Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Azure Minerals (AZS) has raised $37 million to accelerate drilling at its Andover nickel-copper project in WA’s Pilbara region
- The institutional placement had strong support from new and existing domestic and foreign investors
- The price of 74 cents per share is a 9.8 per cent discount to the last closing price, but a 26.3 per cent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price
- The support for the placement reflects the continued drilling success at Andover, which has turned up high-grade nickel-copper sulphides
- The company is planning to step up its exploration efforts at Andover, and will mobilise more drill rigs to the project in coming weeks
- Azure Minerals is up 4.88 per cent to 86 cents
Azure Minerals (AZS) has raised $37 million to accelerate drilling at its Andover nickel-copper project in WA’s Pilbara region.
The raise
The institutional placement had strong support from new and existing domestic and foreign investors.
74 cents per share is a 9.8 per cent discount to the last closing price, a 5.9 per cent discount to the 10-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP), and a 26.3 per cent premium to the 30-day VWAP.
The company’s share price had been on the up since the initial drill results uncovered strong grades of nickel and copper mineralisation in early November.
The support for the placement reflects the continued drilling success at Andover. While it’s still early days, there are some indications of a significant find at the project.
Azure Managing Director Tony Rovira says the funds will be used to accelerate exploration at Andover, and one other key target.
“The first five holes drilled by us at Andover are nothing less than exceptional, with all intersecting substantial widths of nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation,” Tony began.
“We will immediately move to secure multiple drill rigs for the drill-out of the VC-07 target and to test the other 12 strong electromagnetic (EM) anomalies on the project,” he said.
“The funding also allows us the capacity to commence exploration on the Turner River Gold Project, which is along strike of De Grey Mining’s Hemi and other gold discoveries. We are looking to expedite the grant of the exploration licences and start work as soon as possible,” the MD added.
The spend
Azure is planning to step up its efforts at Andover and will mobilise more drill rigs to the project in coming weeks.
Aside from a short break over Christmas, new exploration manager Graham Leaver will be busy drilling the promising VC-07 anomaly and other regional targets.
With the ever-increasing need for nickel to feed the requirements of the growing renewable energy sector, projects like Andover are attracting a lot of interest.
Azure’s MD says the company has made the right move.
“These projects tick all the boxes — right location, right commodities, right partner and delivering outstanding results,” Tony said.
“We are very pleased to have been able to continue to add value for shareholders given the position we found ourselves in earlier this year with COVID-19 and its continued impact on our activities in Mexico,” he added.
Azure Minerals is up 4.88 per cent to 86 cents at 10:23 am AEDT.
