THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR) has given notice it is embarking on a $47.5 million raising by way of an underwritten placement of 55.9 million fully paid ordinary shares to institutional and other sophisticated and professional investors.

The raising will target investors from Australia and other jurisdictions at an issue price of 85 cents per new share, representing a 7.6 per cent discount to the 10 day volume weighted average price (VWAP) and a 2.2 per cent premium to the 30 day VWAP of shares on the ASX.

The placement is to be fully underwritten by RBC Capital Markets.

Silver Lake indicated it also intends to raise up to a further $15 million through a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to eligible shareholders at 85 cents per share.

The company also intends, subject to Silver Lake shareholder approval to be sought at a General Meeting to be held in early October 2013, to raise a further $1.2 million through a placement of Silver Lake fully paid ordinary shares to directors of the company at an issue price of 85 cents per share, the same issue price as offered in the Placement and SPP.

“We are delighted by the strong support received for the placement from a large number of existing and new Australian, Asian, North American and European investors which ultimately resulted in a heavily over-subscribed Placement,” Silver Lake Resources managing director Les Davis said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Net proceeds raised from the Placement, the SPP and the placement to directors will be used to repay our outstanding debt facilities and provide working capital for our operations.

“The strong support we have had from existing and new investors coupled with the participation by Silver Lake directors in this capital raising highlights the positive sentiment towards the future prospects of the company.”

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Cleveland Mining Company (ASX: CDG) has received firm commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors to raise $3 million through a placement of 25 million ordinary shares priced at 12 cents per share.

Funds raised include $100,000 from one of the company’s directors, Russell Scrimshaw, who is set to take over from Don Bailey as company chairman.

“This capital raising allows Cleveland to continue to ramp up production at the Premier gold mine and increase the efficiency and profitability of the operation over time,” Cleveland Mining managing director David Mendelawitz said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We are pleased with the significant support for the Placement from existing shareholders, new investors and broking firms.

“We believe these relationships will provide ongoing support for Cleveland as it executes its growth strategy of developing low cost mines in Brazil, starting with the Premier operation.”

Cleveland indicated it intends to use the proceeds of the Placement for both working capital and capital works that will further the development of the Premier gold mine in Brazil.

These capital works will include:

1. Procurement and installation of a new primary crushing circuit to replace the contract crusher that has been demobilised from site;

2. Commencement of pre-stripping of waste over the higher-grade Metago pit at Premier; and

3. Upgrading the process water supply to match the newly-optimised ball mill.

The company has also earmarked approximately $400,000 of the funds to repay a loan facility that was established and drawn in late 2012.

As a result of the Placement, Cleveland said it will not draw down any further from the Investment Facility provided by Baycrest Capital.

The company explained it is able to do so without cost or penalty.

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Red Sky Energy (ASX: ROG) has reported two of the proposed 500 photovoltaic (PV) Soleir Systems have been installed on the site of the Dubbo Solar One project.

“The company is delighted to report that the installation of the PV solar panel systems proceeded according to plan, without a problem,” Red Sky Energy said in its ASX announcement.

“The successful installation has validated the design and construction methods of the company’s proposed utility-scale PV solar power project in Dubbo.”

The 2.5 megawatt Dubbo Solar One project is being developed by Red Sky’s solar energy subsidiary business, SOLEIR.

The Dubbo project is SOLIER’s first utility-scale project.

Each Soleir System comprises 18 PV panels and an associated five kilowatt inverter.

The panels are placed in a fixed tilt configuration on the project site, with panels permanently tilted to the north to capture maximum sunlight.

 

Source: Company announcement

 

Red Sky explained SOLEIR’s next major milestone would be to gain regulatory approval for the project’s proposed funding structure, saying this is anticipated to happen soon.

Red Sky acquired SOLEIR in November last year.

SOLEIR has a 30 year lease for the project site from the Dubbo City Council and development approval for the 2.5 megawatt project is in place.

The project requires only five hectares, and the site has the potential to accommodate an expanded project, of up to 12 megawatt.

Another Red Sky subsidiary, Rhythm Section Investment Management, has been granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (see ASX announcement, 9 July 2013).

The AFSL will help facilitate the project’s unitised ownership structure.  

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: There seems to be a bit if activity around the merger and acquisition area lately with ASX-listed companies doing deals with just as many unlisted companies as they are with their contemporaries.

Gold One Merges West Rand Assets with Sibanye Gold for 17 per cent equity interest

Gold One International (ASX: GDO) is to merge its 74 per cent interest in Rand Uranium and Ezulwini for a consideration of 17 per cent of the ordinary shares of private South African gold mining company Sibanye Gold.

Sibanye Gold is forecast to produce 1.35 million ounces of gold from the company’s Kloof, Driefontein and Beatrix operations, located in the West Witwatersrand and Free State Gold Fieldsin 2013.

It is one of the largest gold producers in South Africa and among the top 10 global gold producers.

Gold One acquired 100 per cent of Rand Uranium for US$250 million in January 2012, and 100 per cent of Ezulwini for US$70 million in July 2012, as part of the company’s strategy for consolidation of South African gold assets with development potential.

Gold One identified Sibanye Gold as a suitable development partner to further advance its South African assets.

Rand Uranium’s Cooke 1-3 underground mines form a well-established gold mining operation with a gold and uranium mineral resource and reserve base.

