In a strong show of support for AuKing Mining Ltd (ASX:AKN) and its critical minerals strategy, chairman Peter Tighe has extended a $750,000 short-term funding agreement with the company.
Managing director Paul Williams said that Tighe had acquired the loan facility rights from Evolution Capital Pty Ltd and had now agreed to provide a further four-month extension of time for the loan to be repaid by the company.
He said this was a significant show of support in the company by its chairman and allowed the proposed rights issue capital raising to proceed without allocating funds from that raising to debt retirement.
Aggressive exploration
This comes as AuKing is adopting an “aggressive approach to exploration” at the newly acquired Myoff Creek niobium/rare earth elements (REE) project in British Columbia, Canada.
READ: AuKing Mining completes Myoff Creek niobium-REE acquisition ahead of “aggressive” exploration
Williams said on the completion of the acquisition last month, “We are continuing to see strong interest from investors with companies seeking to develop critical minerals projects, especially niobium and rare earths.
“The Myoff Creek Project presents AuKing with an excellent opportunity to attract some of that investor attention.
“While we aim to continue with exploration activities at our other projects, including the Mkuju Uranium Project in Tanzania, the immediate focus of our exploration team will be to generate results from Myoff Creek over the coming weeks.”
About Myoff Creek
The Myoff Creek Project is in the strategic South-Central mining region of British Columbia, an area renowned for its rich mineral deposits, mineral extraction and processing.
AuKing’s exploration team was due to conduct a site visit in early August to initiate the first phase of exploration.
The team was to assess potential drill sites and organise the logistics of an upcoming work program, which is expected to include a comprehensive sampling program paired with a drilling campaign aimed at further evaluating the mineral potential at depth and along strike.
Rights issue proposed
AuKing proposes to conduct a rights issue to raise funds for exploration activities at Myoff Creek and other planned exploration activities across its portfolio of projects, which comprises the Koongie Park Copper-Zinc Project in Western Australia and a number of uranium and copper projects in Tanzania.
Further details of the rights issue will be made available shortly.