Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU) has secured equity funding of $2 million through share placements to a group of existing and supportive shareholders, including Huatai Mining Ltd. The funding was raised through the issue of 20,000,000 shares at a subscription price of 10 cents a share. The funding is a boost to development of the Browns Range Heavy Rare Earth Pilot Plant Project.
Australian heavy rare earths developer, Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) has secured equity funding through share placements to a group of existing and highly supportive shareholders.
The placements raise a total of A$2,000,000 through the issue of 20,000,000 shares at a subscription price of 10 cents per share. The shareholders participating in the placements are sophisticated investors.
One of the subscribers is Huatai Mining Pty Ltd (Huatai), which previously agreed to provide equity funding to the company but were prevented from completing that transaction due to restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on the transfer of funds outside China.
Huatai has now determined a means to participate in this funding to the extent of $1,000,000 and the company has agreed to release Huatai from any remaining obligations under the previous agreement.
Huatai currently holds 21.5% of the issued shares of the company, which will increase to 22.3% on a fully diluted basis after completion of this funding.
Northern Minerals is also working together with the Hong Kong-based fund, AMC Wanhai Securities Limited (“AMC”), which was not able to meet its deadline of 20 July 2017 to secure a further A$2 million, as a direct result of the increased difficulty in transferring funds out of China. AMC is still working to complete the full $10 million placement that was announced on 15 March 2017.
Northern Minerals Managing Director and CEO said: “In these difficult markets it is fantastic to have the support of existing shareholders who understand the significance of what we are delivering at Brown Range and share our vision. The project is tracking well with mining and bulk earthworks continuing now for more than a month.”
