JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Savannah Resources on Friday advised that it had raised about £1.3-million through the placing of 29.48-million new ordinary shares with new and existing investors.

The funds would be used for general working capital to fast-track exploration and development at the company’s copper portfolio in the Oman Ophiolite belt, as well as to advance the Jangamo heavy mineral sands project, in Mozambique.

Following the placing, the company’s pro forma cash position was £2.3-million.

"Following the expansion of our copper initiatives in Oman this week with the addition of the highly prospective Block 4 copper project, the placing provides us with a very comfortable level of cash and current assets that will be applied to accelerating the tempo of exploration and evaluation of our copper projects in Oman; and to advancing our highly-prospective Jangamo heavy minerals sands project,” Savannah CEO David Archer said.

He noted that the company’s major near-term objectives were to announce a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource for the Jangamo project by the end of the year, followed by ground geophysics and drilling on Block 5 and the flying of a versatile time domain electromagnetic survey over Block 4 to further prove the prospectivity of the copper projects.

Meanwhile, Savannah on Friday also announced that its private placing agreement with Bergen Opportunity Fund had been terminated by mutual consent. 

Savannah entered into the $6.3-million agreement with Bergen in April this year, under which Savannah agreed to place up to $5.9-million worth of new ordinary shares in the company.

The company stated that no funds had been drawn down under the facility since October.

“The facility has been a useful bridge that provided the company with requisite working capital. Bergen has been a good corporate citizen in its dealings with Savannah, and the company appreciates Bergen’s support and flexibility in its dealings,” Savannah said.