PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Syrah Resources will raise A$112-million through a fully underwritten share placement and a convertible note deed.

The company on Friday revealed that it will undertake a fully underwritten placement to professional and sophisticated investors, with some 62.2-million new shares being issued at a price of 90c each, to raise an initial A$56-million.

The offer price represented a 11.3% discount to Syrah’s last closing price on December 8, and an 11.2% discount to the company’s five-day volume weighted average share price.

Furthermore, the company has also reached an agreement with its largest shareholder, AustralianSuper, to subscribe for convertible notes worth A$56-million.

The notes will be issued in two tranches, with the first of A$28-million to be issued before the end of March 2021, and the second A$28-million before the end of June the same year.

The issue of the convertible notes would be subject to the completion of the share placement, as well as shareholder approval, with a meeting scheduled for late February 2021.

In addition to the share placement and convertible note issue, Syrah on Friday said that it would also offer eligible shareholders the opportunity to take part in a share purchase plan (SPP), aimed at raising a further A$12-million.

The SPP will also be priced at 90c a share, and would allow shareholders to subscribe for up to A$30 000 worth of additional shares in the company.

The SPP will open on December 21, and will close on January 20.

Syrah told shareholders that proceeds from the capital raise would go towards progressing the Vidalia battery anode material project towards a final investment decision, as well as providing additional liquidity to manage a restart decision at its Balama graphite project, in Mozambique, in an orderly manner, subject to market demand conditions.

Funds will also go towards general corporate purposes.

Production at Balama was suspended in March this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll.

Meanwhile, a recent bankable feasibility study into the expansion of Syrah’s active anode material (AAM) production facility in Vidalia, in the US, confirmed that 10 000 t/y of AAM could be produced through the expansion of existing plant and infrastructure at Syrah’s 25-acre industrial site.

The facility currently has a production capacity of 5 000 t/y of unpurified spherical graphite and 200 t/y of purified spherical graphite to battery specification.