Black Bear Minerals, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code BKB, has secured firm commitments for a 12.5 million dollar placement to fund underground drilling and resource conversion work at its Shafter Silver Project in Presidio County, Texas.
The placement comprises 22.7 million new shares priced at 55 cents each, a 16 percent discount to the last traded price. Executive Chairman Matthew Hayes intends to subscribe for 500,000 dollars, subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting scheduled for early to mid-November.
Chief Executive Dennis Lindgren described Shafter as a past-producing, high-grade silver project in Texas with restart optionality. He said the funding moves the company to underground drilling, JORC conversion of the foreign resource estimate, and engineering studies supporting a restart decision.
Proceeds are earmarked across four areas: stage one underground drilling for resource growth and definition, resource validation and infill drilling, permitting and engineering studies, and working capital.
Shafter holds a foreign mineral resource estimate of 17.57 million ounces of silver at 289 grams per tonne under Canadian NI 43-101 standards, a figure that is not currently reportable under the JORC Code 2012. The asset includes a permitted Merrill-Crowe processing plant, grid-connected power, water rights, and more than 160 kilometers of historic underground workings. The historic Presidio Mine at the site produced roughly 35.2 million ounces of silver at average grades of 521 grams per tonne.
Settlement is scheduled for September 3, with allotment and quotation the following day. Canaccord Genuity acted as sole lead manager and bookrunner.
Source: Mining.com.au - https://mining.com.au/black-bear-raises-12-5-million-for-shafter-drilling/