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- Gold and copper explorer Alice Queen (AQX) has frozen its shares until next week as it irons out the details of an upcoming capital raise
- The details of the capital raise will be revealed next Wednesday, August 26
- At June-quarter spending levels, Alice Queen currently has just under a year left of funds in the bank
- The company said it focussed on drilling at its Horn Island and Boda East projects over the June quarter
- Looking ahead, joint venture partner and listed gold big-cap St Barbara Mining (SBM) will spend $2 million on Horn Island this financial year
- This is as per an earn-in deal struck between Alice Queen and St Barbara in June 2019
- Shares in Alice Queen last traded for 4.9 cents each yesterday afternoon
Gold and copper explorer Alice Queen (AQX) has frozen its shares until next week as it irons out the details of an upcoming capital raise.
The amount the company plans to raise and where the funds will go will be revealed when the company comes out of its trading halt on Wednesday, August 26.
In its latest quarterly report, released in late July, Alice Queen said it spent the June quarter focussing on exploration work at its Horn Island Gold Project in Queensland and its Boda East Copper-Gold Project in New South Wales.
Looking ahead, however, the company said joint venture partner St Barbara Mining (SBM) was planning to spend up to $2 million on drill testing it Horn Island gold resource this financial year. With a $2.4 billion market cap, St Barbara is one of the biggest gold stocks on the ASX.
St Barbara is busy earning a 70 per cent interest in the Horn Island Project by spending $4 million on exploration before June 2022. The earn-in deal was struck in June 2019.
As per the deal, St Barbara spent $500,000 on the Horn Island project over the 2020 financial year.
Taking a look at Alice Queen’s financial position, the upcoming capital raise may provide some balance-sheet breathing room as the company continues to drill across its project portfolio.
As the end of June, Alice Queen had just over $2.9 million cash in the bank after going cashflow-negative by around $788,000 over the quarter. At this level of spending, this means the company has under a year of funds remaining.
By exactly how much the company plans to bolster this financial position, however, is yet to be seen.
Shares in Alice Queen last traded for 4.9 cents each yesterday afternoon. The company has a $45.65 million market cap.
