Vast Resources raises £1m in Friday placing

AIM-listed polymetallic mining outfit Vast Resources has raised £1m via a placing of 188.67m ordinary shares at a price of 0.53p each, on par with its closing price on Thursday.

Vast, which has operating mines in Romania and Zimbabwe, told investors the funds raised in the placing would be used to add value to its operations by increasing resources and reserves and, where possible, acquire several significant minority stakes in new ventures.

The group recently revealed that insufficient funding for pre-stripping activity, coupled with a planned stoppage of operations, had depressed mill feed volumes at its Manaila project in Romania below Vast’s targeted 15,000 tonnes per month, leading to plant overheads not being fully recovered and resulting in cash costs of concentrate exceeding realisable sales values per tonne.

Following admission of the new shares to trading on 8 November, Vast will have a total of 5.79bn shares in circulation.

The placing was undertaken by the company’s joint broker SVS Securities.

As of 1410 GMT, Vast shares had picked up 1.90% to 0.54p.