19 December 2024
The Australian - Antipa’s $16m placement backed by Lion Selection and North American resources institutions
- Antipa Minerals’ $16m placement to advance Minyari Dome towards final investment decision
- Support received from several new, long only specialist North American resources institutions
- Existing Antipa shareholder and highly regarded resources investor, Lion Selection Group increased its holding by a further $1m
Special Report: Investors have demonstrated their confidence in Antipa Minerals and its assets in WA’s Paterson Province by backing a $16m placement to advance Minyari Dome project technical studies towards a final investment decision whilst continuing discovery and growth exploration drilling programmes.
Firm commitments for the placement of ~640m shares priced at 2.5c each were received from new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors.
Notably, the placement introduced several long only specialist North American resources institutions to the register while existing shareholder and highly regarded resources investor, Lion Selection Group (ASX:LSX) increased its shareholding by a further $1m, a ringing endorsement of Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY).
Post placement, the Company plans to seek shareholder approval to carry out a one for ten consolidation of its shares that will drastically reduce the number of shares in circulation to deliver a more effective and appealing capital structure aligned with the Company’s size, development stage and peer group.
“The A$16 million placement announced today underscores the quality of Antipa and its exceptional portfolio of exploration and development assets in the highly prospective Paterson Province of Western Australia,” Managing Director and CEO Roger Mason said.
“The strong investment appetite demonstrated by several high-quality North American and domestic institutions further validates our strategy and highlights our growth potential.
“In conjunction with the equity raise, we have proposed a consolidation of our issued capital to enhance the market appeal of our securities globally.”
Advancing towards development
Proceeds from the placement will be combined with the Company’s existing $23m cash reserves to complete a Pre-feasibility Study for Minyari Dome.
This will be followed by a Definitive Feasibility Study that will support a final investment decision.
Funds will also be used for resource definition and extensional drilling, along with additional new discovery focused drilling on brownfield and greenfields targets.
Assays from Phase 2 drilling at Minyari Dome have thus far proven its prospectivity with the most recent holes confirming the discovery of multiple new zones of near-surface, open pittable, high-grade gold.
These zones were found at the Fiama, Minyari South, and Minyari Southeast prospects.
Further pending assays from the remaining holes provides scope for potential resource expansion.
Minyari Dome currently has a contained resource of 2.3moz gold, 84,000t copper, 661,000oz silver and 13,000t cobalt.
Additionally, Antipa has been put on the radar as a key chess piece in the potential consolidation of the Paterson Province, with major Japanese trader Sumitomo agreeing to pay US$399m for a 30% stake in Rio’s Winu copper-gold project this month and Greatland Gold taking over the Telfer and Havieron gold-copper mines and huge underfed processing facility in a US$475m deal with Newmont.
Lion CEO Hedley Widdup pointed to the strategic value of Antipa’s resource and landholding in the major listed small cap fund’s decision to increase its holding.
“Lion is really pleased with the value that has already been created in our Antipa shareholding,” Widdup said in a statement.
“The results generated in 2024 have added to the scale and scope of the Minyari project, underscoring that the project and the region are well mineralised and prospective, and recent M&A activity indicates that Antipa’s assets could be highly strategic.
“The Paterson region looks set for a rejuvenation with substantial new investment via a new acquisitive participant with a hungry mill and we are excited for what that could mean for Antipa.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Antipa Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
By Special Report
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