Strandline Resources has launched a $30 million capital raise for its flagship Coburn project off the back of a challenging quarter.
The Coburn minerals sand project in WA is one of the largest zircon and titanium deposits in the world. The project, while not yet fully ramped-up, commenced production in late 2022. To date it has shipped roughly 65,000 tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) for a sale price of $69 million.
The latest capital raise is comprised of 166.7 million new fully paid ordinary shares at an offer price of $0.18 per share. Additionally, Strandline is seeking to raise a further $5 million through a share purchase plan for eligible shareholders.
The $30 million cash injection is set to support the continued ramp-up of Coburn and accelerate its various growth initiatives, including an additional 320,000 tonnes per annum production of HMC.
“The placement strengthens the company’s balance sheet and places it in a strong position to complete ramp-up at Coburn to steady-state production, including the processing of HMC into final saleable products via the mineral separation plant,” Strandline Resources managing director Luke Graham said.
Strandline has pegged an extension of Coburn resource drilling, as well as progression of its Tanzanian projects, as other beneficiaries of the raise.
The cash injection also gives Strandline the flexibility is needs to handle a range of operating and corporate costs, some of which it detailed in its June quarterly report.
Strandline reported constrained production for the quarter, primarily owing to low availability of dozer mining units, mining plant, and other equipment.
The transition to in-pit disposal of sand waste during the quarter also impacted mining activities due capacity constraints caused by lower density in tails stream and increased water mounding within the pit, as well as additional infrastructure being required.
Other notable production downtime events related to site-wide power supply and network communications interruptions, pre-mature failure of pump mechanical seals, and instrument failures.
Coburn produced 26,134 tonnes of HMC in the June quarter, down from the 29,855 tonnes produced in the March quarter.
Strandline has indicated that a major focus of Coburn’s ramp-up is on improving the availability and reliability of equipment and plant as the project progresses.
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