s exposure to the Guiana Shield, which La Mancha Resource Capital regards as one of the world’s most prospective yet underexplored gold regions. It also reflects La Mancha’s conviction in the region, the strength of Miata’s team and the potential for the Sela Creek project to emerge as a significant gold system.

“We are pleased to confirm that the fund will be joining Miata as a cornerstone investor and a long-term strategic and supportive shareholder. This investment is an earlier-stage entry than much of the fund's portfolio, allowing us to build further on our presence in a region we consider highly prospective and in which we have already developed significant regional experience and expertise.

"We believe Miata has made great progress at Sela Creek in a short period and we see an attractive opportunity to accelerate that work over the coming years, with conviction that the team will be able to delineate a project of material scale. We look forward to working with the company through this exciting period," comments La Mancha Resource Capital chief technical officer Jack Lunnon.

“We are pleased to welcome La Mancha as a strategic investor in Miata. The La Mancha group brings extensive technical, mine-development and capital markets experience that will complement the capabilities of our management and technical teams as we continue advancing Sela Creek.

"The combined financing provides Miata with additional capital to expand exploration across the Sela Creek project, while strengthening the company’s technical and strategic support. With multiple mineralised areas now being advanced at Sela Creek, this investment positions Miata to accelerate drilling and continue evaluating the broader scale of the gold system,” says Miata CEO Dr Jacob Verbaas.

Miata states on its website that the Sela Creek and Nassau projects both host significant, large-scale artisanal gold mining indicative of potentially district-scale orebodies.