Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) substantial holder Harvest Lane Asset Management has increased its stake in the company to 8.52% from 5.55%.
Harvest Lane acquired new shares in Alto via a combination of conversion of unlisted options and on-market purchases.
Alto recently raised a total of $2.1 million via the conversion of 30 million unlisted options at an issue price of 7 cents per share to Harvest Lane and other option holders.
Non-executive director Terry Wheeler participated in this by converting 5.7 million options into shares for a consideration of $399,000.
Well-funded for exploration
The option conversion was strongly supported by existing shareholders and is a clear endorsement of the company’s strategy to focus on exploration.
Alto is well funded with around $7.8 million in cash and a major drilling program underway at its 100%-owned, 900 square kilometres Sandstone Gold Project, in Western Australia.
Another lode discovery
Earlier this week, Alto received further strong assay results from ongoing drilling at the Sandstone Gold Project, confirming another lode within a new zone of gold mineralisation 1-kilometre south of the Lord Nelson Pit.
The results have extended the overall mineralised footprint to more than 1-kilometre south of Lord Nelson and this remains open in all directions, highlighting the potential of Lord’s Corridor and the Sandstone Gold Project.
Drilling is ongoing with two reverse circulation (RC) rigs focused on completing around 20,000 metres of the program at the Lords Corridor, Vanguard and Chance.
Based on assay results received to date, it is likely that the current program will be expanded and initial planning is already underway.