Hart backs Emerald placement

Emerald Oil & Gas intends to raise about $5.7 million through a placement to sophisticated investor clients of Perth stockbroking firm Euroz.

Former Regis Resources operation director Morgan Hart will emerge with an interest of about 19.7 per cent of the new capital structure.

Mr Hart resigned as a director of Regis in February after a number of operational setbacks, including low ore grades and flood damage at the company’s Duketon gold project, which hindered production and subsequently bumped Regis from the S&P/ASX 100 index earlier in the month.

Mr Hart will be invited to join the board of Emerald, subject to shareholder approval.

“We are delighted to have attracted Mr Hart as an investor of Emerald and we look forward to his contribution as the board strives to rebuild shareholder value following the takeover by Confederate Capital,” Emerald non-executive chairman Ross Williams said.

The proposed placement involves the issue of approximately 457.3 million shares at an issue price of 1.25 cents per share, which represents a premium of 15.7 per cent to the average price for the last 30 trading days. 

Proceeds from the raising will be used to increase the cash reserves of Emerald for the continued evaluation of its core operating asset in Magoffin County, Kentucky, and to pursue more significant opportunities in the oil and gas and broader resources industry.

Emerald’s share price rose by 23 per cent to 1.6 cents at 10:45am WST.