Santana Minerals has raised AU$130 million to accelerate the development of the Bendigo-Ophir gold project in New Zealand.
Santana Minerals will issue 144.4 million new shares at 90 cents per share in two tranches. The first tranche will occur on or before February 23, while the second tranche is subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming general meeting in March.
In addition to the placement, the company plans to seek approval to launch a share purchase plan at the same price as the placement. Eligible shareholders may apply for up to AU$24,948 worth of new shares.
Santana Minerals will use the funds raised to start early infrastructure civil works at Bendigo-Ophir as it prepares for a final investment decision for the project.
The company will also use the funds for further exploration of high-priority, near-mine and regional targets.
Damian Spring, CEO of Santana, said: “This is a strong show of support for Santana and its proposed development of the Bendigo-Ophir gold project.
“The funds raised will enable us to accelerate our pathway to production by enabling early works and major equipment deposits to enable an immediate start on receipt of our final resource consents which are due at the of October 2026.”
The Bendigo-Ophir gold project 251 square kilometres in the Central Otago goldfields, 90 kilometres northwest of OceanaGold’s world-class Macraes gold mine where previous production and mineral resources total in excess of 8 million ounces of gold.
Santana Minerals considers the Bendigo-Ophir project to be substantially under-explored by modern exploration techniques.
The company sees the project as having significant exploration upside and the potential to materially add to the existing mineral resources by testing several un-drilled exploration targets identified within the project area.
