PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Rex Minerals will raise A$8-million in a share placement to institutional and sophisticated investors.

The company on Thursday said it had received firm commitments for the issue of 40-million new fully paid ordinary shares, priced at 20c each, which will be issued under the company’s existing 15% placement capacity.

The issue price represented a 20% discount to Rex’s last closing price, and a 16.8% discount to the company’s 30-day volume weighted average share price.

Participants in the placement will also receive one unlisted option for every two shares subscribed for, with an exercise price of 30c each and an expiry date of August 2024.

“This capital raising provides Rex with a significant working capital buffer to see us comfortably through completion of the equity and debt funding processes for Hillside, leading to the near-term development of a new copper mine in Australia,” said MD and CEO Richard Laufmann.

“In making this strategic and timely placement, we appreciate the strong support of our current key investors, and we are very pleased to welcome further additional high-quality institutional investors to the company’s register.”

Rex earlier this year announced it was hunting for a partner for the Hillside project, in South Australia, and in its quarterly reports released at the end of July noted that it was in advanced stages with "highly credible parties" evaluating a Stage 1 development.

A 2022 feasibility study estimated that the Stage 1 project would produce 42 000 t/y of copper and 30 000 oz/y of gold over an 11-year mine life, with the project estimated to require a capital investment of A$854-million. Key approvals are in place to allow for the start of development and operations, and the feasibility study targeted first concentrate by the fourth quarter of 2025.

The subsequent Stage 2 will extend mine life past 20 years and adds an additional 479 000 t of contained copper to the operational plan.