Montezuma cap raising falls short of $3m target

Montezuma Mining Company Ltd has failed to reach a capital raising target of $3 million, after an underwhelming response from investors.

The Perth-based gold miner said it had been advised by Perth broker Cunningham Securities that due to current market conditions the underwriting agreement had lapsed without raising the full target.

Montezuma has instead raised a total of $655,750 before costs from a private placement of over 4 million shares at 15 cents each, with a 1 for 4 free attaching listed option.

The company originally had up to 15 million shares at 20 cents on offer, with a free attaching option exercisable at 20 cents for every 4 shares issued under the placement.

Montezuma said it was currently making arrangements to instigate a share purchase plan to provide additional funding for the company's exploration programs at Peak Hill, Mt Padbury and Callawa.

The majority of fthe funding will be directed at the flagship Peak Hill mine programme where Montezuma is building on existing resources of in excess of 200,000oz of gold with an initial target resource of over 500,000oz and production within three years.

Shares in Montezuma slipped 1 cent, or 6.67 per cent, to close at 14 cents each today.