Teranga raises A$65m to advance Banfora

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Teranga Gold has announced plans to raise A$65-million through an equity raising to develop the recently acquired Banfora gold project, in Burkina Faso.

Teranga said on Wednesday that the company had entered into agreements to offer 62-million shares, at a price of A$1.05 each, for gross proceeds of A$65-million.

Under the agreements, some 32.5-million shares will be issued on a bought deal basis through a syndicate of underwriters co-led by RBC Capital Markets and Cormark Securities.

An additional 20.5-million shares will be issued on a nonbrokered private placement basis at the same price, to Tablo Corporation. Following the completion of the placement, Tablo will hold a 17.4% interest in Teranga.

Meanwhile, the underwriters will also have the option to purchase additional shares during the public offering period.

Teranga told shareholders that some A$30-million of the proceeds of the equity raise would be used to advance the Banfora project, including reserve development drilling, updating the scientific and technical report, conducting optimisation studies, starting village relocation and early engineering works.

The remainder of the proceeds will be used to fund exploration work at Banfora, Golden Hill and the Gourma gold projects, also in Burkina Faso, and for general working purposes.

Teranga in June made a play for fellow listed Gryphon Minerals, offering shareholders 0.169 common shares of Teranga, or 0.169 Teranga shares in the form of ASX-listed CHESS depository interests, for each Gryphon share held.

The acquisition positioned Teranga, which owns and operates the Sabodala gold mine, in Senegal, to grow its production by 50% to between 275 000 oz/y and 325 000 oz/y by mid-2019.