Greatland Gold raises $35m in oversubscribed placing

Greatland Gold announced it had raised $35m (£29.7m) in an oversubscribed placing on Friday, to fund its ongoing development at Havieron.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following “strong demand” in the bookbuild, the total gross proceeds increased from the minimum amount of $30m, to $35m.

It said a total of 362,880,180 shares were placed at a price of 8.2p each, representing a discount of 15.5% to the closing mid-market share price on 23 August.

The company said it intended to use the net proceeds to fund the continued development of Havieron as described in the pre-feasibility study in conjunction with its joint venture partner Newcrest Mining, and to continue drilling the Havieron deposit to explore and grow the wider resource.

It would also use the money to undertake exploration activities on its wholly-owned licences to target new Havieron-like discoveries in the Paterson region, and to fund working capital and general corporate activities.

“This placing strengthens our balance sheet and provides added flexibility for Greatland's ongoing 30% participation in the development of the potentially world-class Havieron gold-copper project,” said managing director Shaun Day.

“The equity raising will provide the company the opportunity to add a significant institutional presence to our share registry, reflecting the increasing maturity of our business and the value proposition of Greatland Gold.”

In particular, Day said the “cornerstone participation” of Tribeca Investment Partners as a new shareholder was “greatly valued”, together with its broader statement offering to work with Greatland to possibly provide ongoing financial support for the firm.

“This equity raising follows the successful and recent conclusion of the 5% option process which was resolved with Greatland retaining its 30% interest in Havieron, the best possible outcome available to Greatland and its shareholders.”

At 1241 BST, shares in Greatland Gold were down 8.6% at 8.5p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.