A report by Bloomberg indicates that Discovery Metals (ASX:DML) may raise $140 million to fund development of the Boseto copper project in Botswana, by the end of the year.
Discovery may raise half the sum from equity and half from debt, Managing Director Brad Sampson said in an interview in London today. The company is also open to talks with potential joint venture partners, he said.
“We’re getting a lot of interest from banks and potential investors,” Sampson said. “We’re still bullish about the longer-term prospects for copper because it’s harder and harder to get at good resources.”
Discovery will complete feasibility studies by the first quarter and plans to begin output by the third quarter of 2011, he said. The mine may produce 700,000 ounces of silver and about 23,000 metric tons of copper in the first year, Sampson added.