Haranga Resources Ltd (ASX:HAR) may have its eye trained on Africa’s gold and uranium prospects, but it’s developing its investor base at home after listing on the ASX under the ticker ‘HAR’.
The explorer and project developer joined the local share market after completing a $6.5 million initial public offering in November, providing a $12 million market capitalisation post listing.
Now, Haranga will take its cash injection to its African project portfolio, with a view to unlock gold and uranium prospects across Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Investors were eager to buy in on Haranga’s debut, with shares up 27.5% on the local bourse to 25.5 cents each in afternoon trade.
HAR by the numbers
Prior to its ASX listing, Haranga’s IPO raised $6.5 million to support future operations.
The explorer issued 32.5 million shares at $0.20 each, as well as 16.25 million options, exercisable at $0.30 apiece prior to expiry on January 27, 2025.
There are now nearly 42 million Haranga shares on issue, as well as 17.5 million options.
Haranga has mapped out a two-year exploration and development budget for its projects based on the $6.5 million raise.
Roughly half of the capital will go towards exploration activities across the company’s cornerstone projects — the Issia Gold Project in Cote d’Ivoire and the Saraya Uranium Project in Senegal.
Targeting gold and uranium prospects in Africa
Haranga holds interests in a range of gold projects in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, as well as a uranium project in Senegal, with a total of six current or pending permits covering slightly more than 3,000 square kilometres.
The company recently commissioned Africa-focused E2M Limited, a division of Sahara Natural Resources, to conduct geological studies across its portfolio.
To date, the studies have concluded both the Issia Project and Saraya Project warrant further exploration due to the current geological knowledge, mineralisation and proximity to more advanced projects and proven resources.
Although an early-stage exploration project, Issia is in a prolific geological gold province with key similarities to adjacent, well-defined gold deposits.
That includes the 3.02-million-ounce Abujar Project, run by ASX-listed Tietto Minerals Ltd (ASX:TIE), which is 50 kilometres to the northeast along the same regional shear structure.
The Issia Project features existing extensive geochemical precious metal anomalies, grading up to 853 parts per billion gold.
There has been no previous exploration drilling on the property, however, there is evidence of artisanal gold workings.
Haranga hopes to kick off a rotary air blast drilling program at Issia in early 2022.
Meanwhile, the company’s Saraya Uranium Project, in the southeast of Senegal, is considered an advanced-stage exploration project which was partially explored by French Government-owned Areva prior to 2010.
An estimated 48,000 metres of historical drilling data is contained in summary reports and there are several other untested uranium anomalies within the Saraya Project area that will be evaluated.
Saraya Uranium Project is mainly hosted by granites and pegmatite units, which can be prospective for lithium, tin, tantalum and niobium. Spodumene has been visually reported within the pegmatites.
Looking ahead, Haranga plans to validate historical data and undertake systematic follow-up exploration at Saraya in a bid to define significant uranium resources.
The Haranga team
Haranga joins the ASX with a wealth of exploration and management experience under its belt.
The company’s collective expertise includes running ASX-listed companies, as well as financing and development experience across mining and exploration projects in Africa, Australia and other parts of the world.
Executive chairman Peter Youd is a chartered accountant who’s worked across the resources sector.
In the last 29 years, Youd has held a number of senior management positions and directorships for publicly listed and private companies in Australia and overseas.
The executive chairman was formerly a director of First Graphene Ltd (ASX:FGR, OTCQB:FGPHF).
Haranga also has part of its executive team on the ground in Africa.
Chief operating officer Jean Kaisin is based in Senegal, bringing more than 23 years’ experience operating in West Africa to the team.
In the past, Kaisin’s mineral exploration expertise has ranged from greenfield work through to a project’s feasibility study stages.
He plans to advance Haranga’s project portfolio from the field.