Gold and nickel play in Canada, Aston Minerals (ASO), has secured more than $29 million through an equity raise priced mostly at a premium.
Shares under the $7.75 million placement were offered at 14.5 cents, representing a 10 per cent discount to the previous closing price. The company’s executive chairman and stock market entrepreneur Tolga Komova will himself invest $2.5 million, pending shareholder approval.
The remaining funds, more than $21.5 million, were raised via a flow-through placement, which provides tax incentives for Canadian investors. This raise was priced at a premium of nearly 28 per cent.
ASO shares traded down as much as 9.3 per cent on the news.
Meanwhile, Kogi Iron (KFE) is looking for $5 million to support its 2022 goals.
It’s raised $1.73 million through a placement priced at 0.8 cents and has launched a $3.3 million share purchase plan.
It’ll use the funds to advance work at its iron ore projects in Western Australia and in Nigeria.
Kogi is planning an initial 5000-metre drilling program in the Pilbara.
The company has a market cap above $13 million and, in the wake of the capital raising announcement, its shares have traded down 20 per cent.
Carnarvon Energy (CVN) has completed its $70 million placement to finance further work on the offshore Dorado oil development about 150 kilometres north of Port Hedland. It has a 20 per cent interest in the project with partner, Santos.
Although CVN’s raise was fully underwritten, Chief Financial Officer Thomson Naude said it was completely funded by professional and institutional investors.
“We’re seeking to be final investment decision ready by the middle of this year,” he said.
“Raising this $70 million is a big de-risking event and will allow us to complete the remaining financing process for Dorado.
“We’re seeking to be ready for first oil by the end of 2025.”
Carnarvon Energy is about to drill at its Apus-1 well, which Mr Naude said could deliver more than 200 million barrels of oil.
The company has a market cap approaching $500 million and share trade has held up above the 30-cent raise issue price.
This week’s IPO
Far East Gold (FEG) has been trading up as much as 50 per cent after raising $11.73 million in its IPO raise with 20-cent shares.
The company brings together a portfolio of six projects: half in Indonesia, the rest in central Queensland.
Far East Gold’s co-founder and chair Paul Walker told Deal Room that the time was right to list on the ASX to access capital and provide greater shareholder liquidity.
“We thought it was the right time for us to take these assets to the next stage,” he said.
“We had a number of options in terms of capitalising the next development, but we have six very good projects which require further development to take them to the next level of their lifecycle.
“To do that we needed capital, and, we also thought it was an opportunity to provide liquidity to the investors who have been on the journey so far.
“It’s really exciting for us as a management team, with the support we had going into the IPO from the broad range of investors. For them to get this result straight off the bat is encouraging, it means that people are seeing value in the projects and the team that we’ve pulled together.”
FEG has a market cap above $60 million and share trade has been hovering around the 30-cent mark.
Two companies are in trading halts ahead of capital raising announcements: Arizona Lithium (AZL) and Tasfoods (TFL).
Those companies are due to provide capital raising details by the end of the week.