A successful Metallica Minerals rights issue has raised $2.125 million which will contribute to advancing the company’s Queensland projects towards production.
Metallica received about $1.27 million from 220 shareholders, with the balance of the underwritten amount – $850,000 or 5.67 million shares – to be taken up by the underwriter, Patersons Securities.
The company stated that net proceeds of about $1.9 million, in combination with existing cash reserves of about $1.5 million, would be used to advance its wholly owned Scandium-Cobalt-Nickel(SCONI) project, as well as its Weipa mineral sands project.
“The company is pleased with the support it has received from shareholders, particularly in this very difficult market environment,” Metallica said in a statement.
The company’s largest shareholder, Jien Mining, a subsidiary of the Jilin Nickel Group, has received approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to take up the sub-underwritten shares. In March, Metallica released a positive
pre-feasibility study for its $273 million SCONI project, with the company aiming to release a definite feasibility study by the end of the year.
The SCONI project could establish Metallica as the world’s largest supplier of high-purity scandium oxide, a scarce metal used in solid oxide fuel cells and the strengthening of aluminium alloys.
The JORC resource for SCONI stands at 59.5 million tonnes grading 0.51 per cent nickel, 0.07 per cent cobalt and 64 grams per tonne scandium for contained metal of 3800t.
In its March quarterly activities report, Metallica stated it was also working towards development of its Weipa zircon-rutile heavy minerals sands project, in order to establish production and cash flow in 2014.
