Pioneer rattles tin for $5.6m

Perth-based explorer Pioneer Resources has tapped investors for a $5.62 million capital raising to fund ongoing work at its lithium, gold and nickel projects in Western Australia and Canada.

Pioneer raised $3.21 million through the placement of 89.3 million shares to investors of Sanlam Private Wealth at 3.6 cents each, and also plans to raise a further $2.5 million by way of a share purchase plan.

The SPP will be priced the same as the placement, and is a 20.6 per cent discount to Pioneer’s five-day volume weighted average price.

“We are delighted with the response from investors to the company’s share placement, which we see as strong validation of our ongoing, targeted exploration programs,” Pioneer managing director David Crook said.

“We are now pleased to offer the SPP to existing eligible shareholders on the same terms as the placement, providing the opportunity to increase shareholdings in the company as it enters a very exciting and active exploration phase.”

The proceeds of the raising will be used to fund exploration work at its Mavis lithium project in Ontario, including field surveys and drilling, and similar work at its lithium, nickel and gold exploration projects in WA.

Last week, Pioneer announced it had completed due diligence on the purchase of the Mavis project, which involves an initial exploration commitment of $1.55 million to earn a 51 per cent stake, followed by staged exploration payments of up to $8.8 million to earn up to 80 per cent.

Pioneer shares were 17.3 per cent lower to 3.8 cents each at 10:30am.