Highfield, Venturex to boost capital

Junior explorers Highfield Resources and Venturex Resources have braved an uncertain market, announcing plans to raise up to $16.4 million collectively.

Highfield announced today it would make a $10 million placement to Owen Hegarty’s EMR Capital, in two tranches.

The first tranche will be priced at 21.6 cents per share, to raise just over $5.12 million, while the second tranche, which is subject to shareholder approval, will be priced at 30 cents, to raise $4.87 million.

Under the agreement, EMR has the right to appoint a director to the Highfield board.

EMR is a recently established institutional fund led by industry executives Owen Hegarty, Jason Chang and Richard Crookes.

Highfield said the funds would be used to progress feasibility studies on two of its Spanish potash projects.

“The board views this significant placement as a strong vote of confidence in the robustness of the company’s advanced Spanish potash projects,” managing director Anthony Hall said in a statement.

“EMR is a strong institutional shareholder that will add considerable value to Highfield’s strategic goals.”

At 1:30PM, WST, Highfield’s stock was steady at 23 cents.

Meanwhile, Venturex Resources has announced a $6.4 million capital raising plan to fund resource growth and exploration activities at its Pilbara copper-zinc project.

Venturex told the ASX today it would raise the funds though a $1.2 million placement, priced at 2 cents per share, to major shareholder Henghou Industries, and a 2 for 11 rights issue for existing shareholders to raise the balance.

The rights issue will also be priced at 2 cents per share.

Venturex said the initiative would ensure it was fully funded for the next 12 months.

The company also said today that non-executive directors Allan Trench and John Nitschke had announced their resignations from the company’s board of directors.

Venturex did not name their replacements.

At 1:30PM, WST, Venturex shares were down 15.4 per cent, trading at 2.2 cents.