Arufura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has raised $1.03 million in a share placement of nearly 23.5 million fully paid ordinary shares at a price of 4.4 cents each.
The placement to sophisticated and professional investors complements the company’s recently completed share purchase plan (SPP), with both capital raisings giving a combined total of more than $4 million.
Funds from the placement and SPP will be used to advance Arafura’s Nolans Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr) Project as well as for general working capital.
Patersons Securities Limited acted as lead manager to the domestic component of the placement and Amvest Capital Inc, acting through Mann Mann Jensen Parterns LP acted as the US co-manager.
READ: Arafura Resources issues new shares from $3 million share purchase plan
Arafura managing director Gavin Lockyer said the placement complements the fully-subscribed SPP and places the company in an excellent position.
Lockyer said: “With the recent completion of phase VI of the Nolans pilot program and the definitive feasibility study (DFS) targeted for release in February 2019, the Arafura team are now well-funded to advance its 100%-owned and 100%-Australian domiciled Nolans NdPr Project.
READ: Arafura Resources produces rare earth chloride from phase 6 pilot plant
The company’s phase-six pilot plant recently produced NdPr-enriched rare earth chloride using material from the Nolans projet.
Phase VI of the pilot program – rare earth dissolution and evaporation – targeted the removal of low value, high volume cerium from rare earth hydroxide to produce rare earth chloride.
This process reduces the volume of material that feeds into rare earth separation resulting in a smaller and more efficient separation plant that will focus on the production of high-value rare earth products such as NdPr oxide.
The company has confirmed more than 99.5% of the cerium was rejected from the rare earth chloride during steady state operation of the pilot.
The cerium rejection process represents valuable intellectual property and a significant downstream operational advantage over traditional separation circuits run by other rare earth companies.