Welcome to our roundup of some of the most read-worthy mining investment, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com from the last week.
Financing news
Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has received firm commitments to raise A$41.5M from Australian and overseas institutional and professional investors under a placement of fully paid ordinary shares.
The placement was strongly supported by new and existing investors from around the globe and reflects significant interest in Arafura’s tier 1 asset and vertically integrated corporate strategy, as well as the company’s potential to deliver a secure and sustainable supply of NdPr Oxide into the global market for electric vehicles and renewables use.
Funds raised from the placement will be used to accelerate development of the Nolans Project.
Northern Ireland-based miner Galantas Gold Corporation (TSXV & AIM: GAL) has closed a loan agreement for US$530,000 with Ocean Partners UK Ltd.
Proceeds from the loan will be used to fund development of the underground mining operations at the Omagh Gold Project in Northern Ireland and working capital.
We also learnt that Tudor Gold Corp. (TSXV:TUD) has entered into an agreement with Research Capital Corporation, as lead agent and sole bookrunner on behalf of a syndicate of agents, in connection with a private placement offering for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$7M.
The offering is scheduled to close on or about 25 August 2022.
New exploration and development
In development news, Giga Metals Corp. (TSXV: GIGA) has completed its 2022 geotechnical site investigations on the company’s Turnagain Nickel/Cobalt Project in British Columbia, Canada.
Mark Jarvis, the company’s CEO, said, “The successful acquisition of this geotechnical information will allow us to advance engineering of the Turnagain project to the Pre-Feasibility level of detail.”
KEFI Gold & Copper (AIM: KEFI) continues to make positive licencing progress on the Jibal Qutman project, plus the award of two further exploration licences through the company’s Gold and Minerals Limited (G&M) joint venture in Saudi Arabia.
“We are extremely excited to announce the positive conclusion of the land access issue which has delayed the development of the Jibal Qutman project since 2016,” Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, executive chairman of KEFI, said.
Drilling results
American West Metals Limited (ASX: AW1) has obtained further outstanding visual results for another four diamond drill holes completed by the company at the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada.
Dave O’Neill, the company’s managing director, said, “The results show strong continuity between the thick historical copper intersections at the 2750N Zone where we are aiming to define a shallow copper resource that can support a low-footprint direct shipping ore (DSO) mining proposal.”
Much further south, in Brazil, Cerrado Gold Inc. (TSXV: CERT | OTCQX: CRDOF) has unveiled further assay results from its ongoing infill drill programme at the Serra Alta deposit at its Monte do Carmo Project, located in Tocantins State, Brazil.
Drill Hole highlights from the latest results include hole FSA-241 – 71m at 2.50 g/t Au from 113m, including 6.5m at 17.28 g/t Au from 119m; and hole FSA-249 – 25m at 3.23 g/t Au from 55m, including 2m at 19.76 g/t Au from 78m.
Finally, we heard how Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH/TSXV: HCH) has received the company’s highest ever grade copper results with new drilling at the Valentina project in Chile.
First assays returned from drilling across the historical Valentina high-grade copper mine confirm a significant 120m strike extension to the deposit, recording 8.0m grading 5.9% CuEq (5.7% copper (Cu), 24.1g/t silver (Ag)) from 27m downhole in reverse circulation (RC) drill hole VAP0009.
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