Australian gold mining company Meeka Metals has received firm commitments to secure A$60m ($39m) through a placement backed by both existing and new institutional investors.
The funds raised will be directed towards accelerating the next phase of development at the Murchison gold project in Western Australia (WA).
The placement was conducted at A$0.15 per share, representing a 4.1% discount to the 20-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) and a 10.3% discount to the ten-day VWAP.
Meeka Metals will issue a total of 400 million shares under the placement, utilising its existing capacity under ASX Listing Rules 7.1 and 7.1A.
All new shares issued will rank equally with the current shares.
Meeka managing director Tim Davidson said: “With this funding in place the company is now focused on maximising the expanded open-pit mining opportunity, confirming the pathway to bring forward production with increased processing capacity and defining further growth opportunities with the drill bit.”
The proceeds from the placement, combined with Meeka Metals’ existing cash reserves, are earmarked for several strategic growth initiatives.
These include the expansion and acceleration of open-pit operations through the mobilisation of a third mining fleet, acceleration of underground drilling programmes and the validation of a processing expansion pathway that exceeds the current capacity of 600,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).
Petra Capital served as the sole lead manager and bookrunner for the placement, with Morgans Corporate acting as a co-manager.
The Murchison gold project, which received final approval for development in September 2024, houses a large, high-grade, 1.2 million ounces at three grams per tonne gold mineral resource on granted mining leases.
The project’s definitive feasibility study released in December 2024 focuses on restarting the fully permitted Andy Well mill. The study outlined a ten-year production plan at up to 76,000oz per year.
