Bezant Resources plc (LON:BZT), the mineral exploration and development company, has raised £1mln before expenses, through a conditional placement of shares.
The company has placed 100mln shares at a penny a pop. The shares closed at 1.625p last night.
The newly issued shares will represent just under a third of Bezant’s expanded share capital.
The company intends to use the funds on the next phase of its mine development programme for its near-surface platinum and gold project in the Choco region of Colombia.
The company is currently targeting first production late in the first half of this year, with production ramp-up to full name plate capacity scheduled for the second half.
"Following an intense period of work delivering an independent scoping study assessing costs and our own gold and platinum recovery work, today we begin the journey into full production,” said Edward Nealon, chairman of Bezant.
“Our objective is to rapidly bring a low-cost dry mining operation into development and start first production in late Q2 2017 from the platinum and gold fields located in the Choco province of Colombia,” Nealon continued.
“In the near term, we look forward to announcing further recovery results as well as updates on mobilisation and licence option exercise. Whilst we aim to generate initial revenues during 2017, we are also seeking to prove the economic model of a high margin, low capex, platinum & gold recovery operation in Western Colombia, a region where we hold significant acreage under option," he concluded.