South Perth-based Noble Mineral Resources has received firm commitments for a $30 million placement to fund an extensive drilling campaign at its gold project in Ghana.
South Perth-based Noble Mineral Resources has received firm commitments for a $30 million placement to fund an extensive drilling campaign at its gold project in Ghana.
Noble will issue 77 million shares at 39 cents each in two tranches.
The placement was undertaken by BGF Equities and Patersons Securities as Joint Lead Managers.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange Noble, said that the funds will be used to underpin an aggressive exploration campaign at the Bibiani Gold Project, which will see up to five rigs operating at the same time.
Noble managing director Wayne Norris said the Bibiani Project was going from strength to strength.
"We are well on track to commission the plant in May-June next year and ramping up quickly to a production rate of + 150,000 oz a year," Mr Norris said.
"However, with the aggressive drilling campaign that is about to start and the superb results being achieved with the mill refurbishment, we see significant scope to increase our annual output.
"It is clear that Noble is fast emerging as a major West African gold producer that will have substantial production with robust margins and significant exploration upside."
See company statement below:
Noble Mineral Resources (ASX:NMG) is pleased to advise that it has received firm commitments for the placement of 77m shares at 39 cents to raise $30m to fund an extensive drilling campaign that is expected to result in substantial increases in reserves and resources at its Bibiani Gold Project in Ghana.
The capital raising will be completed in two tranches. Tranche one will comprise the issue of 44m shares and tranche two, comprising 33m shares, will be issued subject to shareholder approval at an EGM to be convened at a later date.
The placement was undertaken by BGF Equities and Paterson Securities as Joint Lead Managers and reported strong interest from domestic and Asian based institutions.
The proceeds will be used to underpin an aggressive exploration campaign at Bibiani, which will see up to five rigs operating at the same time, drilling as many as 55,000m a month for the next 12 months.
The results of the drilling program are expected to generate a series of regular reserve and resource upgrades at Bibiani. Resources currently stand at 1.98m ounces, including 605,000oz in reserves.
The first phase of this drilling campaign will focus on the west wall of the main pit which was initially earmarked for a significant cut back. However, recent data compilation and subsequent remodelling, coupled with recent drilling from underground which intersected substantial mineralisation to within 300m of the surface, indicates that a significant portion of this area is mineralised and remains open.
Drilling will now take place from the surface to confirm the extent of mineralisation in this area with a view to including it in the resource-reserve model.
Noble believes the strong potential for this region to be reclassified as ore represents a highly significant point in the re-development of Bibiani. Under this scenario, the Company will re-optimise the pit design, review its mining schedule and reassess other operational requirements to ensure it takes full advantage of what would be a substantial boost to the project's life and economics.
Noble also notes that the expansion of the cutback of the western wall will enable the pit to be deepened, allowing access to mineralisation previously classified as underground ore reserves to be exploited by much cheaper open cut mining methods.
Part of the proceeds from the share placement will also be used to fund infill drilling around known satellite deposits at Bibiani to enable this mineralisation to be brought into the resource-reserve estimate.
Noble managing Director Wayne Norris said the Bibiani Project was going from strength to strength. Refurbishing of the processing plant was proceeding rapidly, with the latest assessment suggesting that its total annual capacity would now be up to 3.2 million tonnes compared with initial estimates of 2.7 million tonnes. This refurbishment, which is forecast to cost about $12 million, is being funded from existing cash reserves and will not consume any of the proceeds of the current raising.
"We are well on track to commission the plant in May-June next year and ramping up quickly to a production rate of + 150,000oz a year," Mr Norris said. "However, with the aggressive drilling campaign that is about to start and the superb results being achieved with the mill refurbishment, we see significant scope to increase our annual output.
"It is clear that Noble is fast emerging as a major West African gold producer that will have substantial production with robust margins and significant exploration upside."