According to Gold One the mines’ uranium resources provide an opportunity to realise a gold and uranium co-product strategy, which will facilitate reduced unit gold production cash costs with uranium by-product credits.

Ezulwini includes the Cooke 4 underground shaft, which is contiguous to the Cooke 1-3 underground operations.

Gold One considers Ezulwini to be a seamless regional consolidation with the larger Cooke shaft complex.

Ezulwini also has a gold and uranium metallurgical complex that includes a gold plant with a nameplate capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes per month and a uranium plant with a nameplate capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes per month.

This metallurgical complex is able to accommodate the underground ore from all four Cooke shafts.

In addition to the underground operations, Gold One currently operates the Randfontein Surface Operation, which is currently focused on: The optimisation of the current surface operation; The Cooke Gold Plant optimisation project; and the West Rand Tailings Joint Venture project with Sibanye Gold.

“This is an exciting development in the evolution of Gold One,” Gold One acting CEO Christopher Chadwick said.

“As a potential strategic shareholder of Sibanye Gold, we will be able to participate in Sibanye Gold’s growth.

“With its strong cashflow, management expertise and existing asset portfolio Sibanye Gold is well positioned to optimise the significant synergistic opportunities that exist not only within the Cooke Underground Operations and Randfontein Surface Operations, but also between these operations and its existing Beatrix, Kloof and Driefontein mines.

“The joint venture surface tailings treatment project between Gold One’s West Rand assets and Sibanye Gold holds further potential to become a low risk fourth mine for Sibanye Gold.

“With an approximate 17 per cent shareholding we look forward to participating in Sibanye Gold’s growth and translating its success into the development of the Modder East Complex our Modder East Operation and project pipeline.”

Arc Exploration gives notice it intends to proceed with its option to acquire a Queensland gold project

Following completion of its due diligence process Arc Exploration (ASX: ARX) has opted to proceed with an option to farm-in to earn up to 80 per cent of the Mount Garnet gold project located in northeast Queensland.

The project comprises three Mining Leases covering 150 hectares that are 100 per cent-owned by private company Snowmist.

“The decision to proceed with Snowmist’s Mount Garnet project provides the opportunity for ARX to enter another major mineral province in Eastern Australia,” Arc Exploration managing director John Carlile said.

“This is the third Australian project acquired by ARX this year following on from the Junee and Oberon projects announced in July.

“Triple Crown is a gold-breccia pipe that has only a small surface expression but potentially a long depth extension, and has possible linkages with larger mineralised intrusions and skarns in the Mount Garnet district.

“We see strong similarities with other gold-breccia pipes in the region, such as Mungana and Red Dome at Chillagoe, as well as Mt Wright and Welcome Breccia at Ravenswood.

“Triple Crown has only been tested to a shallow depth of around 200m depth and we believe that there is potential to increase the current gold resource by deeper drilling.

“We also aim to generate new targets elsewhere on the leases using the detailed geophysical and geological databases established by previous explorers.”

Key commercial terms of the deal are:

Arc Exploration has entered a two-year option period for a payment of $50,000 to Snowmist and a minimum expenditure of $150,000 during the option period;

Arc Exploration may then earn a 51 per cent interest by sole funding $500,000 within two years; and

Arc Exploration may then earn up to an 80 per cent interest by sole funding a further $580,000 within a further one year period.

The project is located in the historic Mount Garnet mining district of the Hodgkinson Province, where tin and base metals have been produced from vein-lodes and skarn deposits.

The project lies in the same belt of rocks that hosts major intrusion-related gold-base metal stockwork and skarn deposits – such as Red Dome and Mungana – in the Chillagoe district, located about 90km to the northwest.

Snowmist’s mining licences encompass several gold-breccia prospects including the Triple Crown gold deposit that was discovered in the early 1980’s.

Triple Crown contains a gold resource estimated to be about 69,000 ounces hosted in a quartz-sulphide breccia pipe and stockwork.

Arc Exploration plans to initiate a program of geophysical and geological interpretation and targeting in an effort to expand the known resource during the initial two-year option period.

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: The ownership of the Mumbwa prospecting licence in Zambia (8589-HQ-LPL) has been transferred from BHP Billiton World Exploration Inc., a subsidiary company of BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) to Blackthorn Resources (Zambia) Limited (BRZL).

BRZL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASX-listed company Blackthorn Resources (ASX: BTR).
This licence was initially granted in November 2007.

In Zambia, large-scale prospecting licences such as this are able to be renewed twice for a total of three two-year periods.

A seventh year is also allowable upon approval from the Director of Geological Survey.

Having finalised the transfer of the licence from BHP Billiton, BRZL has now submitted an application for the renewal of the licence for the seventh year, which is due to expire in November 2014.

BRZL also intends to apply for conversion of the prospecting licence to a Mining Licence at a later date.

“We are very pleased that the Mumbwa licence has now been successfully transferred to Blackthorn Resources (Zambia) Limited,” Blackthorn Resources managing director Scott Lowe said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The company enjoys a positive reputation with the Zambian Government having recently been granted renewal of some other licences without the need to relinquish ground.

“The Mumbwa licence has been successfully renewed on two previous occasions and we are confident that the application meets the requirements for renewal of the licence for a seventh year.”