What’s been noticeable about the mining sector of late, apart from the tendency of shares to move positively when positive news comes out, has been that financings are proceeding apace.
This is a change from last year and was much in evidence this week, as Hummingbird Resources (LON:HUM) raised a whopping £42 mln in equity finance and Rambler Metals & Mining (LON:RMM) closed off a £10 mln raise.
In Hummingbird’s case the money raised will be used for a new mine build, at Yanfolila in Mali, where the company hopes to be producing in excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year within the next fifteen months or so.
Rambler’s cash will be deployed into the already producing Ming mine in Canada to develop a new zone of mineralisation.
Elsewhere, shares in Kibo Mining (LON:KIBO) were on the rise as it announced the merger of its project in the Lake Victoria Goldfields in Tanzania with a neighbour. The resulting synergies and upside could be significant at a time of renewed interest in the gold market, and the projects are well situated in an already well-established producing area. Kibo also announced progress on its gold projects, and the shares advanced nicely to 5.38p, having got as high as 5.6p in intraday trading on Friday.
But it wasn’t just gold and copper making the running in junior mining markets. Activity in the current hot-spot, lithium, continued apace with Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) moving to acquire new ground in Finland and deploy teams on the to identify potential drill targets.
And after a week of strong newsflow last week, Bacanora Minerals (LON:BCN) put out a fairly standard set of financial results for a company still in the development phase. Going back over the past six months one major highlight was the £10 mln raise that the company executed with a sale of shares to heavyweight mining investment fund Blackrock - yet more evidence that the pace of money flowing into the sector is accelerating.
And Bushveld Minerals (LON:BMN) was also able to pull in finance to support the ongoing acquisition of the Vametco vanadium mine in South Africa’s prolific Bushveld region. The company has partnered up with private local vehicle Yellow Dragon to provide the US$5 mln required for the first tranche of the deal to go through.
In the mineral sands space, Sierra Rutile (LON:SRX) brought a new stream of rutile production online as it commissioned the new Gangama mine in Sierra Leone. The company is confident it has hit a sweet spot in the market as many industry players are now forecasting an uptick in prices.
Finally, KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) re-jigged its plans for funding the proposed Tulu Kapi gold mine in Ethiopia. First off, it’s shaved around US$13 mln off the proposed development costs. Second, it now believes it will be able to raise the funding through a combination of debt and equity. Previously the company had planned to raise a significant tranche of the required financing through a streaming deal, but that has now been deemed too expensive.