Canadian mining investor Ross Beaty has taken a sizeable stake in Condor Gold (LON:CNR) through a placing to raise £2.6mln for the Nicaragua-focused explorer.
Beaty, who founded and is currently chairman of Pan American, one of the world's largest silver producers, subscribed for £1.5mln worth of the units and will have a 7.18% stake post the placing on an undiluted basis.
The units were sold at 40p each and comprised one share and two-thirds of a warrant exercisable at 60p.
Other heavy backers of the placing included a specialist resource fund, major shareholder Jim Mellon and executive chairman Mark Child.
The cash will cover the US$670,000 needed for the purchase of the Espinito-Mendoza concession and the purchase of land for a mine at the La India prospect.
Condor submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment in November as part of its application for an environmental permit for a 2,800tpd processing plant capable tp produce approximately 100,000 oz gold per annum at an all in sustaining cash cost of US$700 per oz gold.
Site visits and key meetings have been held with several government ministries, said the company, while offers have been made to to buy the surface rights for approximately 800 hectares of the area affected by a mine in the future.